Crash, Keg, Mogetty, Yangster

Hiked in July 30, 2010. Hiked out August 1, 2010. This is Mogetty’s and my (Yangster) sixth year. Keg and Crash’s fourth year.

It is an easy 3 mile hike, even with a fully loaded backpack, mostly on boardwalk.

Boardwalk

Trailhead

The Sand Point hike is part of a 9.2 mile loop which starts at Lake Ozette.  Shortly after starting out you will come to a “Y” in the trail.  Staying to your right will take you 3 miles to Cape Alava.  The shore line is rocky, however, you can have camp fires.  Follow the shore line south, and you will arrive at Sand Point.  Back at the “Y”, staying to your left will take you the 3.1 miles directly to Sand Point. Sand Point is a beautiful crescent of sand, however you can not have camp fires.

Our Camp Site

The advantage of hiking in on Friday is that you are usually one of the first to arrive.  This year was one of our better campsites.  After finding the “perfect” log to set up camp near, we spent most of the afternoon looking for “perfect” pieces of driftwood to use for our wind break, table(s), and seating.

Pools of algae

The fresh water situation is “IFFY”.  There are two creeks, and I use the term loosely, that this time of year are barely running. Our first year, Mogetty and I, followed both creeks quite a ways inland, I was hoping for better looking water.  No luck.  The creek water looks like tea, it is okay for your morning coffee and cooking meals, but not for drinking water, not for me, even though I knew the water was filtered.  I know what you all are thinking, and I don’t care.  It is no big deal to pack in fresh water, a gallon jug each.  We have done it every year since.  Once we have set up camp we dump our fresh water into a 5 gallon bladder and set out for another  hike.  The trail head is near the south end of the beach and not very well marked.  We pack our empty water jugs and water filter 2 miles in on a primitive trail back to Lake Ozette, near Ericsons Bay.

Ericson's Bay Trail

Keg and Crash brought four tennis balls, 1 for each us.  Saturday afternoon we played “beach ball” (aka baseball) with the tennis balls and driftwood bats.

Beach baseball

That night we played five-hole “beach golf” with the tennis balls and driftwood golf clubs.  We used long pieces of driftwood, stuck into the sand, to mark the holes, and colored glow sticks, to mark the driftwood.  Even though the tennis balls were brightly colored, they were still very difficult to see in the dark…flashlights were necessary.  We also had a “teeter totter”, but had to be careful for splinters.  Our favorite entertainment for the weekend though, was the “trampolog”.  A log, one end buried in the sand and covered by other large logs and stumps.  The other end, strong and bouncy!!

"trampolog"

We tested our balance (Keg has the best), we tried to bounce each other off (Keg won most of the time), and we posed on it.  Who knew that driftwood could be so entertaining for adults!!

Keg and Mogetty played a bit of beach volley ball, but with tennis balls and no net.

We had music to rock out and dance to.  Mogetty has a small battery powered radio.  Could not really tune in any radio stations, but we all have the LG Chocolate 3, which was a built in FM transmitter, and we all have lots of music uploaded.

We had a lot of fun being silly.  Sand Point was all but deserted.  We pretty much had the beach to ourselves, with the exception of the occasional day hiker or backpacker passing by.  We did share space with the wildlife, a couple of deer and a baby raccoon on the beach.  Keg saw cougar tracks in the sand, just south of our campsite.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate for our end of the day trek to Sunset Rock for pictures of…well, the sunset.  The mornings, early afternoon, and evenings we were fogged in.  We did get to enjoy the sun and its warmth for 4 or 5  hours midafternoon.  Overall, it wasn’t really cold and it did not rain.

All in all, it was a great time.  A bad day at the beach is still better than a good day at work.

Link to map of loop trail, primitive trail, and general Lake Ozette area.
http://olympicwanderer.com/GE/Ozette.kmz