Lake Ozette It Is!!

Well, I think we have a winner--Lake Ozette!! We'll leave Wednesday night and catch a ferry to the penisula and drive to the Lake Ozette Campground and see if we can score a spot in the cozy campground. I've copied and pasted some information from a web site about the area, and it sounds totally awesome. There is also private campground nearby, The Lost Resort, in that could serve as an option were we to find no open sites at the National Park campground.

Information About the Ozette Area

Located in the northwest corner of the coastal strip, eight-mile-long Lake Ozette is the third largest natural lake in Washington. In the 19th century this area was crowded with 130 homesteaders scratching out a living, but they gradually gave up and moved away. A 21-mile paved road heads southwest from Sekiu, ending at the Ozette Ranger Station. This area has one of the most popular overnight hikes along the Olympic coast, and summer weekends attract outdoor enthusiasts.

Try arriving early to grab one of the 18 campsites accessible by car, but if those are gone, you'll have to drive all the way back to a private campground in Sekiu. The busiest times are weekends in July and August.

Ozette Campground: The small campground has camping ($10) year-round, but get here early to be sure of a space (no reservations). The lake is a popular place for boats, canoes, and kayaks, but take care since winds can create treacherous wave action at times.

Erickson's Bay: The free boat-in campground is halfway down the lake on the west side. Good fishing for largemouth bass, cutthroat trout, kokanee, and other fish.

The Lost Resort: A general store, deli, camping supplies, showers, and private campsites next to the lake.

Trails: Two trails head to the coast from the ranger station. One leads southwest to Sand Point, three miles away; the other three miles northwest to Cape Alva - the westernmost point in the Lower 48. By hiking the beach connecting the two, you can create a triangular loop trip of 9.3 miles. You can also continue south on the beach for 2.3 miles to the Norwegian Memorial, a tribute to the victims of a 1903 shipwreck.

There is much to explore in the Cape Alva area: fascinating tidepools, cannonball shaped rocks, an anchor from one of the ships that ran aground here, and even an occasional Japanese glass ball. This is probably the best place to see wildlife in Olympic National Park, with bald eagles in the air, deer along the beach, sea lions and seals in the water, and migrating gray whales in fall and spring. This area contains the largest population of sea otters in the Lower 48; look for them in the kelp beds off Sand Point.

The Wedding Rocks area between Cape Alva and Sand Point is well known for its petroglyphs, which were carved by the original inhabitants of this land at an unknown time. Pick up a handout describing the petroglyphs from the ranger station.

The famous Makah village site is just a short distance from where the Cape Alva trail meets the beach. During the 1970s, archaeologists from Washington State University uncovered a wealth of ancient artifacts. The dig is now closed and buried, but many of the items found are displayed in the Makah Cultural Center at Neah Bay.