Backpacking the Olympic Peninsula
When it comes to travel plans, I tend to choose far flung places before opting to explore my own backyard. Past the grounds of North America lies a landscape of exoticism, a sense of “newness” wrapped in different languages and varied ways of carrying out daily life. Yet there are a great number of places within 100 miles of my front door that beg to be explored as well. While the languages spoken may be the same, the terrain is unique in its own way and the adventure is still there. Plus, the Pacific Northwest’s natural playground very rarely disappoints.
Case in point: Olympic National Park.
This area humbly plopped itself onto my radar and refused to be ignored. It was a quiet beckoning at first, softly inviting me in, though the more research I did, the louder the call to visit became. Not many places can effortlessly pull off an ocean coastline, dense rainforest, glaciated mountains, and rushing rivers all in one neat little natural package, yet the Olympics do so with ease.
I’ve done my fair share of hiking and backpacking trips around the world and the South Coast Wilderness Trail remains one of my favorites to date. This isn’t a push-yourself-to-the-limits kind of trip, but can instead be done at a more relaxed pace. Though it’s not without its challenges and the varied terrain keeps you on your toes. The phenomenal ocean views and incredible sunsets certainly don’t hurt either.
hike snapshot
DISTANCE
17.5 miles
Difficulty
Moderate
Area
Olympic Peninsula
BEST TIME TO HIKE
May - September
the plan
While there are many trails that you can wake up and decide to do on a whim, this, my friends, is definitely not one of them. The SCWT requires a good amount of foresight, tedious planning, and serious consideration of weather conditions. While planning this trip, I also learned quite a bit about tide charts, which is a nice skill to have in the back pocket.
If you’d like the nitty gritty details, check out my post How to Plan the South Coast Wilderness Trail, which offers a treasure trove of information I wish I had at my fingertips when I was planning the trip. You’ll find details about parking and shuttling between the start and finish, the permit process, where to camp, and more (because there is a lot more to know, let me tell you). It can be a daunting adventure to plan but just remember that this hike is spectacular and truly worth it, and soon you can be swinging in a hammock and soaking up the coastal sun a la me below:
day 1
seattle > Trailhead
The start of the journey began far too early, with the alarm making its barbaric and highly unpleasant noisemaking at 4:30am. Fortunately, we packed the car the night before so our only job was to use the bathroom and get moving, but let me kindly remind everyone that anything occurring before 7am is never as easy as it seems. The temptation to hit snooze was monumental, but the need to be on time was far more pressing.
Miracle upon miracles, we made it to the car and drove to the ferry terminal on time. After a 30-minute snooze while sailing across the Sound, we drove to Port Angeles (and by “we” I mean not me because I was absolutely asleep this whole time). An hour and a half later, we were scarfing down breakfast and coffee, then driving the 2-hour leg to Oil City, the southern trailhead of the South Coast Wilderness Trail. Now, you’d think it’d be time to start hiking, but you would be mistaken; we still had a 1.5 hour journey backwards in the direction we just came.
Right on time, our chauffeur arrives: a white 10-seater van to shuttle us to the northern trailhead. We booked this bad boy ahead of time so that we could start at Third Beach and work our way south back to the car at Oil City, where snacks and clean clothes would lovingly await our arrival.
And finally, eight hours after our alarm went off back in Seattle, we were ready to begin our backpacking journey along the coast.
Trailhead > toleak peak (5.8 miles)
The trail begins in a dense forest with sunlight occasionally sneaking its way through the canopy. It didn’t take long to hear the sound of crashing waves and soon we emerged at Third Beach, which is exactly the Pacific coastline you’d expect: a sandy beach lined with tall, dark trees and a cloud-filled sky sprinkling mist in the air. On the beach, hikers with large overnight packs walked alongside children throwing a frisbee and enjoying a simple beach outing with family.
After 1.3 miles of beach-trekking, we reached the place where we would bid adieu to most of the world. The trail continued up the cliffside, with ropes leading the way up at a nearly 90 degree angle, which gravity is quick to remind you is no easy task with a 35 pound bag on your back.
Once atop the cliffside, the trail winds through trees and greenery before emerging back on the beach at Scott’s Bluff. To round this point, we needed a low tide, meaning we needed to arrive and cross the 2 miles of beach by 3:45pm. Should we not make it in time, the S.O.L. backup plan indicated that we’d need to camp there as the tide would be back out at 10pm and camping in the pitch black is on my severe list of no-no’s. I’m not a fan of S.O.L. plans anyway, so we hustled and tried our best not to let the epic landscape distract us (easier said than done).
Luckily, we made it past Scott’s Bluff and to Strawberry Point, where we planned to camp, with plenty of time. This area is so named for the haystack that looks like the bottom of a strawberry sticking out of the water, which is not what I would have named it, but I digress. Since we had time before sunset and energy to spare, we trekked one mile further to camp at Toleak Point. Here we enjoyed a quieter area and our own beach front property for the whopping cost of $8 per night. That’s my kind of accommodations.
Admittedly, that first night I was worried about the tides. From my research, I knew the tide would be at its highest (6.54 feet) at around 4am, but where does this 6.54 foot marker end? At that log over yonder? Where does it start? At that rock the tide just washed over? Looking around, I thought that by sunrise we surely would be swept out to sea with nothing but a thin air pad as a raft. Or, at the very least, our things would be soaked in the morning. Naturally we turned to our Bible, the La Push tide chart, for answers. We used our current tide (3 feet, allegedly) as a baseline and pitched our tent much farther than where the “6.54 tide” supposedly was. “Much farther” being 25 feet from said point, to, you know, be on the safe side.
The rest of the afternoon was spent soaking up the sun, reading in my hammock, and building a fire for dinner. While it added weight and volume, I also packed beers as a necessity item. I mean, we’d drink them soon enough and lose the weight on our packs, so why not? It was worth it… until I generously shared half of mine with the sand. Beer mishaps aside (and a tragic mishap it was), this day at the beach may be among the most peaceful moments from recent memory.
day 2
toleak peak > Mosquito creek (4.4 miles)
Good news - we woke up on land! Not only that, but it was a blissfully sunny morning filled with the sound of waves. Since we wouldn’t be able to cross at Mosquito Creek until low tide at noon, we enjoyed a slow morning before continuing southward.
Upon reaching Mosquito Creek, which may want to consider renaming itself to Mosquito River, I decided there was no way I was not going to get wet, so I just forged right through. My boots would be wet for a mile or so until we reached camp, but no matter, they could dry that night by the fire. After crossing Mosquito Creek/River, we emerged back at the beach. We were a bit confused as to where the camp area was, but after a little scouting and following of signs (black and red circles indicating the route), we climbed up the hill and found used fire pits and perfect tent-pitching ground.
That night, the sunset was spectacular. The sky lit up with soft yellows and oranges, and as the sun dipped behind the haystacks it lit up in shades of red. Once the sun disappeared, it was replaced by a sky seeped in purples and pinks, strong hues that slowly faded to darkness. We climbed back up to camp, bringing some dry driftwood back with us, and enjoyed dinner and reading by the fire.
day 3
mosquito creek > jEfferson cove > Oil city (4.9 miles)
This day needed to go exactly to plan in order for everything to work out as the beach is narrow and the window to safely cross was even more so. If we missed it, we’d have to backtrack and camp at higher ground for an extra night, which was not going to fit on the agenda. With ropes, vertical wooden stairs, and small rivers to traverse, I was surprised that we made it to the beach with time to spare.
From Jefferson Cove to Oil City, we crossed the beach toward an obstacle course of large boulders and slippery rocks with razor-sharp muscles latched on to them. The best part was stopping to check out the small tide pools filled with colorful star fish and anemones. Unfortunately, Mother Nature truly dictates your time on this trail, and we could see the tide starting to come in hot, meaning it was time to part with the precious sea life and mosey back to civilization. The final day is always bittersweet - it’s exciting to complete a backpacking route, but it can be sad to leave such beautiful places.
OIL CITY & the end of a journey
We reached the beach just off the Oil City trailhead where we parked, but we weren’t quite ready to leave. We sat on the beach and watched the seagulls congregate and fly, then land and congregate elsewhere, only to take off in flight again. Sometimes I envy the simple existence of seagulls - what a life. There was a beached whale that we checked out as well. To be clear, I do not envy this guy.
When we felt ready to head back, we made our way into the forest. This little bit was allegedly one mile, but I’d gander to say it was more. Alas, we reached the car smelling like a smorgasbord of sweat and grossness and I immediately dove into the glorious snacks we smartly left waiting for us. From there, we enjoyed a smelly car ride to the Hoh Rainforest, where we would camp on the river for one more night before returning to the city.
