Incredible!
-- The Ozette Loop Hike
On Saturday, Sept. 23, thirteen SkiHawks set
their alarm clocks for REALLY early and headed for Lake Ozette on the
Pacific Coast. The long drive more than paid off with a great
hike, which was led by Ed Bentley. What a choice! The
rugged beauty of the north coast is awesome. The weather was
perfect. And the wild life viewing was prime. Of
course, it helped to have a wildlife biologist in the group (Rich
Poelker) - both for what he knew and the quality of his binoculars!
The trail is heavily used but once we were clear of the
trailhead, we walked the three miles on the boardwalk through the
forest as if we were the only ones there. Before we even got to
the water, we could hear the sea lions barking.
The three-mile beach walk was a good physical workout (not
just a flat walk on sand). We went over fallen trees, under
fallen trees, up rocks, down rocks, and across a whole lot of kelp that
had been torn up in a recent storm and tossed on the beach. (Felt
like walking on crispy Jello.) And then there was the trip OVER
second headland via ropes. That was a great chance to find out
what it's like to rappel. Big fun once we were down. And
pretty cool that we could watch gray whales spouting beyond the break
while waiting a turn to get down it.
As if the sunshine and sea life weren't enough! When
we got to Wedding Rocks, we also got to see petroglyphs estimated at
300 to 500 years old.
Before we left the beach for the other three miles of
boardwalk through the woods, we took time just to watch for a
while. Within view, all at the same time, were a bald eagle
perched on a rock on our left, harbor seals hauling out to sun on rocks
to our right, two sea otters playing in a kelp bed in front of us and
gray whales spouting and breaching beyond them. It's gonna be
hard to top that.
This was a fantastic hike. And for the (sane)
majority, who made it part of various versions of a weekend adventure,
the weather and the terrain offered even more fun before and after.
Written by Mary
Lloyd Pictures courtesy of Mary
Lloyd and Rich Poelker
