Neah Bay, Washington

Good morning, my friends. We had a beautiful day of weather for our drive north to Neah Bay yesterday. We drove just a few miles out of Forks before turning onto state highway 113 heading north. Eventually we turned onto state highway 112 heading west, and then drove along the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula for the remainder of our journey. The bays we passed by were beautiful.

Passing through the small town of Sekiu...

we could see this:

Just past the town we spied this one barn of the day.

We could see ships at sea. And Hey, Canada! We see you over there!

It was only about 30 miles after we turned north, but this was one winding road along this rugged coastline.

We could see lots of sea birds sitting on rocks. I have an idea we're seen gulls, cormorants, murres, and black oystercatchers, although I couldn't zoom in for enough detail to be sure.

It took me several tries to capture these stacks. Finally, I captured them through a break in the trees.

There's the harbor at Neah Bay. We're on the Makah Indian Reservation here.

Okay now go that way...

If you hear this going off.

Nearing the end of our journey, we crossed over the Wa'atch River using the Wa'atch Bridge. (Sorry about the reflections. They're unavoidable.)

We found our campground. The office was closed when we arrived, and so we could only look at the map of the place. The hook-up sites happened to be about a mile down the road. We'd searched unsuccessfully for them and so we'd already chosen a dry camping site by the time the office reopened. We were able to purchase our Recreational Use Permit there, and it is required while visiting the area. We're just here for two nights, and we're completely self-contained, so no worries, and it is a nice and spacious site. Also, we'll save ourselves $60 by not using their hookups. 

Besides, there was no time to waste. It was a beautiful day, and the forecast had today as cloudy and a 20% chance of rain. We haven't seen any rain yet, but it's much darker and a little foggy today. We decided to do the hike in the sunshine. It was just about ten miles up the road.

Here's a little information about the trail. Please pay attention to the rules, and mind your manners.

And here's a little information about the area designated the "Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary."

Most of the way, we were walking through dark and dense forest.

Eventually, we were on a boardwalk.

In some areas, we had to pick our way over roots and rocks. The walk out to the observation platform was all a gentle slope downhill.

At the first observation platform, we saw this:

Changing positions, we could see this:

We could see large ships at sea.

At another observation platform, and on the other side of the trail, we saw this:

Looking down at the third observation platform, we could see large kelp beds.

Looking to the right...

From there, we could see Tatoosh Island and the Cape Flattery Lighthouse. It was decommissioned in 2008.

Looking to the left, we could see this:

Zooming in on some of the rocks, we could see hundreds...maybe thousands…of sea birds.

Here's another shot looking left, including some of what we could see below.

Look out under the branches, and you'll see gulls in the water.

Reaching the end of the road and the final observation platform, we could see Tatoosh Island. 

Here's another shot of the lighthouse. You can learn about its history right here. It's an interesting story, and I encourage you to read it. It was first illuminated in 1857.

To the left side of the island, we could see more sea birds.

To the right side of the island, we could see sea lions. They were barking furiously, and we could hear them at the beginning of the trail more than a mile away.

Here's another large boat traveling through the strait.

And more sea birds.

I believe these are murres.

Looking east, it looked like this.

From there, we hiked back the way we came...uphill now. We stopped and tested their benches a couple of times. As we crossed back over the Wa'atch Bridge, heading to the campground, we saw a great egret...

And another great blue heron.

There are trees between us and the ocean, but we can easily hear the waves crashing on the beach. We took the short trail leading out. Looking to the right, it looks like this:

Looking left, it looks like this:

And that brought us to the end of our day. We'll probably take another walk out to the beach today. It's cloudy and chilly right now, but we're hoping for brighter skies in the afternoon. We have just one more night here, and then we'll move on to Port Angeles about two hours down the road. 

As we were packing up yesterday, Mike noticed a tire on our truck is losing air pressure. We'll have to take it someplace in Port Angeles for repair. There is a Les Schwab there. I don't know about the rest of the country, but Les Schwab is the place for tires in the northwest. They'll fix a flat for free, simply asking you to remember them when you need new tires. We have, and we do, and we'll do it again this trip. We have one hike planned there, and the tire issue shouldn't interfere with our plans.

Also today, we might drive into Neah Bay and check out the town. We were disappointed to find all of the restaurants closed on Sunday and Monday. I'd read advertisements for a place that served Indian Fry Bread, which is just about one of my favorite foods ever. But no...they're closed. They won't reopen until noon tomorrow, and I expect we'll be gone by then. Oh well.

All right then. I need some breakfast, and then I'll probably take the first stitches on the final "Snowmen and Reindeer" block. It's going to be an easy-going day.