August 13th. I was excited about today's itinerary. We left Forks and headed northwest to the town of Neah Bay to see Cape Flattery and hike down to Shi Shi Beach. The drive out to Neah Bay was along a coastal highway and even though there was a lot of fog there were some scenic views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. To get to Cape Flattery you have to regist
er with a representative of the Makah Indian Reservation. We picked-up our day pass at the popular Warm Restaurant, where we would have a late lunch later in the day. Cape Flattery is the most northwest part of the continental US and is touted to have remarkable views of the Pacific Ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The trail to CF was only a half mile and even though we were tired of hiking made it easily. True to all the guidebooks the views were stunning. You can't get to any beach here, there are just sheer cliffs with a few overlooks. In places there are no fences or guardrails to keep one from just walking off the cliffs which was a little disorienting, especially for me. At one overlook, some dad was holding on to his son while the son was dangling over the cliff, I suppose to see what was at the bottom. Personally, I'd let my imagination take all the risks.
After CF, we drove to the Shi Shi Beach trailhead. All the guidebooks I read said SSB was special. Since there was a 2 mile hike to get to the beach, purportedly fewer tourists stopped at this beach. This was our last hike of the trip and it was a hard hike. Certainly longer than 2 miles, closer to 3 with one mile of muddy trail just to test us. As we neared the beach access it became apparent that the access to the beach wasn't going to be easy either. There was a narrow, steep, dizzying descent. I remembered thinking that what goes down, must eventually go back up. Anyway, this was our last beach, and we stayed awhile climbing over the sea stacks at low tide and just getting our last sense of this place that we enjoyed. The day was really foggy, so that limited how far to sea we could view. For reasons that are not exactly clear to me a lot of people come to this beach to camp out. We passed many backpackers, moving very slowly, who had camped out on the beaches for a few days. On our way back, we stopped in Neah Bay for a late lunch at the Warm Restaurant and toured the Makah museum. The museum had a small but very nice collection that demonstrated how the Makah tribe lived. There was a nice exhibit of what a long house looked like and displays documenting how they hunted whales from large dugout canoes. The marina at Neah Bay was so beautiful. By the time we were leaving, the fog had cleared and the skies were blue, the marina was filled with small fishing boats and there were eagles swooping over the water. I wanted to stay longer to take pictures but of course we had to hurry to our nights
lodging in Seiku. I won't write much about Seiku, and Curly's Resort, where we stayed. There wasn't much to write about. A small town, of which 90% was RV parks and campsites. It was an odd place that had several large examples of chain saw art, including this large eagle, I'll say no more. However, the evening was saved, because on TV there was a football game between the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals...what luck. The rest of the crew actually like Curly's. As for me, I think I would have preferred to stay in Neah Bay.
er with a representative of the Makah Indian Reservation. We picked-up our day pass at the popular Warm Restaurant, where we would have a late lunch later in the day. Cape Flattery is the most northwest part of the continental US and is touted to have remarkable views of the Pacific Ocean and Strait of Juan de Fuca.The trail to CF was only a half mile and even though we were tired of hiking made it easily. True to all the guidebooks the views were stunning. You can't get to any beach here, there are just sheer cliffs with a few overlooks. In places there are no fences or guardrails to keep one from just walking off the cliffs which was a little disorienting, especially for me. At one overlook, some dad was holding on to his son while the son was dangling over the cliff, I suppose to see what was at the bottom. Personally, I'd let my imagination take all the risks.
After CF, we drove to the Shi Shi Beach trailhead. All the guidebooks I read said SSB was special. Since there was a 2 mile hike to get to the beach, purportedly fewer tourists stopped at this beach. This was our last hike of the trip and it was a hard hike. Certainly longer than 2 miles, closer to 3 with one mile of muddy trail just to test us. As we neared the beach access it became apparent that the access to the beach wasn't going to be easy either. There was a narrow, steep, dizzying descent. I remembered thinking that what goes down, must eventually go back up. Anyway, this was our last beach, and we stayed awhile climbing over the sea stacks at low tide and just getting our last sense of this place that we enjoyed. The day was really foggy, so that limited how far to sea we could view. For reasons that are not exactly clear to me a lot of people come to this beach to camp out. We passed many backpackers, moving very slowly, who had camped out on the beaches for a few days. On our way back, we stopped in Neah Bay for a late lunch at the Warm Restaurant and toured the Makah museum. The museum had a small but very nice collection that demonstrated how the Makah tribe lived. There was a nice exhibit of what a long house looked like and displays documenting how they hunted whales from large dugout canoes. The marina at Neah Bay was so beautiful. By the time we were leaving, the fog had cleared and the skies were blue, the marina was filled with small fishing boats and there were eagles swooping over the water. I wanted to stay longer to take pictures but of course we had to hurry to our nights
lodging in Seiku. I won't write much about Seiku, and Curly's Resort, where we stayed. There wasn't much to write about. A small town, of which 90% was RV parks and campsites. It was an odd place that had several large examples of chain saw art, including this large eagle, I'll say no more. However, the evening was saved, because on TV there was a football game between the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals...what luck. The rest of the crew actually like Curly's. As for me, I think I would have preferred to stay in Neah Bay.
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