Olympic Coast Hike Summary Day 5

For reasons beyond my control, I could not do a solo trip this year. In order to continue to put out a Hike with Me book this year, I’m going to use the coast hike. These entries will be shorter than normal, because the full story will be published this winter.


I cowboy camped. I have proof.

Faking sleep? Yes. But that is how I slept.

A whale was beached here a few years ago. Now, just the bones remain.

An Ambrose added for scale. 

I got better at spotting treeline campsites. Of course, some of them were pretty obvious in retrospect.

Buoys in tree? Check. Swing? check. Probability of campsite: High. 

I asked Ambrose to take pictures of me going up and coming down the required headland trail.

This is one of the few shots that doesn't include his fingers. 

We found a good spot to wait out the tide. A fresh water trickle and plenty of driftwood to sit on.

Trust me, this is a good flow of fresh water. 

When we passed the spot where we had lunch on the first day, I knew we weren't going to make it to the Chilean Memorial before the sun set. 

While Ambrose climbed down, I took pictures from our former lunch spot. 

And so we traversed Cape Johnson in the dark. There was no headland to avoid the rocks. Our headlamps guided us and we didn't get to bed before 11 p.m.

The sun has gone to bed, but we have more to do before we could.