Category Archives: Trail Reports

Day 1- Ozette Ranger Station to Cape Alava

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We caught an early 6AM flight Friday morning from LAX  (the flight ended up being delayed for an hour and a half) and arrived in Seattle at 10:30AM. After picking up our rental car, lunch, water and fuel we headed out to the Ozette Ranger Station. We arrived at Ozette Ranger Station around 4PM only to realize this is a seasonal ranger station and our backpacking permits should have been picked up at the Wilderness Information Center (WIC) in Port Angeles! After reading over the online permit again, I realized it was my oversight. We were relieved to hear from the maintenance worker that the ranger will be coming back to the station later in the afternoon. The ranger finally pulled in at 6PM and was able to sort out our back country permit and lend us a couple bear canisters. IMG_20160513_165206.jpg

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Overview of the North Ozette Coast, Washington

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IMG_20160513_195436.jpgA couple weeks ago, Louis and I both had a last minute 4-day weekend and decided we would use it to backpack the North Ozette Coast located within the Olympic Wilderness and National Park area. Similar to the Lost Coast write up, we will break up this trip into several different posts including daily trail reports and tide reports.

Olympic Wilderness Coast is located 4.5 hours west of Seattle. The upper most portion of the coast (Shi Shi Beach) is a part Olympic National Park, while the reminder of the norther coast is a part of Olympic Wilderness area. Our choice of transportation for this trip is taking a flight from LAX to Seattle and renting a car to drive to the coast.  Continue reading →

Redwood State Park- Klamath and Miner’s Ridge Trail

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The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Klamath River and Miner’s Ridge Trail near Elk Prairie Campground.
Distance: 2 miles of walking around Klamath River and 8 miles round trip to Miner’s Ridge Trail
Terrain Type: Coastal, partial shade and good coverage on Miner’s Ridge Trail
Good to Know: Spend some time walking around the beach at the mouth of the Klamath river. It’s a good spot to watch for marine wildlife.P1080903.JPG Continue reading →

Redwood State and National Park

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The drive from Medocino to Redwood State and National Park was about 3.5 hours. We checked out from Glendeven Inn at 11AM and arrived at Kuchel visitor’s center at 3pm. The park ranger gave us some car camping choices and we decided to camp at Elk Prairie campground for the next two nights.  Campsites at the park before Memorial Day weekend can be reserved at a first come first serve basis. Elk Prairie is located within the Redwood State park boundary. Much of the campsites are located underneath old growth redwood trees, camping underneath these old growth trees definitely gave a mystic feel the whole experience. Continue reading →

Trip Report- Sykes Hot Springs, Big Sur, CA

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The Quick and Dirty:

Location:  Backpacking Sykes Hot Springs in Big Sur, CA.  The Pine Ridge trail head starts from Pfeiffer Big Sur State Beach and overnight parking is free at the lot.
Distance and Duration: 10 miles one way on the Pine Ridge trail to Sykes camp,  we finished the hike in about 4 hours one way.
Permit: No advanced permit reservation is required however a back country fire permit is needed if you want to cook with a stove or start a camp fire. At the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Beach ranger station, you can obtain the back country fire permit and for a $1 donation, the rangers will provide you with a nice trail map of the Pine Ridge trail.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed in the national forest and to the hot springs
Trail conditions: This is a very popular trail, therefore the it is well maintained and clearly marked.
Good to know: Beware of the abundant amount of poisonous oak on the trail. When arrived at Sykes camp, you will be required to cross the stream several times to get to the campsite and the hot springs. Be extra careful crossing the streams in the spring time when water flow is fast. It’s always a good idea to walk up and down the stream and pick a spot where the flow is the slowest before you cross. Having water shoes to cross the stream is a good idea or we just took off our hiking shoes and went bare foot across the stream.

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Louis getting ready to start hiking at the Pine Ridge trail head

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