Wednesday September 11, 14.6mi/23.5km

Cedar Creek Camp (1205.7/10ft) to Cape Alava (1217.0/20ft) (WA)

I was moving at the usual time of 7:15am, excited for the finish today.

It was neat to see the sunlight creep over the seastacks, as the sun rose in the sky.

The seaweed beds were thick today, too.

It was a cloudy, cool day. Perfect for hiking!

I started seeing many different animal tracks on the sand.

And more tracks…

And then, I saw a bear on the beach! So I’m guessing these were bear tracks.

There was a small bluff that I had to go over because of the high tide. Fortunately, there was a small tunnel!

I saw more animal tracks, and then some dragging marks. It appears a bear had found a washed up seal!

Poor seal (Sea Lion?)

The beach alternated between nice sandy stretches and rocky parts.

I crossed paths with a guy named Charles, who had just finished walking the Pacific coast… from Tijuana! He was hiking out, and finished with his adventure!

There were plenty of deer along the beach too, eating the dune grasses.

And a few miles later, I came across a wonderful surprise. At a spit called wedding rocks, there were ancient petroglyphs carved into the rocks!

I reached Cape Alava at 1:30pm, and it was beautiful, but not very climactic.

And of course a panoramic shot:

And I met a couple of ladies, from Portland and London, who offered to take my photo. Actually, many photos, they were having fun doing a hikertrash photo shoot!

I hung around and celebrated with a can of wine and some kettle chips, then started my 3mi/5km hike out to the trailhead parking lot. It was a very nice trail.

Most of it was cedar boardwalk!

I arrived to the trailhead an hour later, at 3pm, and promptly got a ride out to the main highway.

I caught a bus from my drop-off spot on the highway, and two hours later I was back in Port Angeles. And much to my surprise, I received a call from my friend Rob, and he and Steph drive two hours to come pick me up! So awesome!

The PNT was an amazing trail, I’ll have more thoughts on it in the coming days. And I’m planning a couple more mini-adventures (1 week each) in California.

Recon, signing off from the Pacific Northwest Trail!