Backpacking on the Olympic Peninsula
As we crept ever closer to the US and Canadian border we found ourselves in the coastal rainforest of Washington. Those of you who have been following us for at least the last year, you know that we have fully become desert dwellers. The moss-draped trees felt completely foreign to us, but we were so hungry to dive deep into this incredible new terrain.
On assignment to test out and use On X Backcountry, we turned to the app to find a trail that would give us a unique experience on the Olympic Peninsula!
As soon as we realized that you can backpack on the coast, we knew that is what we wanted to do! We’ve never had the pleasure of camping directly on the beach, let alone a backpacking trip. We identified Third Beach as a great starting point for many overnight possibilities and used OnX to find Strawberry Point.
Wilderness camping permits are required for all overnight stays in Olympic National Park Wilderness (year-round) so we reserved a permit via Recreation.gov and got to planning out overnight.
This hike is unique in many ways, but most notably you have to time your hike in conjunction with the tides. A few sections of the trail are impassable at high tide. One of the many reasons why we use OnX Backcountry is because it has a handy line distance tool that we use to determine how much distance was between each of these impassable sections. From there we looked at tide charts so we could be sure that we were starting the trail as the tide receded. Then, by the time we made it to each of these sections, low tide allowed us to hike unencumbered!
They were kind enough to give us a 20% off code for you all if you care to try it! Use code BFN at check out.
But, back to our trail. While we were out on the coast we had the pleasure of seeing countless Bald Eagles, some of which were still juveniles and lacked their iconic coloring. We also saw seals, including a mom and her pup, a curious deer who came to explore our camp, and Black Oystercatchers of which we’d never seen before!
Our time out on the Olympic Coast was the perfect way to slow down and get excited about our upcoming journey to Canada. Leading up to this little backpacking trip it left like we were in a race to get up north, but here is where we finally got to take some time to enjoy the journey a little more! We were spoiled with good weather, beautiful sights and all sorts of little critters!
A note on Backpacking Gear
Anytime we post about any of our backpacking trips we get questions about the gear that we like to take. For the most part, our backpacking setup hasn’t changed much since doing the John Muir Trail two years ago because we’ve come to love that set up so much. If you’re interested in knowing what that gear is, here is a link to our JMT packing list, which pretty much joins us on ALL of our backpacking trips:
The only new things of which we’ve been testing out these days are clothes we were wearing and my super cool glacier glasses ;) I picked those up after spending the spring in the desert where the wind was RELENTLESS. Ever since my eyes have been really sensitive to the wind and tear up pretty bad when the wind picks up. These have all but solved that problem for me. They also have a dark tint which is nice for really sunny days. As an added bonus, we have plans to spend some time on glaciers this summer in Alaska… which is what they were made for!
Here are the details for those who are interested:
REI Co-op Sahara Amphib Shorts
Julbo Vermont Classics - Glacier Glasses
REI Co-op Sahara Shade Hoodie
Well! That’s it for us! Hope you enjoyed our little journey on the coast! Hope you all are well and having an incredible summer. As I write this we are up in Talkeetna, AK having an incredible time exploring Alaska! Can’t wait to share with you all!
Be well, Love MAK!
