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Ozette to Rialto Beach Hike

From Oregon Hikers Field Guide

Beach at Sand Point (Jerry Adams)
Right after the trailhead is the junction: Sand Point is left, Cape Alava is right (Jerry Adams)
Sand Point from a campsite to the north (Jerry Adams)
Example of an official marker that shows where the trail leaves the beach (Jerry Adams)
The first half of the hike, from Ozette to the Norwegian Memorial (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo
The second half of the hike, from the Norwegian Memorial to Rialto Beach (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo
  • Start point: Ozette TrailheadRoad.JPG
  • End point: Rialto Beach Trailhead
  • Trail log: Trail Log
  • Distance: 20.1 miles
  • Elevation gain: 240 feet
  • High point: 135 feet
  • Difficulty: Difficult
  • Seasons: Year round
  • Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
  • Backpackable: Yes
  • Crowded: Yes, in the summer and early fall

Contents

Hike Description

There are about 50 miles of wilderness ocean beach in Olympic National Park, unique in the mainland United States. There are beaches, heads that are difficult to get around, sea stacks off the coast, and lots of wildlife. On this particular hike, recommended as a car shuttle, you should have the area mostly to yourself, except near Sand Point on summer weekends. Definitely, there are no motors or tourist shops.

You will need to pay for entry fees and permits. Reservations are needed to camp in the Sand Point area from May 1st to September 30th. You need a hard sided container, for example a bear canister, if you're camping. This is to prevent raccoon and bear problems. The national park says there have been no cases of bears or cougars injuring humans, but they are around. For the car shuttle, park one car at the Ozette Trailhead and the other at the Rialto Beach Trailhead. It's about 65 miles by car between these, so it's hard to do much hiking the first day. You might want to drive both cars to Ozette, leave one there, drive back to Rialto Beach, camp that night at Mora Campground, and then get an early start the next day. There is also a trailhead shuttle during the busy summer season.

The Ozette to Rialto Beach Hike starts at the Ozette Trailhead. There is one trail out of the parking area. You immediately walk by the ranger station and several information kiosks. The trail then goes on a substantial bridge over the outlet stream from Ozette Lake. Then you'll arrive at a junction. You want to take the trail to Sand Point which goes to the left. The North Sand Point Trail is about 50% board walk (which can be slippery when wet or icy) and 50% gravel. It's a pretty level three miles, gaining only about 100 feet in elevation. Mostly the trail is through forest with some clear areas.

The rest of the distance to Rialto Beach (17 miles) is along the beach. Beach hiking offers a number of challenges. Walking along the beach in sand or rocks can be hard on your ankles. It takes a little longer than on a good trail. There are numerous hazards, such as trees, that are easier to get around at low tide. At high tide, the beach is so narrow that it's more difficult to get around. And then there are many headlands to negotiate. At low tide, you can walk around them on the beach. At high tide there are trails over the head, but the trails are steep, primitive, and can be muddy. Whenever there is a trail coming off the beach, it's marked with "lollipop" signs about six feet tall. The ranger station has one of these signs so you'll know what to look for.

You want to be aware of the low tide times (see the La Push tide table). Subtract 40 minutes from low tide for the tidal difference between LaPush and all of the Olympic Pacific beaches. If it's daylight savings time, add 20 minutes.

You want to do your beach hiking within two or three hours of low tide. If you look at the tide table, you'll see that for only about half the days each month is the low tide time convenient for hiking during the day (plus or minus 2 or 3 hours on both sides of the low tide). For example, if low tide is at 6 a.m., you'd have to start hiking at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., so that wouldn't be a very good day for beach hiking. In this example, the other low tide would be at 6 p.m., so you'd have to walk until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., which wouldn't be very good either. You could get up early at 6 a.m. and walk for three hours; then spend the day hanging out before hiking from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., but that wouldn't be as good as if low tide were in the middle of the day.

Thus, you get into this routine of hiking for a few hours as far as the next campsite, then spending the rest of the day setting up camp, watching wildlife, and lazing around. This is a totally different experience than the Ozette Loop Hike, for example, which has just a short three mile stretch on the beach with only two heads that can be negotiated at high tide.

You could probably do this hike in two or three days. The list of campsites below should help to plan your trip.

Campsites (with drinking water) include:

  • Sand Point, mile 3: very busy
  • Ericson's Bay Trail, mile 3.6: can be busy with overflow from Sand Point
  • Yellow Banks, mile 5.4
  • Norwegian Memorial, mile 10: You might have to go about half a mile south for drinking water
  • Cedar Creek Camp, mile 12: also a ranger station during the summer
  • Mile 15
  • Chilean Memorial, mile 16.3
  • Hole in the Wall, mile 18: getting close to Rialto Beach, so it's busier


Heads that are best crossed at low tide include:

  • Mile 4.9
  • Mile 7
  • Mile 11.5
  • Mile 14
  • Mile 15
  • Cape Johnson, mile 16
  • Mile 17.5
  • Hole-in-the-Wall, mile 18


Maps

  • Maps: Hike Finder
  • Green Trails Maps: Olympic Coast Beaches, WA #99S
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service & National Park Service: Olympic National Forest - Olympic National Park
  • National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Olympic National Park
  • Hike 734: Day Hikes of Olympic National Park Map Guide

Fees, Regulations, etc.

  • There is a $30 National Park fee (for 7 days) that you have to pay in the parking lot; America the Beautiful Pass also valid
  • There is an $8 per night camping fee plus a $6 permit fee that you have to pay at the ranger station a short distance from the parking area. (Reservations needed for Sand Point during the summer.)
  • Dogs are not allowed here, sorry.
  • Check tide tables before the trip
  • Trailhead shuttle by Olympic Hiking Co. during the summer
  • Restrooms and picnic area at the trailheads; campground near the Rialto Beach Trailhead

Trip Reports

Related Discussions / Q&A

Guidebooks that cover this hike

  • Backpacking Washington by Craig Romano
  • 100 Classic Hikes in Washington by Ira Spring & Harvey Manning
  • 102 Hikes in the Alpine Lakes, South Cascades and Olympics by Ira Spring & Harvey Manning
  • The Best of Olympic National Park by Alan Leftridge
  • Washington Hiking by Craig Hill (partial)
  • Northwest Know-how: Beaches by Rena Priest

More Links

More Information

  • Port Angeles Visitor Center (360) 565-3100
  • Forks Visitor Center (360) 374-7566


Contributors

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Oregon Hikers Field Guide is built as a collaborative effort by its user community. While we make every effort to fact-check, information found here should be considered anecdotal. You should cross-check against other references before planning a hike. Trail routing and conditions are subject to change. Please contact us if you notice errors on this page.

Hiking is a potentially risky activity, and the entire risk for users of this field guide is assumed by the user, and in no event shall Trailkeepers of Oregon be liable for any injury or damages suffered as a result of relying on content in this field guide. All content posted on the field guide becomes the property of Trailkeepers of Oregon, and may not be used without permission.