Cape Flattery

My visit to the northwest extreme corner of Washington was spectacular. Cape Flattery is breathtaking. I only regret that I limited myself to the main trail, which was short (3/4 mile one way) and made easy by tree slices, boardwalks, and viewing platforms. On the way back I noticed a side trail, unmarked, which I later learned was 3.3 miles long and led to the Strait side rather than the Pacific side of the cape, and that if one was brave enough to use the ropes, one could actually get down to the beach level. Ha! Not me! But I wish now that I had at least walked to the edge for the view, a photo of which was displayed in the Makah Museum. Instead, I drove down to Ozette Lake and took a trail out to the beach there (Sand Point). It was also 3 miles each way, with ups and downs, and so I realize I could have done the other, which would have been more rewarding. Oh well, I'll have to go back to Neah Bay and see Cape Flattery again some day.

I just can't seem to ever get tired of this view!

Okay, okay, I'll stop. It was late afternoon and very misty, so that's why the photos look subdued. At one viewpoint, there was a herring gull nest perched precariously very high up on a rock ledge. Three fuzzy gray chicks wandered around a few inches this way and that, somehow not falling off. The area is a nature preserve, which explains the very limited access. I wonder how long before somebody starts dumping, or drilling and spilling. It seems there's no end in sight for stupid, blindered spoilage of our planet. So I won't complain about restrictions.

The Makah Nation's museum was beautifully designed. I had read their web site, about their history of whaling (eight men in a canoe!), recently resuscitated in coordination with current regulations and restrictions. I saw a replica of the whaling canoe and samples of their traditional equipment in the museum, including sealskin balloons to tire the whale (a ritual now abbreviated by the more humane shooting after the lancing is accomplished). They also hunted fur seals and sea lions from slightly smaller canoes. An excellent video documentary was playing continuously, relating the tribe's history and present efforts to bring traditional knowledge back to life. Their history was limited to memories and oral tradition until a mudslide revealed a 500-yr-old village at Ozette with a multitude of artifacts reinforcing oral history (and by the way persuading the U.S. government to allow them to use fishing nets when it was proven, by remnants of fish nets made from nettles, that nets were traditional, not introduced by white settlers). I was so impressed by the museum that I was moved to buy t-shirts and a beautiful coffee mug (like I don't have way too many of both already).