Kristy and I set out on the 4th of July with the goal of utilizing the packrafts to do a different Ozette loop, only possible with a packraft. A lot of people hike the upper loop to the remote beaches and other people kayak on lake Ozette, but unless you have a packraft, you cannot do both. Our plan was to packraft down the lake, roll up our boats and hike across to the ocean, then hike up the remote beach and back through the rainforest to the car. We wanted to experience both the wildness lake and ocean.
We carried our loaded-up packs down to the boat launch, inflated the packrafts and were off. No more than 5 minutes later, we encountered a small blacktail deer in velvet. It was really cool to see a deer from the water and just cruise on by in our boats. I took that as a good omen, that this was going to be a good trip.
We had been warned about the wind and chop that can occur on Lake Ozette and stayed closer to shore, ready to bail and hike if needed. Sure enough, as afternoon was approaching, the wind picked up. It was gusty, but we felt like we could manage it. Struggling along, we finally paddled around the corner and into the calm bay. Almost to camp, we pushed on. It was turning out to be a ideal summer evening on the lake.
Jon Dykes
@realjondykes on Twitter