We have wanted to return to the Olympic Coast ever since we were here last in 2020. I’ll link the previous visit post in case you’re interested. The last time we were here, was a few months into the Covid 19 Pandemic shutdown. Shannon had wanted to go to Shi Shi Beach the first trip, however, due to the pandemic, the Makah Reservation had closed to outsiders so we’d been unable to get to Shi Shi Beach in the way we’d hoped. Still, that trip has remained as one of our favorites! It is a beautiful place, unlike anywhere else, and we both wanted to return. SO I’m interrupting the posts about Italy to report about the trip we took in early Feb 2026 to ShiShi beach.

We flew from Atlanta to Seattle on an early flight and gaining 2 hours, arrived mid-day. We had ample time to get our rental car, stop at REI to grab gas for the camp stove, and then to eat a delicious sushi lunch at Trappers Sushi Company (all in the pouring rain).We then drove about 2 hours to the town of Sequim, Washington (linked there in case you want to click to see where it is on the map) and a Holiday Inn Express. We re-packed from suitcases into our backpacks, and made a trip to the *QFC food and pharmacy* for apples, peanut butter, and bread.

The next morning, we drove the 2 hours or so to the Shi Shi Beach trailhead. The photos above are of the stops along the way; one to look for rocks, and one to get lunch, coffee, and the Makah recreation permit in Neah Bay. The drive from Sequim, through Port Angeles, to Neah Bay, on a 2-lane road along the coast was absolutely beautiful! Important to note that that stretch of road runs along the “Whale Trail” complete with storyboards at many overlooks.

The Shi Shi Beach trailhead is a 15/20 minute drive from the tiny town of Neah Bay. There is no overnight parking at the trailhead however there is a man who lives 0.5miles away who will let you park in his front yard for $10 a day. So that’s what we did.

As we’d driven a couple of hours and made a few stops, it was about 1pm before we dropped off the car, and another half hour before we got started on the trail. Thankfully, the hike from the trailhead through the rainforest to the beach is only about 2.5 miles. This first part of the hike happens on Makah Reservation land (read more about the Makah tribe there) and you must secure a recreation permit from them in Neah Bay. There’s a sign where the trail drops down onto the beach that marks where leaving Makah lands and entering Olympic National Park

Here are a few photos of the beautiful 2.5 mile hike from the trailhead to the beach

It was muddy in spots, and there was some navigating through puddles and around muck. Still, the hike is absolutely beautiful and took me way longer than it should have because of how many photos I’m taking and also because I’m injured

• Side note – I hurt my ankle about a year ago. Peroneal Tendonitis. It’s the type of injury that isn’t very serious at first, and feels better for a while after a few weeks of the RICE method (rest, ice, compression, elevation). In my case, it never fully healed. At the same time, I am walking a LOT more at work in the past 6 months and that has really irritated it and I could tell it had flared up again. So 4 days before we left, I decided to go back to the Dr about it to get some guidance about best way to employ it on a tricky hike. After getting a steroid shot in the tendon, oral steroids, and instructions to stay off of it for “3 days until you leave” I explained that I still had to work, and therefore, walk a lot. Dr said “fine, but I want you in a boot’”. One of those big giant clunky boots with Velcro straps. Dr said I could leave the boot at home on our trip as long as I was “careful” and still iced it 3-4 times per day. After I explained that I wouldn’t have access to ice on our camping trip, we agreed that I could put it in the freezing cold Pacific Ocean instead. The photo below is proof that I did that a few times. Still, there was enough of “not resting it” for the week we were there that I’m back in the boot. “Until it heals. “ #worthit

Once we hit the beach, it was just over a mile to a creek called Petroleum creek, beyond which is where we found our campsite. Shannon set out to find us the right one while I “iced” the ankle.

The campsites on Shi Shi Beach are marked by bouys. Shannon checked out 4-5 sites along the way that he declared were too muddy for us before settling on the right one. I’m always thankful for his careful assessments of things like this once I’m over having to keep walking when I’m ready to relax. 100% of the time he considers all potential problems, and is right to do so. As usual, our campsite was fantastic!

Shannon had worked hard to make sure we’d stay dry. As it was February, research had shown that we could be faced with some wet weather. Shannon brought 2 tarps to make a very particular configuration intended to keep us dry, and he was entirely successful at that. We set up camp on Sunday, and it began raining overnight Sunday night to Monday. It rained for a few hours on Monday morning, and we suited up in our rain gear and carried on.

One of the things we both remembered as a highlight of our previous trip to Olympic, were the incredible sunsets we witnessed here. We hoped to get to see another one, even knowing what we did about potential rain and clouds. Our first night we got to see a good one! The view in the photos below, is a rugged, coastal landmark at the south end of ShiShi Beach known as Point of Arches.

Also, on our first night, we caught a glimpse of some sea lions playing in the surf – quite a highlight!!

Besides sunsets, we hoped to see wildlife, (particularly whales, sea lions, and starfish), and we hoped to find beautiful rocks. One thing Shannon and I learned early on that we have in common, is that we love to collect rocks and other things on the shoreline like shells and sea glass. We have enough items collected at home to open a small museum, and are actively considering ways to keep and display all that we have. Still, rockhounding was a very big draw. We were hoping to find agates, sea glass, jasper, and lots of awesome surprises – and we most certainly did. Here’s a gallery of highlights of our finds that we loved:

Needless to say, Shannon hiked out with about 25Lbs of rocks and glass we found. We came strait home and bought a double barrel rock tumbler and are now over here hobbyist’s with rocks. We have both collected a few handfuls of rocks, shells, glass, and pottery on our previous trips, and have some of them labeled in jars out on the porch. All previously collected rocks are on deck to be tumbled as well. Stay tuned for whether or not we open a museum, make jewelry, create a new coffee table to display things inside of, open an Etsy shop, or build a bunch of shelves in the living room to display everything. All options in play at the moment!

The 2nd night, we had another beautiful sunset, and from where we sat in our camp chairs, noticed a bald eagle flying overhead.

We knew we wanted to make a trek down the beach to point of arches. It was easy for us to see, that we would not be able to get anywhere close to it at high tide. We’d kept an eye on it from a distance, and realized that it would be best to wait until “the tide was out”. On our 2nd day, we set out pretty early, and in some light rain. When we got there, at about 10am, we realized that the tide was still up quite a bit, and that it was still about 3 hours until low tide. There wasn’t enough to amuse us for 5 hours in the rain at that point, so we opted to leave and return later. As it’s about a mile to point of arches from our campsite, we opted to return the following day. I still took a lot of photos and videos, as it was still beautiful and wild.

The next day, we had a much better experience, and I’ll tell you all about that next!!