Cape Flattery
Directions: From Neah Bay in the Makah Indian Reservation drive west on Bayview Ave for one mile following signs for “Cape Flattery and Beaches.” Take a left on Fort Street and in .1 mile take a right on 3rd Street. In another .1 mile turn left onto Cape Flattery Road. In 2.4 miles pass the Tribal Center. Then proceed for another 5.1 miles to the trailhead.
Ownership: Makah Indian Nation
Trail Distance: 1.5 miles roundtrip
Difficulty: moderate
Fees/Permits: Makah Recreation Pass required (available at Washburn’s General Store and other reservation sites in Neah Bay).
Notes: Kid-friendly, dogs prohibited, restrooms available
Hike to the northwesternmost point in the continental United States. Cape Flattery protrudes into tumultuous waters where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Pacific. It’s a land of dramatic headlands, sea stacks, and deep narrow coves. Scores of seabirds ride the surf and scavenge the sea stacks. Common murres and gulls nest in the fortresslike cliffs. Harbor seals, California sea lions, harbor porpoises, and sea otters ply the cape’s waters.
Glaucous Winged Gull
From viewpoints teetering high above the surf, look for marbled murrelets, Cassin’s auklets, tufted puffins, black oystercatchers, phalaropes, cormorants, loons, scoters, grebes, sooty shearwaters, Leach’s storm petrels, pigeon guillemots. During the summer months watch for black and Vaux’s swifts.
Directly offshore is 20-acre Tatoosh Island which once served as a summer fishing camp for the Makahs. The U.S. Coast Guard first constructed a lighthouse on the island in 1857. The current structure is automated. Now only sea lions, seals, and scads of seabirds live on Tatoosh.
Trail currently closed due to Covid.
