Ranger station · Olympic National Park
A seasonal information stop before Ozette's coast walks.
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Olympic Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Olympic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Olympic audio tourRecorded for this place
Ozette: The Walk to Cape Alava“You’re nearing Ozette Ranger Station beside the lake, the starting point for the walk to Cape Alava. Choose this for a half-day outing through coastal forest and prairie to a rocky Pacific beach.”
Plays as you drive up to Ozette Ranger Station in the Parkwolf Olympic Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Ozette Ranger Station is a small visitor-information station at the Lake Ozette access hub in Olympic's remote northwest corner. It's a handy place to get oriented for a coast walk if a ranger is there, but staffing is intermittent in summer, so don't build your plan around finding it open.
Two boardwalk trails run about three miles through forest from the Ozette area to the coast. Once you reach the beach, tide planning matters: high water can make some stretches impassable.
A mudslide buried a village at Lake Ozette about 300 years ago, leaving a rare archaeological record. Excavations recovered more than 50,000 artifacts and evidence of a culture with roots at least 2,000 years old; many of the artifacts are now at the Makah Cultural and Research Center in Neah Bay.
Wildlife
710 sightingsOlympic MarmotMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
30 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
42 sightingsGrey WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
23 sightingsMountain LionMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
71 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
306 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Olympic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateSand Point Trail5.6 mi · 3.5 hr · At the trailheadA mostly boardwalk walk to a wide Pacific beach.
ModerateCape Alava Trail6.6 mi · 4 hr · At the trailheadBoardwalk, prairie, and rocky Pacific shore on a long out-and-back.
ModerateOzette Loop9.2 mi · 5 hr · At the trailheadBoardwalks, tide pools, and a rugged coast on one full loop.
ChallengingNorth Coast Route: Sand Point to Rialto Beach17.3 mi · 13 hr · 2.6 mi awaySea stacks and shipwreck memorials, with tides setting the pace
ModerateEricson's Bay Primitive Trail2 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.7 mi awayA remote, flat coast-to-lake walk on slick old boardwalk.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayOzette Boat LaunchA small-boat launch on a lake that can turn rough fast.
Campground · 0.1 mi awayOzette CampgroundA small lakeside base for Ozette's coastal trailheads.
Lodging · 0.4 mi awayThe Lost Resort at Lake OzetteA rustic base for overnight trips to Ozette's remote coast.
Beach · 2.8 mi awaySand PointTidepools and a sandy beach reward the long Ozette boardwalk.
Beach · 3 mi awayCape AlavaA remote coast reached by boardwalk through prairie and forest.Parkwolf’s Olympic ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
