By Bret Wirta-The Incidental Explorer
Distance: 3 miles – Time out: two hours
The Dungeness Spit
Degree of Difficulty: 1
Pet Friendly: partially
November 22nd 2011.
The Dungeness Spit is the longest natural spit in the United States. It’s a protected strip of sand, grass and driftwood that is part of the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. I was intent on visiting the New Dungeness Lighthouse on the tip of the Dungeness Spit, but last night a storm lashed the area and another was headed our way that afternoon. I had reservations for a land and sea tour that was to leave the John Wayne Marina and take me to the tip of the spit but the captain had to cancel the tour.
Instead of giving up I called my hiking friend, Garry Huff and he agreed to walk the five miles with me to the New Dungeness Lighthouse. Gary is a retired executive who spends many of his days climbing the peaks of the Olympics. He wrote about 43 different day climbs in Peaks in the Olympics Ranked from Easiest to Most Difficult. Someday I hope to follow Gary’s footsteps and hike all forty-three peaks too.
We drove to the parking lot along the bluff and walked down the trail to shore. The spit juts out along the northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We saw storm tides lash the driftwood piled along the beach grass. There was no beach to walk along. I had forgotten to look at a tide chart and it was high tide. We tried climbing over the driftwood that lay above the surging tide. Though I’m sure that Gary preferred a more challenging mountainous ascent, after spending a half hour scrambling over the jumbled piles of logs, our goal of hiking to the lighthouse seemed daunting enough.
Late Autumn at the Dungeness Spit
The Dungeness spit is a unique place, a sliver of sand, silt and glacial till deposited at the mouth of the Dungeness River that has been shaped by the wind and waves of the strait. We watched waves crash along the west side of the spit while along the eastern edge, the inner harbor was smooth and quiet. The harbor area is closed to the public so that wildlife have a place to rest and feed.
We chatted with a fellow hiker we met from British Columbia. Like most of the people you meet on the trail, Susan was an outgoing and pleasant person. We all watched the heavy sea churn. Tall waves crashed against the spit and the uncountable number of beach stones rolled around noisily as the waves retreated. The powerful waves slapped the heavy logs all about. It’s easy to see how you could be crushed by a rolling beach log during high tide. Unfortunately this happens. There are warning signs all over the Washington Coast reminding beach visitors of the danger.
After forty minutes of climbing up, down and around logs we gave up. The sun shone down on the New Dungeness Lighthouse through a break in the clouds and it shimmered in the distance. The lighthouse would have to wait for another day. Gary suggested we walk around on the trail up on the bluff. We walked back up the hill and along the path on the edge of the bluff. You could see up and down the entire strait. The path turned inland and we walked through tall grasses and bits of forest. Deer sniffed at us and a pheasant startled us with a great whoosh of wings. It was a delightful stroll.
A friendly greeting
We met a few people walking their dog. The trails above the spit are in the Dungeness Recreation Area and are part of the Clallam County Park system. This is a separate jurisdiction from the spit in the National Preserve. No pets are allowed on the spit, but the joyous dogs we met on the trail loved the county park.
I plan on returning to the Dungeness Spit again. I really want to visit the lighthouse. Next time I’ll check tide charts.
To get to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge from the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim:
- Head west on Highway 101
- Right on Kitchen-Dick Road
- Right on Lotzgesell Road
- Left on Voice of American Road into Dungeness Recreation Area
- Park at end of road – It costs three bucks to enter the National Wildlife Refuge
The thumbnail images below can be viewed as a slide show, just click on an image to start slideshow. Click or tap on the right or left side of the image to view the next or previous image. Click or tap outside the slideshow image and the slideshow will close.
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- The Dungeness Spit
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- Calm after a storm
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- Looking back toward the Olympics
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- What is this
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- The lighthouse at the tip of the spit
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- Gary and Bret
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- We met Susan – a friendly hiker
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- The path inland
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- Open grassland
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- A friendly greeting
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