The three-mile trail to the cape is maintained by Olympic National Park and is a popular destination for backpackers who combine it with the beach walk south to the Sand Point trailhead, forming a loop route through one of the most remote sections of the Olympic Peninsula coast.

Visitors who make this journey see the outer coast environment that shaped Makah life: the exposed headland, the offshore rocks, the marine mammals that frequent the area, and the power of the Pacific weather systems that define the landscape’s character.

The experience of visiting Cape Alava is an experience of the physical environment that Ozette’s residents knew.

The same view of the offshore rocks and the open Pacific.

The same sound of the surf.