Canoeing Lake Ozette - Washington Canoe Trips

Hiding up in the NW corner of Washington is Lake Ozette, the third largest lake in Washington. Ozette makes for a perfect first time canoe camping trip. The lake is only 8 miles long but it has large bays to explore. As scouts, we wanted a 50 mile trip so we hugged the shoreline around the entire lake and hiked out to the coast to reach 50 miles.
The trip starts at the Ozette Ranger Station at the Ozette River outlet boat ramp. There are several established campgrounds around lake with the best one on Tivoli Island near the south end. There are two boat access only trails from the lake out to the Pacific Ocean. These are nice because they will take you to areas south of the popular trails out of the Ranger Station. At times, the lake can get windy, mornings and evenings are usually good. Sometimes the fog from the ocean will come across the lake, hopefully you'll be at a camp because navigating becomes very hard in it. Most of the route is inside Olympic National Park but the east shore has a few unobtrusive private cabins. This is the Olympic Coast so be prepared for wet weather.