July 31, 2010

Getting to the trailhead is its own small errand. Shi Shi is technically inside Olympic National Park, but the access and parking are on the Makah reservation, so you stop in Neah Bay first for a separate recreation permit before you ever start walking. The name itself is Makah, roughly "surf" or "smelt beach," and it's pronounced "shy-shy." The trail in is easier than what you've probably heard: a couple of flat miles through Sitka spruce and shelf fungus the size of dinner plates, with long stretches of boardwalk laid over what would otherwise be an unavoidable mud pit. It ends abruptly at a bluff, and then you drop down onto the sand.

Tall sea stack on the sand at Shi Shi Beach, with more tree-topped stacks fading into the mist offshore

We camped right on the beach, with driftwood logs stacked around the fire pit and Point of the Arches visible from where we sat. It's a string of sea stacks and natural arches a couple of miles down the beach, a National Natural Landmark, and it's worth timing your visit around low tide. The tide pools among the rocks were full of ochre sea stars and green anemones packed shoulder to shoulder, plus mussel beds thick enough to walk on. My father, stick in hand, spent as much time picking through the pools as he did walking. It's one of the better father-son beaches on the whole coast, mud pit and permit stop included. If you want more uphill than this, the rest of my Washington hikes have plenty.

Trail details

Distance: about 2 miles to the beach, and about 8 miles round trip if you walk on to Point of the Arches
Elevation gain: about 200 feet, most of it the steep drop from the bluff to the sand
Trailhead: SR 112 to Neah Bay, then through town toward Hobuck Beach; overnight parking is on private land about 0.6 mile before the trailhead, $10 a day in cash
Makah Recreation Pass: $20 per vehicle, good for the calendar year, sold online at makah.com or in Neah Bay at the Makah Mini Mart, the marina, the museum, Washburn's General Store and the tribal center
Camping: an Olympic National Park wilderness permit, reserved on Recreation.gov
Tides: carry a tide table, aim to reach Point of the Arches near low tide, and camp above the high tide line
Dogs: not allowed
Difficulty: mostly flat; the mud and the steep drop off the bluff are the hard parts
Source: WTA (checked October 2026)

Jereme's father Bruce with a walking stick and backpack beside a twisted tree on the forest trail to Shi Shi Beach Large shelf fungus growing on a tree trunk along the Shi Shi Beach trail, seen from below Weathered wooden boardwalk winding through ferns and old stumps on the trail to Shi Shi Beach Close-up of two backlit fern fronds against a dark forest background Jereme, smiling in a red shirt, carrying a large backpack on the green forest trail View from the bluff over blue water toward the line of sea stacks at Point of the Arches Point of the Arches sea stacks lined up across the ocean under a hazy sky Jereme skipping arm in arm down the sand at Shi Shi Beach with a woman they met on the trail Footprints trailing down the empty sand toward the surf and forested headland at Shi Shi Beach Dark silhouettes of the Point of the Arches sea stacks under heavy gray clouds, surf rolling onto the beach Jereme and his father, Bruce, sitting by a driftwood campfire next to their tent on the beach Blue dusk over the sea stacks of Point of the Arches, the water blurred smooth by a long exposure Jereme's father Bruce in a flannel shirt walking down the wide, foggy beach holding a stick Gulls wading in shallow water on the beach with tree-topped sea stacks offshore Jereme's father Bruce walking across wet sand at low tide toward the sea stacks of Point of the Arches Jereme's father Bruce leaning on a tall walking stick beside a shallow tide pool at low tide Low tide on Shi Shi Beach, with rocks leading across the wet sand to a cluster of grassy sea stacks Jereme in an orange jacket and cap standing on the sand at low tide, sea stacks behind him Huge tree-topped sea stack with a cave at its base on the beach near Point of the Arches Jereme smiling in an orange jacket and rooster trucker cap, sea stacks blurred behind him Purple and orange ochre sea stars clinging to a rock wall above a tide pool Jereme's father Bruce smiling in a cap and flannel shirt with tide pools and sea stacks behind him Bright green anemones open among rocks and seaweed in a tide pool Close-up of a dense bed of mussel shells packed together on the rocks Purple ochre sea star on a rock below a thick band of mussels, a sea stack rising behind Natural rock arch standing in shallow water with grassy, tree-topped sea stacks beyond

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