Ancient musings
Many years ago, near the mouth of the Ozette River, not far from majestic Cape Alava and just a few miles south of the Point of the Arches, stood a native village. The Ozettes were ancestrally bound to their Makah neighbors to the north, but their village, a collection of less than a dozen longhouses and storage buildings, occupied prime oceanfront real estate in what is now part of Olympic National Park.
I wonder what their days were like. The Indians who used to live there on the western edge of the peninsula, the western edge of the continent… did they wonder at the things they saw? Did they realize their amazing good fortune to be living in such a place, where the food is plentiful, the rain dependable, the sea and forest filled to overflowing with the things they needed to live and thrive? Did they watch each evening’s sun extinguish itself in the Pacific horizon, thinking it would continue that way forever?
I’m going to the old village in a couple of weeks. I want to see it again before the summer crowds get there. It doesn’t get the number of visitors that other National Parks do, but the coast trail is a popular one with backpackers and summer is when they show up in greatest numbers. I don’t think there will be too many others there for a month or so.
About Ken Campbell
New Release
A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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