Neah Bay, Washington, USA

I spent most of May and a bit of June this year in the coastal town of Neah Bay with my friend Kyla. It’s on the Makah Native American reservation. There isn’t much to the town itself: a marina, a museum, a Coast Guard station, a grocery store, a gym, four restaurants, a senior center, and a campsite. And that’s about it. My favorite part about Neah Bay was how friendly all the locals were, smiling and welcoming. Also, the natural beauty of the place is impossible to miss.

Popular tourist activities include boating, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, surfing, hiking, and camping. There aren’t crowds so most everywhere feels pretty secluded. I wasn’t there at the peak of the summer, though, so I can’t really speak for the months of July and August.

My favorite place in Neah Bay is Third Beach. It took a bit of exploring to find out where it was and the trek to actually get to the beach was a bit “raggedy” as Kyla would say. And that’s exactly why I loved it there so much!

The morning we were there was windy and cloudy, very much unlike our day spent at Shi Shi Beach. Regardless of the overcast weather, Kyla and I had a wonderful time! From exploring the sea life in the tide pools at low tide to curling up in our jackets and reading our books in the sand, Third Beach was a gorgeous beach! And for all the surfers out there, I’ve heard it’s the place to be.

Neah Bay is the perfect location to stay if you’re looking to visit the surrounding sights. We took day trips to Cape Flattery, Shi Shi Beach, Lake Crescent, Forks, Port Angeles, and we even made it out to the mall in Silverdale once. There’s a ton more in Olympic National Park that would be really great to visit, but we had trouble finding the time with our schedule.

The food choices are as follows: Warmhouse, Pat’s Place, Linda’s Pizza, and Cedar Shack. My favorites were Indian tacos (my first time ever trying fry bread!) and a slice of freshly-made strawberry rhubarb pie at Pat’s Place and delicious chocolate milkshakes at Cedar Shack.

Quick shoutout to Puffin on 101, south of Neah Bay in Forks:

I almost forgot to mention how completely gorgeous the sunsets are on the west coast. Incredible! And the sun set around 9:00 PM at this time of year — latest I’ve ever seen. The day I took these pictures, the colors were a bit softer, but there were evenings where the sky was a vibrant flash of hot pink and fiery orange flames:

The Olympic Peninsula is full of beautiful landscapes waiting to be discovered and Neah Bay is the perfect place to use as a bouncing-off point for all that there is to see. For those who have never been to the Pacific Northwest of the United States, places like Neah Bay seem out of this world.

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