May 1, 2016
Located about 20 miles north of Cape Alava (though requiring a 2-hour drive to get there) on the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington, Cape Flattery is the northwesternmost point of the Lower 48 states. Although I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for over 30 years, I'd never been to Cape Flattery until this visit in May. That's unfortunate because, as I discovered, Cape Flattery is one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the Northwest. Like Cape Alava, it requires an effort to get there but it's absolutely magnificent. Tatoosh Island, which isn't open to the public, is about a mile offshore; if you look closely in my panorama, you can see the lighthouse there.
The west-northwesternmost point of the Lower 48 states in indicated with a label in this panorama, about a quarter-mile south of Cape Flattery. I didn't try to get to the WNW-most point because 1). there's no trail to the point and 2). it's on the Makah Indian Reservation and they don't want the public going off the trails, which I understand. I respected their wishes but at one point on my hike to Cape Flattery, I stood closer to the west-northwesternmost point of the Lower 48 states than anyone else at that moment. Hey, that's good enough for me!
The north-northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States is just around the craggy point towards the northeast. About an hour after I shot this panorama, I found an obscure trail that led to the point. I've posted a few pictures of the NNW-most point on my News: May 1, 2016 page, so please take a look.
- To see my 360-degree panorama photo, click on the photo above.
- To read about my visit to Cape Flattery, see News: May 1, 2016.
- To read about the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States, see The Northwesternmost Point of the U.S.