5 - Goodwinds Arrow to the Rescue

Once again I awoke to the now familiar sound of rain on the tent.  Today I was not walking far so I took the opportunity to sleep in.  I went through the usual routine of a walk to the bathroom followed by breakfast in the tent.

By 11:00am there was a break in the weather.  I had had enough of leisure time in the tent, charging my phone in the bathroom, and reading my backpacker magazine.  I packed up camp and hit the roads to Garibaldi.  Of course, as I walked pass the entrance station the rain started up again.

My 2.5 mile road walk on Hwy 101 into Garibaldi confirmed my decision to get off trail.  The roadsplash makes a wet hike wetter and I just don't like my brush with passing vehicles.  At one point on the highway there was one foot of space between the white line and the guard rail.  As I looked back at the line of traffic headed my way I imagined myself squashed between the guard rail and the speeding cars.  On the other side of the guard rail was a steep bank down to a paralleling railroad.  I opted to take my chances with the railroad.  At least I could jump out to the rocks lining the bank to avoid a train.  Lucky for me the Coastal Explorer did not pass through this 1 mile stretch during my time on the tracks.  Once past the squeeze, I got back onto Hwy 101 and continued onto Garibaldi.

In town I found the Lumberman's Memorial Park where there was a covered shelter.  Here is where I left the OCT route.  I went through some mixed emotions about leaving the trail.  I feel like I am giving up on it.  I went through my excuses; rain, foot rash, nagging blister under the ball of my foot, lack of camping, road walking.  Although these help make me feel better, they are still only excuses.  What made me feel okay about my decision was this; I simply do not like the OCT route and why spend my time on a route that I do not like?  There are miles and miles of other trails out there to explore.  Through the years I have proven myself as a hiker, I do not need to walk a route for the sake of adding it to the list.

So I waited under the shelter until my Dad was able to pick me up.  This would be the time to give a big thanks to Mom and Dad and my sister for putting up with my wishy washy ways and pulling me out of shenanigans like this.  When there is a will there is a way, but such support sure makes it a hell of a lot easier.  Thank you!

I am not sure I am going to completely abandon the Oregon Coast Trail.  However, if I do come back to the trail it will be to complete the "trail" sections.  I will have a car or support to help shuttle me around the road sections and provide access to camping/sleeping locations off trail for the night.

Until the next adventure!
Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

4 - Nehalem Bay SP to Barview Jetty Campground

Xena watches me put away camp.

I awoke to rain on the tent.  I stayed in my warm sleeping bag until natures urges could no longer be ignored.  I took Xena on a short walk to the restrooms.  We both got our business over with and crawled back in the tent for breakfast.  Lucky for us the rain stopped after breakfast long enough to pack everything away.  Though, it would be pushing luck to wish for a dry tent to pack away!

Nehalem Beach walk.

Xena inspects Beached Seal

Xena and I headed to the beach with our fellow OCT hikers Mr. E2 and Ms. C.  They became our hiking partners for the day.  Although the rain clouds were nice enough to hold the rain during pack up, they did not hold once on the beach.  More rain and wind for the beach walk to the end of Nehalem beach.  On this beach walk we saw a fairly large coyote which was feasting on a dead and beached seal.  I know these things happen, but it still makes me sad to see.

At the end of the beach we rounded the end of the spit and hiked inward toward Nehalem Bay where we were able to catch a ferry from the Jetty Fishery across the way.  This helped us avoid 12 miles of road walking.  Xena was not to fond of the tipsy boat ride and I was worried for a moment that she might try to jump out and swim across.  At the Jetty Fishery we paid for our fare, took a quick bite to eat, and set out again in the rain.  When you are already wet it seems easier to keep going to avoid getting cold. 

I am not sure how the three of us together missed the trail signs or misread our maps, but we ended up on Hwy 101 longer than we should have when we missed our turn off.  After walking 2 miles of unpleasant highway Mr. E2 spotted a random side trail off the road.  It seemed well built and had a wooden mask nailed to a tree near the top.  I was a little worried this would lead to a private property, but didn't see why they would have a trail to the middle of the highway.  We all decided this option was worth a shot of we could get to the beach and avoid the road walk.  It turns out this trail was built as an emergency evacuation route for a beach side neighborhood during a tsunami warning.  Yay!  It lead us right to the beach.

Xena's favorite spot to sleep!

Campsite at Barview Jetty CG

We continued on our rainy beach walk toward Barview Jetty.  About a half mile before the Barview Jetty I said goodbye to my OCT hiking partners for the day.  They were turning off early to walk into Barview where they would take a bus to avoid the upcoming road walk.  I continued down the beach to the Barview Jetty.  At the jetty I turned left and headed towards the campground.  At the first park bench I sat down and reviewed my maps.  After walking and thinking, and thinking and walking I decided I needed to reevaluate my approach to this trail.  In the next 2 to 3 days I was looking at approximately 30 miles of walking on Hwy 101 and 20 miles on smaller back roads.  These were all roads that I really did not feel comfortable hiking, especially with Xena.  It was here that I began making plans to get off trail.

As I was making these plans I saw another hiker coming up over the jetty rocks.  It was Ms. J!  Even though I only met her two days ago, a trail friend is always a welcome site.  We both ate our snacks and talked trail.  She was headed into Girabaldi where she would meet her husband and then return to the Barview Jetty campground.  After our snack we walked through the campground to the entrance booth.  Ms. J continued on to Girabaldi and I headed back to the hiker biker camp spots.

I was lucky enough to have a break in the weather where I could dry out the bottom of the tent before I threw the rest of my gear in.  However, as has been the trend of this trip, the rain did not hold out for too long.  With some half made plans between my sister and my dad I went to bed to the sound of falling rain and pine needles on my tent.

Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

3 - Oswald SP to Nehalem Bay SP

Last night I awoke in the middle of the night in my not quite supposed to be a camping spot and could not see anything.  The tree canopy was so dense it was pitch black in my tent.  The kind of blackout I thought you could only have in caves where there are literally no light-waves.  In the midst of my half awake state I wondered for a brief moment if I had somehow died in the middle of the night.  I know that is a bit much, but why else could I not see anything!  I had a short claustrophobic panic, felt for my headlamp, turned it on, and found everything as it was when I went to sleep.  Xena looked at me with annoyance.  I am okay, back to bed for the rest of the night.

At 5:15 in the morning I did see the light of day squeezing its way through the forest canopy and I got up.  I wanted to make sure that I was up and out of camp before any ranger, trail crew, or early morning hiker had a chance to find my camp spot.  I was out of camp by 6am!

Neahkahnie Mountain Trail

Neahkahnie Mountain Trail

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I only had 10 minutes of walking to get to the trail crossing of Hwy 101.  From this crossing you begin the trail up Neahkahnie Mountain.  The trail was horribly overgrown, wet from the light misting/fog, and washed out in many areas.  If anyone decides to hike from this side beware of your footing.  In an area where I could not see the trail beneath the foliage the trail disappeared from under foot.  With little grace I slid down the steep hillside 10 or so feet.  It happened so fast I think I was more shocked than scared when I stopped and found myself half kneeling and half standing in waist high sword ferns and salal.  I crawled my way back to the trail and hoisted myself over the steep trail cut like I was getting out of a pool.  Only I don't usually get out of a pool with a pack on.  By this time Xena had come back down trail to see what all the commotion was.  She gave me a disapproving look that said, " really, what are you doing?"  I continued to the summit with more precarious steps.

View from Neahkahnie Mountain

The top section of trail opens up to larger trees and wider trail with the occasional muddy bog to slosh through.  The trail does not actually hit the Neahkanie summit.  To hit the summit I set my pack down and took the 1/8 mile climbers trail up the ridge.  I had views looking down over the fog blanketed Manzanita.  Descending down the other side of the trail was much nicer.  This trail seem to be more well maintained.  The trail takes you to a gravel road which you then take to Hwy 101.

Xena on Neahkahnie Mountain

The road walking on this section of Hwy 101 was a bit scary.  There are a lot of cars on 101 and I do not like when semis or fifth wheels pass by.  When there is not a good spot to pull over I feel like I am at a 50/50 odds of survival.  In short, I do not like the road walking!

The road walk ends at Neahkanie-Manzanita State Recreation Site where you begin walking the Nehalem Beach.  While walking this beach I had two women ask if they could take a picture of Xena.  Sure, why not.  They asked what I was doing and as we continued to talk I realized that one of the women looked familiar.  I could not figure out where from.  Then as we continued to talk we discovered that we had met last summer on the PCT near Palm Springs.  At the time her and her husband where training for the El camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  They had stopped briefly to talk to Tiffany and I as we were taking a break under the shade of a tree.  We had only met that one time.  They had kept up with our blogs, but otherwise we had not had communication since.  Crazy how the world can seem so small!

After the mini hiker reunion I continued to Nehalem Bay SP.  Here I checked into a hiker biker camp site for a much needed short day!  I set up the tent and put Xena on her sleeping pad.  I didn't even worry about leaving her while I went across the park to shower.  She was snoring in the same spot when I got back.

Nasty feet!

Later that evening I had to recharge my phone in the bathroom.  While Xena and I were posted outside the bathroom doors under a walkway I met a couple also hiking the Oregon Coast Trail.  Mr. E2 and Ms. C were recent graduates from OSU.  They wanted to use this as there beginner through hike.  They too had found that finding camp spots at more regular walking distance intervals was challenging.  They were taking the bus around the areas of Hwy 101 and other roads instead of walking the road.  I said that was a great idea, because road walking on such a buys highway sucked!  I cannot take the bus with a dog, but this has made me rethink of how I should be going about this trail.

With a full charge on my phone I went back to my tent to work on this blog.  The biggest concern of this evening are the red welts/spots, maybe a rash on my feet.  They have been there for two days now and they itch like crazy!

With the sun hidden well below the horizon and
another night of rain drumming on my tent I fall asleep.

Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

2 - Ecola SP to Oswald SP - Pics

Start of Trail

My first OCT marker

16 Miles of Beach

A whole sandollar!

Sleeping Dragon - Happy Dog

Markers through Seaside

 

Shelters in Ecola SP

Sleeping Dragon resting at bathrooms in Ecola SP

Views from high in Oswald SP

2 - Ecola SP to Oswald SP

I heard rain on the shelter roof on and off throughout the night. I was disappointed to see it still raining when I woke up this morning.  Although, I had seen the forecast and knew it was coming.

Mr. E had already left camp and Ms. J was making breakfast.  I was up and out of camp fairly fast. I had run out of water last night in getting to camp and wanted to get some for both Xena and I soon.  I waved goodbye to Ms. J and her dog Denali and set off for a day in the rain.

The trail down was much nicer than the trail up. At the first parking area I stopped to filter water.  I got some funny looks. It was only a couple miles to the main parking area. In the main parking area I got more water from the tap and took a break from the rain under a picnic pavilion. Another short trail section and I was on the road to Cannon Beach. I am starting to dislike the roulette feeling of walking on narrow roads.

In Cannon Beach I waited out a heavier rain under cover in town. Just as I was leaving Ms. J walked in.  We headed out onto the rainy beach together. The stretch of beach from Cannon Beach to Arch Cape was fun. Although I could have given up the wind driven rains that put a damper on my spirit.

There are two points along this stretch that you have to wait for the tides to go around. The first was easy and we just timed it with the waves.  At Hug point the tide was too high and we had to take a break for half an hour. Then it was just a matter of avoiding the waves on the other side.

After leaving the beach at Arch Cape there was some more road walking.  It led us to this very well hidden trail head. I can see why. The trail was no more than a very overgrown old logging road paralleling 101. I guess it is better than being on 101. We took this until we crossed over 101 and entered Oswald SP.  The trail was back to muddy bogs, slick roots,  and a few down trees to keep you limber. The trail did improve in parts and we got some wonderful ocean vistas.

Near a high point I checked my phone about the camping here. According to Ms. J there is no longer camping in Oswald. Well, she was right. Now I was looking at another super long day. I wasn't sure what else to do other than to try to make it into Manzanita for the night.

I headed down trail and followed the signs to 101. Mistake! Even though I would eventually cross 101. This was the wrong trail. This one took me to the parking area about 3 miles north of where I wanted to be. While discovering my mistake I see Ms. J pop out from another direction. She detoured from the trail to meet up with her husband.

She told me how to get back on the trail.  Aftet feeding Xena I headed back up. It felt like this stretch was taking forever. By 8:30 I had not reached 101 yet. Xena was starting to lay down every time I stopped to check maps. There was no way I was going to make it into Manzanita by foot. I wasn't sure that once I got to 101 I could hitch into town so late with a dog. So I decided to backtrack about one quarter of a mile to a half way decent half way flat spot. I figured I could sleep and pick up camp before anyone knew we were here. So I did.

As I study the maps more and am realizing how much more difficult making a through hike of this trail is, I am coming to realize why people section hike this trail and skip the roads. It is making me rethink this whole idea. Hopefully a short day tomorrow will give me time to think and potentially replan. I also hope it will heal a blister I got from a clump of sand in my shoe!

Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

1 - Fort Stevens to Ecola SP

My first day started with breakfast. Mom and Dad took me out to a cafe in Rainier on the way to Fort Stevens State Park.  The trail starts at the South Jetty in Fort Stevens. According to the Encyclopedia Mom and Dad, Fort Stevens is the only location in the mainland US that was bombed during Worls War II. With no worry of bombs today and a full belly I hugged my parents good bye and set off on my journey at 9:23am.

The first 16 miles are on one long stretch of beach.  In this stretch I saw two bald eagles and 2 whole sand dollars.  I feel lile you never find them whole.  Then again, I never walk 16 miles of beach at once.

I was fortunate to have a wonderfully sunny day for my first day. The heat did bring up one of my concerns, water. Although you walk with a sea of water to your right, it is kind of hard to come by the fresh stuff from the left.  I was able to stop in the park half way through and fill up for both Xena and I.

Beach walking is fast walking.  No ups or downs or bumps to keep your eyes on the ground. Just look to the horizon and go. I was doing just that when I underestimated how far I had gone and overshot the beach entrance to Gearhart that I was supposed to take. I followed the beach to the point around Del Rey. I walked to the mouth of the creek to see about fixing my mistake but fording the creek was not an option. It was way too deep. So I decided to walk up the creek bank to the bridge instead of back tracking to the correct beach entrance. I should have gone back to the entrance because I soon found myself sinking 6 inches in a sand mud mixture.

Eventually I made it to Hwy 101, crossed the creek, and continued onto Seaside.  It was walking through Seaside that I started to realize how long this day might be. After 3 miles of walking the roads through town I still had about 4 miles once I got into Ecola State Park.

I got to the park entrance just before 7pm and started climbing the trail to Ecola point. The directions provided on the map were a little confusing.  When at 8:30pm I had not reached my 2 mile marker I was worried about how slow I must be going.  The trail was more difficult due to all the mud, roots, and a few down trees.  Not so easy when you're already tired from a long day.   Luckily,  a few things had changed since the map directions and I was happy to pop out at the hiker biker camp about 8:45! I was actually moving faster than expected. Either the point was not marked or I completely missed it.

My second delightful surprise was to find that the SP had built shelters in this camp. There were 3 shelters. I wasn't going to have to pitch my tent.

At camp I met two other hikers.  For the sake of identity we will call them Ms. J and Mr. E. Ms. J is attempting to hike the entire OCT minus the road walks on 101 which she is having her husband shuttle her around. Mr. E just moved to Oregon from New Jersey.  He is new to the backpacking world and was using this hike through Ecola SP as a beginner hike to begin figuring out how it all works. The three of us sat outside the shelters and talked trail and other stuff until 10 to 11. I was suprised I was able to make it so late!

My body didn't feel too bad for a 23 mile day, but I had a feeling I might be a little stiff in the morning. I crawled into my shelter next to Sleeping Dragon (who hadn't moved since we arrived) and went to bed for my first night.

Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

0 - Day Zero

Well, life doesn't always go as planned. I will spare my blog readers the reasons/excuses for my squeeze and simply say that my four week trip has been significantly shortened. We'll see how far I make it.

With two long distance hikes under the belt I have more confidence in my abilities. Though, I still wonder how I will fare on this trip. I usually hike in the mountains on dirt trails.  This time I will keep stride alongside the tides of the ocean.  I won't be days away from towns, but walking through them every day. I feel that I have honed my packing systems, but I still wonder what I will want to change after this hike.  I wonder what has worked so well in the forest that I may have to change completely to meet the needs of the beach.

Tomorrow I plan to set out from the northern tip of Fort Stevens State Park and begin walking south along the Pacific shoreline of Oregon.

Happy Trails,
Midnight Chocolate
and Sleeping Dragon

Planning for the OCT

Since it seems to be hard to find a lot of information for anyone attempting a through hike of the Oregon Coast Trail I decided to post all of my planning information in my blog.  When I am done I will post how well these worked!

To start I do want to mention the National Coast Trail Association web site.  This appears to be the beginning of a site that could one day provide a lot more information.  This site also provides a link to tide charts which will prove useful getting around some of those rocky points at the right time!

http://www.coasttrails.org/about.html

Map Sources

Oregon State Parks Maps of the Oregon Coast Trail

With the exception of posting any mileages, these are great maps and what I plan on using for the hike.

http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/parks/Pages/oct_main.aspx

ODOT - Oregon Coast Bike Route Maps

This set of maps will not reflect actual mileages for the OCT, but the bike ride is nearly the same distance as the hike and provides a guide for mileages.  It also provides some great information about the towns and state parks you may want to use.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/docs/oregon_coast_bike_route_map.pdf

DeLorme - Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer

I plan to rip out the coast line pages and use these as my topo maps.

https://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtdItemDetail.jsp?beginIndex=0&item=274&section=10096

Camping & Resupply Planning

National Coast Trail Association

The National Coast Trail Association site provides a list of possible camp spots.  They give you some great suggestions for an itinerary that can be used as a starting point for planning.

http://www.coasttrails.org/plan.html

Below I am posting the spreadsheet I used to plan an approximate schedule.  Note that the miles used for the segments have been pulled from the Oregon Coast Bike Route Maps so will differ from hiking miles.  Again, since information is limited, I am using this so that I have a general idea where I will be for friends and family that have said they would visit.

Hope this helps future coastal through hikers out there.

Happy Trails,

Midnight Chocolate

From	To	Seg Miles	Cum Miles	Seg Mi/Day	Days to Complete Segment	Rest Days	Cumulative Days (Rounded)	Date From	Date To
Northbound - Southern Terminus to Northern Terminus
CA Border	Brookings	7	368	15	0.47	0	1	Saturday, June 14,	Sunday, June 15,
Brookings	Pistol River	17	361	15	1.13	0	2.00	Sunday, June 15,	Monday, June 16,
Pistol River	Gold Beach	11	344	20	0.55	0	3.00	Monday, June 16,	Tuesday, June 17,
Gold Beach	Port Orford	28	333	20	1.40	0	4.00	Tuesday, June 17,	Wednesday, June 18,
Port Orford	Langlois	12	305	20	0.60	0	5.00	Wednesday, June 18,	Thursday, June 19,
Langlois	Bandon	17	293	20	0.85	3	9.00	Thursday, June 19,	Monday, June 23,
Bandon	North Bend	29	276	20	1.45	0	10.00	Monday, June 23,	Tuesday, June 24,
North Bend	Reedsport	24	247	20	1.20	0.5	12.00	Tuesday, June 24,	Thursday, June 26,
Reedsport	Florence	22	223	20	1.10	0	13.00	Thursday, June 26,	Friday, June 27,
Florence	Yachats	26	201	20	1.30	0	14.00	Friday, June 27,	Saturday, June 28,
Yachats	Waldport	8	175	20	0.40	1	15.00	Saturday, June 28,	Sunday, June 29,
Waldport	Newport	18	167	20	0.90	0	16.00	Sunday, June 29,	Monday, June 30,
Newport	Depoe Bay	15	149	20	0.75	0	17.00	Monday, June 30,	Tuesday, July 1,
Depoe Bay	Lincoln City	13	134	20	0.65	0	18.00	Tuesday, July 1,	Wednesday, July 2,
Lincoln City	Neskowin	17	121	20	0.85	1	20.00	Wednesday, July 2,	Friday, July 4,
Neskowin	Tillamook	34	104	20	1.70	0	22.00	Friday, July 4,	Sunday, July 6,
Tillamook	Rockaway Beach	16	70	20	0.80	0.5	23.00	Sunday, July 6,	Monday, July 7,
Rockaway Beach	Seaside	35	54	20	1.75	0	25.00	Monday, July 7,	Wednesday, July 9,
Seaside	North Terminus	19	19	20	0.95	0	26.00	Wednesday, July 9,	Thursday, July 10,
Southbound - Northern Terminus to Southern Terminus
Start	Seaside	19	19	15	1.27	0	2	Saturday, June 14,	Monday, June 16,
Seaside	Rockaway Beach	35	54	20	1.75	0	3.75	Monday, June 16,	Tuesday, June 17,
Rockaway Beach	Tillamook	16	70	20	0.80	0.5	5.05	Tuesday, June 17,	Thursday, June 19,
Tillamook	Neskowin	34	104	20	1.70	0	6.75	Thursday, June 19,	Friday, June 20,
Neskowin	Lincoln City	17	121	20	0.85	0	7.60	Friday, June 20,	Saturday, June 21,
Lincoln City	Depoe Bay	13	134	20	0.65	0	8.25	Saturday, June 21,	Sunday, June 22,
Depoe Bay	Newport	15	149	20	0.75	0.5	9.50	Sunday, June 22,	Monday, June 23,
Newport	Waldport	18	167	20	0.90	0	10.40	Monday, June 23,	Tuesday, June 24,
Waldport	Yachats	8	175	20	0.40	0	10.80	Tuesday, June 24,	Tuesday, June 24,
Yachats	Florence	26	201	20	1.30	0	12.10	Tuesday, June 24,	Thursday, June 26,
Florence	Reedsport	22	223	20	1.10	1	14.20	Thursday, June 26,	Saturday, June 28,
Reedsport	North Bend	24	247	20	1.20	0	15.40	Saturday, June 28,	Sunday, June 29,
North Bend	Bandon	29	276	20	1.45	0	16.85	Sunday, June 29,	Monday, June 30,
Bandon	Langlois	17	293	20	0.85	0	17.70	Monday, June 30,	Tuesday, July 1,
Langlois	Port Orford	12	305	20	0.60	0	18.30	Tuesday, July 1,	Wednesday, July 2,
Port Orford	Gold Beach	28	333	20	1.40	0	19.70	Wednesday, July 2,	Thursday, July 3,
Gold Beach	Pistol River	11	344	20	0.55	0	20.25	Thursday, July 3,	Friday, July 4,
Pistol River	Brookings	17	361	20	0.85	0	21.10	Friday, July 4,	Saturday, July 5,
Brookings	CA Border	7	368	20	0.35	0	21.45	Saturday, July 5,	Saturday, July 5,