Day 41 - Harris Beach State Park to California Border

Where I Am Tonight:   Bandon       Miles Hiked Today:  9.8 (15.8 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  377 (607 km)

Today was the momentous day....the last one on the OCT! It started at Harris Beach State Park and ended at the CA/OR border some 9.8 miles away. It was one of those great days on the OCT where you get to walk through the town (today Brookings) as well as the beach.

 

After town, I walked on country roads for awhile before finally getting to the beach. The "sand" for most of the time was made up of small rocks...that combined with the soft sand of the southern coast underneath made for particularly slow going. There were also many big rocks to scramble over. 

I got to ford one more river before I reached Crissy Field State Park, where the border is supposed to be (nobody, I guess, knows for sure where the actual border is on the beach.) I was met there by my awesome parents who had balloons and a congratulatory hug waiting for me! 

That's it...I did it!! 370-some miles...wow. It was quite an awesome adventure! Stay tuned for one more installment of the OCT blog, where I will attempt to sum up my experience on the OCT.

Day 40 - Paradise Point to Cape Blanco

Where I Am Tonight:   Bandon       Miles Hiked Today:  12.6 (20.3 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  368 (591 km)

Only 2 more sections to hike and I will be done!!!  For these last two sections my parents came down with me, so I have someone to drop me off at the starting point and pick me up at the end.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Today was supposed to be a relaxed, easy day, from Paradise Point which is just north of Port Orford to Cape Blanco Lighthouse. So many times the books I've been using for the hike have been wrong...sometimes grossly incorrect. Today was one one of those grossly incorrect days. The author didn't state how hard it would be to cross the Elk River...just to do it at low tide the book said. So I hiked most of the way for the day and got to the river by low tide. However, the water was crazy high from both the river and the ocean creating an impossible place to cross. Not only was the mouth of the river over 100 meters wide, the ocean created major undercurrents and the advice from the fishermen there was not to risk my life. So, I had to hike back to the start. My parents then drove me to the lighthouse and I did the segment from there to the river. So my easy day turned into a 12.6 mile day with all of the backtracking.  To make maters worse it was very loose, course sand that is very tiring to walk on.

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Day 39 - Bayocean to Netarts

Where I Am Tonight:   Home       Miles Hiked Today:  10.8 (17.4 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  355 (571 km)

After my south coast hikes I came home to dry out, rest up for a couple of days, and go to Matthew's choir concert.  Mike and I did a day trip today to hike the last section I still needed to do on the north coast.  We hiked 10.75 miles from Bayocean Spit to Netarts Landing today. 

It started out as a beautiful, sunny day but ended as a typical Oregon beach day...with fog and spitting rain. (It's kinda hard to see out of sunglasses with rain on them, BTW.) 

Today was the 3rd hike of the 3 Capes hikes...up and over Cape Meares. It started with a nice sandy beach then a scramble around a small rocky point with the incoming tide lapping at our feet, and the a trail up and over the cape.   The trail over the cape from the beach was challenging at the start...up a steep cliff with the aide of a rope previous climbers (I mean hikers) had left and some slick rocks. 

After some time in the forest (and a lot of switchbacks), we emerged at the top of the cape and the Cape Meares Lighthouse. 

Then we went back down the other side of the cape and into the small town of Oceanside. There we got back on the beach. We spent a lot of today walking on rocks...much of the beach is made up of rather big rocks that need to be scrambled over when the tide covers the sand. I'm very surprised that neither of us fell or twisted an ankle. We finally made it to the Netarts River where many boats were still out crabbing.

Day 38 - North Jetty Coquille River to China Creek

Where I Am Tonight:   Bandon       Miles Hiked Today:  8.5 (13.7 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  344 (554 km)

Today I went from the north jetty of the Coquille River to China Creek for a total of 8.5 miles.  LUCKILY, it rained only for half of the day!!!!!  It remained very foggy,  though,  so photos are still pretty blah.  This section of the coast is very beautiful, with nice sand and lots of rock statues. 

I had a great time watching the seagulls playing in China Creek.  The river was quite full from the recent rains and combined with the very high tide, the water in the river was really flowing and it even had wakes.  The birds would fly down the river and hop into their own lazy river, ride it to the ocean and then do it all over again.  Very entertaining!

After too many days of rain, both pair of hiking shoes are completely soaked and I just can't get them dry overnight.  So from wearing wet shoes, I now have a variety of wonderful blisters...including this set on my left heel.  Or maybe I was branded by aliens??

Another cool thing I saw today were the many paddle boarders taking advantage of the heavy surf and big waves where the ocean meets the Coquille River.   I watched them for a long time, too!

Day 37 - Ophir Wayside to Gold Beach

Where I Am Tonight:   Gold Beach       Miles Hiked Today:  10.8 (17.4 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  336 (540 km)

Today I hiked from Ophir Wayside to Gold Beach, 10.8 miles.  The lady who runs the hotel has been asking me about my hiking the last few days and last night asked if she could take me to the starting point today so I didn't have to  try and take the bus or ride my bike.That was awesome!  Here is a shout out to Chinook Inn in Gold Beach, www.chinookinn.com.  It isn't fancy, but the rooms are large, comfortable, quiet (it isn't right on the hwy), and the staff are very helpful and nice.

Ok, so the horrible weather continues!  It just poured all day plus the wind nearly knocked me off my feet dozens of times.   My rain gear only can do so much...I'm sure it was soaked through before 10 minutes were up.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do tomorrow as now both pairs of my hiking shoes are soaking wet.

I only included one photo of a bleak beach...no need to see more of that.  There is also a photo of the beautiful forest I walked through.   There is a local iconic rock structure that I walked by today on the beach but the weather was so horrible and I could hardly see it so I didn't take a photo.  I'll drive by it tomorrow so if it's nice, I'll include a photo tomorrow. 

Day 36 - Rouge River North Jetty to Cape Sebastian

Where I Am Tonight:   Gold Beach       Miles Hiked Today:  10.4 (16.7 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  325 (523 km)

Today was sunny-ish!  So happy!!  Today I went from Rogue River North Jetty to Cape Sebastian.   I was able to use the local bus today to get back to my car which was nice.  It does not officially stop where I wanted, but if you can convince the driver to stop they will.

Note that today I took the same photo of the great view as I did yesterday at Cape Sebastian.   It's not such a spectacular view but it does show you the difference between yesterday and today - there actually is an ocean out there!

As a reminder, here is yesterday's photo.

After going over the cool bridge into Gold Beach, I walked along the Rogue River for a little bit and enjoyed the geese, ducks and many seals playing in the river.

Then I went onto the beach.  Today was supposed to be horrible for winds, the high tides and sneaker waves...and it certainly didn't disappoint.  I've never seen a beach so full of debris from the ocean..mainly wood (sometimes whole trees!).  The tide was so high that there was literally no beach to walk on....so I had to walk on 101.  I did try to walk a little bit on the beach but I was caught in a sneaker wave and although I was way up by the grass, it still nearly knocked me over...so I decided it wasn't safe.

The big rock is called Kissing Rock.

Up by Cape Sebastian,  the views were beautiful.   I love this "cave" created by the bushes.  The walk from the beach to the top of the cape was very forested and dark.

In some areas the trail is well marked but in in others markings are non-existent.

Tonight I spent the night in Gold Beach again.  When Mike and I were there we had pizza, but we walked by a Chinese restaurant named Wong's on Hwy 101.  It was open and with the lights on you would see that no one was in there other than a worker even though it was dinner time.  So, tonight I figured I should try out Wong's.  The food wad great.  When I got there I was the only customer, but before I left 6 other people came in.  Hopefully they get enough customers to stay in business.  Perhaps this is typical for restaurants in small towns on the coast during the off season - maybe they make most of their money during the summer and if they stay open during the winter they just hope to cover their costs.

Day 35 - Cape Sebastian to Pistol River

Where I Am Tonight:   Gold Beach       Miles Hiked Today:  5.6 (9.0 km)

Miles Hiked Overall:  314 (506 km)

I hiked from Cape Sebastian State Scenic Corridor to Pistol River State Scenic Viewpoint, for 5.6 miles.  Thank goodness it was a short day!  Today was an absolutely horrible day, weather wise.  It POURED rain the entire day and the wind was blowing so hard...the radio told me 50 MPH gusts and I believe it.  And it was so cold!  I mean, it is the coast in mid October and I'm a true Oregonian and can totally deal with rain, but COME ON!  Just gross.  So not many pictures and certainly nothing to see. 

This is the view of the ocean at Cape Sebastian.  So many clouds. 

This is the Pistol River that parallels the beach for quite a while.

This is me wondering why the heck I am doing this!