Miles Hiked Overall: 53.2 (85.6 km)
Today we hiked north from the Neahkahnie Mountain North Trail-head (where we had started yesterday) back to Arch Cape where we had previously stopped hiking when we had returned home in August. Most of today's hike was in Oswald West State Park. After competing this section we will have completed the section of the OCT from the Columbia River to Manzanita. Tomorrow we will resume hiking southward.
OK, so today was crazy. The $%$@*#!@ guide book said this hike over Cape Falcon (starting at the base of Neahkahnie Mt.) was 8.6 miles. However, we went 13.7 miles!!! We hiked over 9 straight hours...ugh.. Any way, the hike was quite beautiful...very forested with 2nd growth trees as tall as the sky. It was very misty and cloudy most of the day. Sometimes the ferns were taller than us and it was like walking through a rain forest.
Much of the hike on the trail through the wood was like an obstacle course that we had experienced before - not a lot of fun. Today was beautiful but very hard with an elevation gain about 1200 feet. As I write this we are in our tent and it is pouring down rain with thunder and lightning!!! We are beside ourselves with the weather and tiredness. We had a takeaway pizza in our tent with a box of wine.
Today we ran into a couple SMOKING right in the middle of the forest! We could smell the smoke a ways away. Pam confronted them (nicely, considering all the fires) and asked them what was going on. They were kinda receptive to the idea that perhaps SMOKING in the forest was a bad idea. We stayed there long enough to see them drown the cigarettes in water. So for at least a couple minutes the forest was safe. SERIOUSLY????
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