Monday July 3, 29.2mi/47.0km

Cape Sebastian State Park (369.8/280ft) to Harris Beach State Park Campground (398.2/145ft) (OR) +0.7mi navigation problems, +0.1mi campground

I packed up early at 6am, because I was camped in the middle of the trail, but also because I had to hike 30 miles today. The first hour through the forest flew by quickly.

As I climbed up to the top of Cape Sebastian, I emerged into a meadow of wildflowers.

And of course the view from the top was a nice reward.

Looking ahead to the beach I would hike next:

On the descent, the trail tunneled into the bushes.

And eventually the vegetation became taller trees, but it was still a tunnel!

When I neared the ocean, the forest opened up. I also had to watch for poison oak in this section.

It was fun to walk just above the sea for awhile.

And there was a steep drop down to the beach, using these ropes as hand lines.

Because it was still quite early in the morning, the beach was full of fog and mist.

And of course there were some nice huge rocks and crashing waves nearby.

I left the beach on another one of those cool access trails through the dense seaside vegetation.

I hiked the highway for a very short bit, and then I entered the Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor.

This is the part of the Oregon coast that inspired the creation of this trail. It was super scenic.

For the rest of the day I was in the scenic corridor, mostly hiking on trails.

Occasionally there would be a tiny little pocket beach, but the trail did not venture down to those areas.

When I got to Natural Bridges viewpoint, there were heaps of people milling around.

Including one person I knew, and had met a month earlier in the Grand Canyon!

Chaos (his trail name) is from Germany and I had a fun time catching up with him and his family. I hiked on, passing by another arched rock formation.

And more absolutely insanely beautiful views.

It was nice that they built trails through this entire section, but it was constantly going uphill or downhill, and it was very tiring.

There was one tiny section of walking on the road, where I had to cross the tallest highway bridge in Oregon.

I thought it was strange that they had to post a sign that prohibited jumping from the bridge…it’s 345 feet down the water! Death. At the other end of the bridge I turned into the forest, and followed the constantly undulating trail past some more amazing views.

I hiked through one little area called Indian Dunes, which was formed from sandstone.

It was exhausting to hike to the top of, but the view was worth it.

After a little more forest hiking, I dropped down to Whaleshead Beach.

It was a very short beach, maybe only a mile long, and there were almost no people on it.

The trail to exit the beach had eroded away, and the first bit was a steep scramble.

After a mile of climbing up into the forest, I emerged at the Cape Ferrelo viewpoint.

I could see my final beach of the day, Lone Ranch Beach.

There were tons of people on that beach, so I could tell I was getting close to town. It was less than a mile long, and pretty soon I was hiking uphill back into the forest. So many ups and downs!

The last mile of the day was on a nice bike path that paralleled highway 101.

I was relieved to get to Harris Beach State Park, it was a very tiring day of constantly hiking up and down. As usual, they had a campsite for the hiker/biker people.

I set up my tent, took a shower, and then came back and moved my tent….I realized I had set up next to a homeless woman, who was shouting randomly every 30 minutes. That’s a first!

The rest of my final evening on this trail was uneventful, and I slept pretty good despite that woman shouting through the night. Tomorrow is just a couple hours of roadwalking to get to the southern terminus and the finish!

Sunday July 2, 31.3mi/50.4km

Humbug Mountain State Park Campground (338.1/80ft) to Cape Sebastian State Park (369.8/280ft) (OR) -0.4mi shortcut thru town

My plan was to hike 30 miles today, and even though I woke up early, I somehow didn’t leave camp until 8am. I guess I was too busy chatting with the other campers about their bike trips from Alaska to Mexico! The first couple miles of the day were on a nice forested trail.

The last part of the trail looked and smelled like it had recently been weedwhacked. After that nice trail I had a couple hours of walking along highway 101. It’s not ideal, but this southern section of trail does not have many other options. There are no side roads, and the beach is too rocky/cliffy to hike. It was nice to have a view above the Pacific Ocean though.

Every once in a while I would pass a little roadside business, but this one took me by surprise. I did not expect to see a 33ft/10m tall T-Rex dinosaur standing next to the road!

I think the attraction was called Prehistoric Gardens, a very cheesy little tourist spot. I kept going along the road until I got to Sisters Rocks, a famous view along the Oregon coast.

And then I had some fast easy beach walking along Ophir Beach and Nesika Beach.

Then I was back on a road for a while, but this time it was a nice dirt road with no cars.

And then I entered my favorite spot for the day, Otter Point State Recreation Area. It had these cool little trails thru dense coastal bushes.

And every once in a while the trail would approach the edge of the cliff, with a bench and some spectacular views.

And to continue with the pattern for today, I descended back down to the beach.

There were lots of rocks in the water, which I always like to watch the waves crash up against. I was on the beach for an hour, and then it ended at a jetty for the Rogue River.

I scrambled up to the top of the jetty and hiked along it for a few minutes. I think they build these to keep the sandbars from shifting around and blocking the shipping channel in the river. It was very windy here since I was exposed to the ocean from both sides.

And across the Rogue River I could see the little town of Gold Beach.

The Rogue River is massive and it starts way up in the Cascade mountains, so I would have to cross it on the highway bridge.

So I hiked on the road again for a couple miles, but this section had sidewalks which was a nice improvement.

And I was way above the Rogue River.

I think further upstream, this river is known for whitewater rafting and kayaking. As soon as I was across the bridge I was in Gold Beach.

I walked right through town and I even stopped at a grocery store to get a couple of snacks. This is the most remote section of trail, and there are no stores or places to get food for the next 40 miles. I got back on the beach and hiked it for a couple hours.

I could see my destination for the evening getting closer, Cape Sebastian.

It was a little tricky to find the start of the trail leaving the beach, but it was actually a very nice trail once I was on it.

For some reason, locals had decided to decorate and name this tree. Fascinating.

By now it was 8pm and I was looking for a spot to camp, probably on the side of the trail. The area was pretty flat but it was also quite brushy.

I had to get creative, and eventually I found a little spot under a spruce tree. My home for the evening!

I could hear the ocean crashing far below me on the rocks, and I fell asleep to a nearly full moon.

Saturday July 1, 24.5mi/39.4km

Boice Cope Park Campground (316.4/33ft) to Humbug Mountain State Park Campground (338.1/80ft) (OR) +0.8mi campground, +2.0mi Sixes River oopsie

I was awake at 6:30 when the sun started sneaking through the tall trees in the campground. I packed up, found the campground hosts and paid them, and then hit the trail. I had to head back out to the beach, and on the way I passed by Floras Lake.

There were a few people on the lake, I think they were doing kiteboarding. Cool. I hiked on the beach for less than 10 minutes, which was great because it was still that soft annoying sand.

I left the beach and turned off into the forest, which was a nice change of pace.

I had a small climb up to the top of the Blacklock Point. It was only 200ft/60m up, but the view was still amazing.

I hiked a little further to another viewpoint, and from there I could see my next objective, Cape Blanco.

I descended to the beach on a nice little trail, and in a few minutes I was back on the beach.

This beach was nice to walk with its firm sand. After a mile of beach walking, I had to wade across the Sixes River. The guidebook says this is crossable at low or mid-tide… that turned out to be a slight exaggeration. It was exactly mid-tide, and the only spot I could find shallow enough to cross was at the spot where the big waves were breaking. Nope! So I hiked upstream half a mile, where the water was perfectly calm. Time to swim! I inflated my sleeping pad, and put my backpack & most of my clothes on it, so they would stay dry. After a very cold swim while fighting a slight current, I dried off on the other side. Eesh. Eventually I warmed up and did the final mile of beach hiking, before climbing up to Cape Blanco.

Cape Blanco is the westernmost point in Oregon, probably the windiest too. It also had a cool lighthouse which was open for tours.

The inside had some neat exhibits & history about the place. Plus, it was out of the crazy wind.

The view back to where I had just hiked, with the Sixes River in the distance.

I continued on through the windswept landscape, with the tall grasses undulating in cool patterns from the wind.

Once I got into the forest, there was no more wind and I stopped and had lunch at a random picnic table. It was probably one of my most scenic lunch spots.

From there I dropped down to Cape Blanco Beach, which was a nice wide flat beach.

I could see a seal flippering their way across the beach back to the ocean. He/she left these really cool prints in the sand.

I had one more river crossing, and getting across the Elk River was easy, since it was only shin deep.

I had an hour relaxing beach walking….

….before leaving the beach and hiking through the little town of Port Orford. There was a local farm store that served ice cream in fresh-made waffle cones, so of course I had to try one.

I was tempted to stop and get dinner at one of the local fish places, but I had to keep going, to make it to the campground by 8pm. I dropped down to Battle Rock Beach.

About halfway through this short beach walk, I came across a seal that did not immediately flee. It also made moaning noises. Either it was sick or something was wrong with it.

I called the number for Oregon Marine wildlife, to report the seal. Hopefully they can help it or save it before it dies. After I left the beach I had a short road walk on highway 101. There wasn’t much traffic on the section and the views were pretty good.

Pretty soon I turned off onto the old highway, which was decommissioned when they built the new highway like 40 years ago.

It was neat seeing the weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement which still had the yellow paint in some places. And the views were still amazing.

When I got to Humbug Mountain State Park I checked in with the office, and got a spot at the hiker/biker site, as usual. These spots were really nice! They had new picnic tables and fresh wood chips on the ground to make it soft.

After dinner I looked at my maps, and realized that camping opportunities in this final section are really infrequent. Basically in the next 60 miles there are two legal camping spots, one in 20 miles, and then the next is 40 miles later. My plan is to hike 30 miles, stealth camp, and then do another 30 mile day to make it to the legal camping spot 60 miles away. Hopefully these final 2.5 days goes according to plan!

Friday June 30, 28.7mi/46.2kmSeven Devils State Recreation Site (290.0/23ft) to Boice Cope Park Campground (316.4/33ft) (OR) +0.5mi to campground, 1.8mi GPS correctionI woke up early from my questionable camping spot, and was hiking on the beach at 6am.Within a mile, I had reached Fivemile point, a rocky outcropping that is only passable at mid-tide or lower.Many of the rocks were covered in millions of little barnacles.Eventually I could see the clouds starting to clear, though it was still very windy.After a couple of hours I exited the beach at one of the usual fluorescent yellow signs.The trail went through a dense brushy section, and then a swampy section with a raised boardwalk.I emerged at a state park campground, where I took advantage of the running water and refilled my water bottle. When I left the campground, I was on a roadwalk again. The first obstacle was a narrow bridge with no shoulders, the only one like this on the entire trail.There is a button for hikers/cyclists to press, which makes some yellow lights flash and lowers the speed limit for the cars. Since drivers are legally required to give you 4 feet of passing space, I created a little traffic bottleneck. It was funny to watch! Pretty soon after that I was in the town of Bandon.It had a cool little waterfront downtown area, where I stopped for an early lunch. Many of the buildings had big murals painted on the side.After lunch, the rest of the day was a beachwalk. A cold, windy beach. I started out at the Jetty…… And pretty soon I was in this cool rocky area.I love when the rocks have these little tunnels or caves.As I hiked through these narrow areas, I could feel the wind getting funnelled through.All the little pebbles on the beach were showing how windy it was.For a couple of hours it was a nice beach walk on hard & flat sand.It was funny seeing an exit sign for an upcoming campsite. Usually 3 miles would take an hour to walk, but this beach had become slanted and full of loose sand, making it hard to walk. It took almost an hour and a half!It was still cold and windy, but it appeared the clouds were starting to break up.Yup, even behind me, I could see this gap in the clouds growing larger.I got to the designated campsite, and I actually met two other OCT thru-hikers! Cool.But when I tried to setup my tent, it was so windy it was an impossible task. Sadly, even though it was 7pm, I had to continue hiking another 4 miles to find a sheltered spot in the trees up ahead. Onward.At least it was cool to watch the sunset over the rising tide.I finally exited that windy and terrible beach at 9pm, and within a few minutes I was at a county campground.Usually all of the campsites are reserved months in advance, but at most campgrounds hikers/bikers have a special group site that is available. At this county campground, it was nothing formal, just a grassy spot in the middle of the campground loop. I setup under the only tree, and made dinner and was in bed by 10pm.It felt good to be warm again!

Thursday June 29, 25.8mi/41.5km

Bluebill Campground (264.5/33ft) to Seven Devils State Recreation Site (290.0/23ft) (OR) +0.3mi campsite searching

It was a nice quiet night at the campground, and I left at 7am and hiked for an hour down the access road. When I got closer to the highway, the views opened up and I could see across the bay.

The road went across a short causeway, which was a neat experience on foot. Water in all directions!

After I rejoined Highway 101, I got to walk across the McCullough bridge, a mile-long span over Coos Bay.

It climbed up, pretty soon I was 200 feet above the water.

It was in impressive feet of engineering, and I enjoyed checking out all the trusses and supports.

On the other side of the bridge there was a small interpretive display explaining its history and designer, Conde McCullough. All these bridges by the ocean are being slowly damaged by salt water corrosion, so ODOT has developed a clever system to spray them with a zinc coating to act as a sacrificial anode. Chemistry in action!

Pretty soon after the bridge I arrived in the town of North Bend.

Which apparently is a logging town.

It had a neat little downtown, and I was tempted to stop at one of the many cafes, but I already was carrying too much food in my backpack.

For a couple of hours I walked through lots of different neighborhoods. This sign says I entered Coos Bay, but I could not tell the difference. It was all one long strip of development.

I attempted to stop at a Subway, to buy a sandwich for lunch and use some Wi-Fi. When I asked for the Wi-Fi password, the manager said they purposely don’t have it, and they even turn off all the outlets so people don’t hang out. Huh?! (Every other business has learned that the longer people stay, the more food they will continue to buy.) So I hiked a little further through town, and went to a local sandwich shop, which was delicious. On my way out of town I passed the cool house. Geodesic domes are my second favorite type of dome!

I passed through one more tiny town, Charleston. It was on the harbor, and definitely a fishing town.

It was, as I have come to expect, very foggy. It seems like the Pacific ocean is foggy 22 hours a day.

I then left civilization to walk up the rural Seven Devils Road. It climbed 500 feet up and over 7 Devils Head, which started off foggy….

… But pretty soon cleared up to a nice blue sky.

It was a rather pleasant road, and I saw only a dozen cars in the two hours that I walked it.

Eventually it turned to a dirt road, and then I saw zero cars.

At the end of the day I came to 7 Devils State Recreation site.

It was right on the ocean and had amazing views of the sunset.

My map showed that there was supposed to be camping here, as well as water spigots, picnic tables, and bathrooms. It had only 2 out of the 4 things, as it lacked water and official camping. But it was 8pm, so I could go no further. I asked a nice couple, Darryl and Kindred, for some water and they graciously offered me a whole gallon! (I only needed a liter). They were fun to talk with, and I enjoyed ending my day on a positive note! I made dinner at one of the picnic tables, and after everybody else had left the park, I setup my tent behind some bushes.

I thought it was very well hidden.

Once I got into my tent, I realized how cold and windy it had been outside. I’m glad I’m tucked under these trees and bushes where it’s nice and warm!

Wednesday June 28, 18.4mi/29.6km

Sparrow Park Road (234.8/23ft) to Bluebill Campground (264.5/33ft) (OR) +0.3mi campground, +0.8mi lunch stop

I had a great sleep at one of the best campsites on this trail so far. No wind, no rain, no car headlights… just a nice flat spot under some spruce trees. The first hour of hiking was on an old dirt road.

The relaxing tranquility of that road was contrasted with the next eight miles of hiking on highway 101. But it was the only way to get over the Umpqua River, since the boat shuttle isn’t operating.

I walked through the little town of Reedsport, which appeared to be mostly a strip of development along the highway, with all the usual chain restaurants and businesses.

Finally I got to Winchester Bay and left the highway. It was a cute little tourist town with a bunch of waterfront restaurants and a marina.

Normally I would have stopped for some lunch or ice cream, but I needed to cross an upcoming river during low tide. So I continued on and hiked through the dunes.

And pretty soon I was back on the beach again!

I had about 2 hours of beach walking before crossing the Tenmile River, which can only be crossed at low tide. I had a good pace on the firm sand, and the lack of wind certainly helped too. Occasionally I would see these massive clusters of birds, which contained an odd combination of different species.

I got to the Tenmile River about 30 minutes after the lowest tide, and it was an easy knee-deep crossing.

I could imagine at high tide, with 6 more feet of water, that crossing would be impossible. And since it was low tide, I could also see all the water-formed ripples in the sand. Neat.

As usual, the seals liked to hang out near the rivermouth.

I had another 3 hours of walking on the beach before the end of the day, and as I hiked on the tide continued to get higher. I was forced to walk higher on the beach, until eventually I was almost up to the dunes.

This part of the beach is open to ATV drivers, so the usual nice firm sand was all torn up and loose. It was very slow hiking and after a couple miles of that misery, I detoured inland to an old road.

The sand was still a little soft but at least I could walk in the grass on the firmer ground, so it was slightly better. I was very happy to see the parking lot, which meant the end of this section.

I left the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, I think for the last time.

I hiked another 10 minutes on a small road to a nice developed campground.

There were like 25 campsites, but only four other groups were staying here, so it felt very remote. I setup on one of the more wooded sites, to be protected from the morning dew and wind.

I had planned on enjoying a relaxing dinner at the picnic table, but the hordes of mosquitoes had a different plan for me. So I retreated into my tent to finish dinner, and watched some TV episodes that I had downloaded onto my phone. Looking ahead at my maps, I realized that tomorrow there would be no beach walking, which I’m actually kinda thankful for after today’s experience with soft sand.

Tuesday June 27, 18.4mi/29.6km

Florence town (217.0/20ft) to Sparrow Park Road (234.8/23ft) (OR) +0.6mi crossing streams

After taking care of a bunch of errands, I finally left the hostel at 11am. One of my tasks was to renew my PO box, and since the USPS website isn’t working I need to go to a local post office to renew. Finally I leave town at noon and cross the bridge over the Siuslaw River.

It’s a nice day today, and I could see across the bay to the ocean.

I leave the highway after a mile and walk down the access road to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area.

I don’t see any cars on this road, and it’s a nice pleasant walk through a coastal forest.

After a couple miles, the road ends and I cross over the dune and drop down to the beach.

Most of this National Recreation Area is open to ATVs, which are allowed to drive on the beach. All the spinning wheels tear up the sand, so I opt to hike closer to the ocean where the sand is firmer and not messed up.

I had kept a pretty good pace all day knowing that I had to cross the Siltcoos River at low tide, which today happened at 1:30pm. I get to the river at 2:30, which is close enough.

It was a pretty easy crossing and only knee deep. Usually at these rivermouths, seals like to hang out on the sandbars. I scanned the area thoroughly and noticed a couple seals doing just this.

The rest of the afternoon was easy walking on a nice firm beach.

There was another little river to cross, but this one was not dependent on the tides. The Tahkenitch River was only shin deep where I crossed it.

Towards the end of the day a line of clouds moved in, making some interesting shadows and light patterns on the beach.

The beach right in front of me was sunny, but everywhere else was cloudy!

I exited the beach at Sparrow Park Road, which is one of the access points to this beach. There were some good camp spots in the trees, and I was very happy when I found this perfect flat spot under a bunch of spruce trees.

After setting up and making dinner, I studied my maps to re-plan tomorrow. Usually, hikers would continue on the beach for another 5mi/8km, and get a boat shuttle across the next bay. But the marina has not returned my multiple voicemails, so I can’t assume there will be a boat waiting for me at the crossing point. Instead I will hike a bunch of roads to get around the bay, adding 6 miles to my day tomorrow. Theoretically the Oregon Coast Trail doesn’t have much roadwalking, but if the boat shuttles are closed or cancelled (tides/weather), the only way around those bays is by hiking on highway 101. Blah.

Monday June 26, 27.5mi/44.3km

Cape Perpetua Campground (190.1/140ft) to Florence town (217.0/20ft) (OR) +0.6mi trails to campground/hostel

I packed up from my campsite and hiked out at 7:30. There was a little mile-long trail that led back toward the beach, and it went through all these huge old spruce trees.

As I expected the beach was foggy, as it usually is in the early morning.

I hiked a nice trail for a couple miles that paralleled Highway 101, but high above it, so I didn’t know it was there.

Soon the trail ended and I had to walk on the highway for 6 miles. That wasn’t great, but at least it had some pretty good views.

This was a really fun row of houses to see, the beach towns up north always had colorful houses like this. As I’ve hiked further south, the houses have become more gray and boring.

More nice views from the roadwalk.

After a couple hours of roadwalking, I dropped down to the beach. There is no town near here so the beach was almost perfectly empty!

A couple miles ahead, I could see Haceta head in the distance, covered in clouds.

Slowly the clouds shifted away, and it seemed like it was going to be sunny by the time I got there.

I left the beach on this neat little path called The Hobbit Trail.

I climbed 500 ft up to the top of Haceta Head, where I had a good view back to the beach I had just hiked.

A few minutes further down the trail and I came to the Haceta Head Lighthouse, a very popular tourist attraction.

I went inside to look around, and didn’t get very far since they weren’t giving tours today.

It’s not a very tall Lighthouse but it was very well kept.

The view to the north from the lighthouse lookout point:

I walked on the tourist path to the parking lot and saw the Cape Creek Bridge, which I would soon be walking over.

The architectural style of the bridge was very unique, it looked like a double layer of bridge. I followed the access road up to the highway, where I crossed the bridge and soon came to a tunnel.

The tunnel was only 200 m long, but it was very narrow and a little scary to hike inside with the traffic. I pressed the button that makes the yellow lights flash to warn of bicyclists and pedestrians in the tunnel. Having got through that obstacle successfully, immediately after I hiked by the Sea Lion caves attraction.

In the summertime, the sea lions are not in the caves, but laying out on the rocks so I didn’t see the point in paying the admission fee. I continued on the road walk for 3 miles, frequently getting great views of the beaches ahead.

After the road walk was a blissful 6 miles of beach walking. It was pretty windy but since I’m walking with the direction of the wind so I didn’t care.

At the end of the beach was a jetty, marking the outlet of some inland river.

So I followed the jetty inland to a series of roads, which traveled along a beautiful little bay for a while.

Pretty soon I entered the town of Florence, which had a bunch of quirky little attractions.

And I believe Exploding Whale Park is a reference to the 1970 incident when the town tried to remove a dead whale with dynamite.

I ended my day at the Florence hostel, a cute little house just a block off the main strip of Florence.

The main rooms were very nice, and the kitchen seemed to have everything including a bunch of breakfast items!

I got settled into my room, went to the Safeway to buy some food, then made dinner showered, and did laundry. I spent the rest of my evening doing planning for the final week of this hike, and my travel to the next hike!

Sunday June 25, 30.8mi/49.6km

South Beach State Park Campground (159.3/33ft) to Cape Perpetua Campground (190.1/140ft) (OR)

I was awake early to begin a long day of hiking, most of it being easy miles on beaches. A few minutes into my day and I saw my first wildlife!

To leave the campground I had to hike over a few dunes. The soft sand is always slow going.

And then I was on the beach! There’s a ton of stuff that washes up from the ocean, most of it is dead crabs, jellyfish, and kelp. This object was none of those things, and it almost looked like a skeleton.

My second wildlife of the day was a seal, who was napping on a sandy spit.

The beach went on and on, under the morning’s cloudy skies. Usually the clouds burn off around mid morning.

In some of the rocky cliffs, there were little caves that had been formed by the erosive power of the sea.

At one point I came to a little stream crossing that was deep enough where I would have to take off my shoes to cross. There was also a bridge a couple hundred meters inland, so I detoured to the bridge.

After another hour of beach walking, I departed the beach at a minor headland.

I love these neat little trails, they’re so hidden in the brush that you can’t see them until you’re right in front of the entrance.

I arrived at the Alsea Bay bridge at lunchtime so I ate lunch in the little picnic area at the base of the bridge. I couldn’t figure out why the area had so many concrete obelisks.

The Alsea Bay Bridge was huge, it was about a half mile of walking to get to the other side.

On the other side, I was in the town of Waldport, “where the forest meets the sea”.

There were lots of little shops and restaurants, it was maybe six blocks long. Many of the buildings had amazing artwork painted on the side.

After I left town, the trail left the road and returned to the beach. I was seeing seals everywhere!

An hour later, I saw a very different type of ancient wildlife, a redwood stump. The stump was not washed here by the sea but instead grew in this spot, 1200 years ago. The climate must have been different then, because in modern times all of the redwoods grow much further south, over 200 miles away in California. Cool.

After a couple hours of beach hiking, I could see the end of this beach. The clouds had been accumulating all afternoon, but no rain happened.

I left the beach just north of the town of Yachats, on this very nice path called the 804 Trail.

It was now high tide, and the waves were crashing thunderously on the rocks.

Watching waves crash on rocks is so much more fun than watching them gently roll up on a sandy beach!

There was a state park with a little beach, which was more protected from the crashing waves.

I walked through the little town of Yachats, and since it was 5pm I decided to have dinner.

I ate at Luna Sea Fish House, of course ordering the fish and chips.

After spending an hour at the restaurant I continued my walk through town. It was a cold day so unsurprisingly the beach was empty.

There was a few minutes walking next to Highway 101 on a little path.

And pretty soon the trail turned into the forest, where there were a bunch of interpretive displays and artwork. Of course I had to get a photo next to the bear statue.

This section of trail is called Amanda’s Trail, named for an elderly blind woman of the Coos tribe, who was forcibly marched (along with the rest of the tribe) by the US government to a distant reservation, where many of them died of starvation and disease. There was a statue to memorialize her.

After spending some time exploring that sad spot, I crossed the nearby creek on a swingbridge.

I climbed 1,000 ft up Cape perpetua through an increasingly wet and green forest.

There was a nice viewpoint at the top.

Since I was so high I was up in the cloud!

I hiked back down the other side on switchbacks, and within a mile I was at the Cape Perpetua Campground. I talked to the campground host who told me that all the OCT hikers camp on site 29A, the hiker/biker site. That site was an extra half mile walk from the entrance, bummer. 10 minutes later I was at my campsite, and had my tent set up under a big spruce tree.

Since I had dinner in town just 2 hours before, I didn’t make my usual pasta dinner at camp. So with almost no camp chores to do, I was in bed at 9pm. Long day!

Saturday June 24, 2.2mi/3.5km

Newport Yaquina Bay Bridge (157.1/140ft) to South Beach State Park Campground (159.3/33ft) (OR)

I was awake at 5am, strangely it was already light out at that hour…. Being this far north during the longest days of the year makes for confusing sunrises.

I hiked an hour back to my car, and after organizing some gear I was on the road at 6:30. It was a 6-hour drive back to Portland, where I put my car back into storage and then took the subway to Union station. I had about 30 minutes before my Amtrak train left, so I caught up on emails.

The inside of the train was very nice, and I need to remember to travel by train again. It was a very spacious and easy experience.

Basically reversing the process from 3 days ago, I got off the train in Albany, and I took the same bus back to the coast at Newport. By now it was 7pm, so I hiked 30 minutes to the closest campground. First I had to hike over the Yaquina Bay bridge.

It was a very tall bridge so ships could pass underneath, in the view from the top of the bridge towards the sea was spectacular.

On the other side of the bridge I got distracted by the Rogue brewery. They make some famous and very delicious beers, so I stopped in for a pint!

From there I had 15 minutes of hiking to the South Beach State Park.

Once I was in the State Park, all the trails were paved and went through these dense coastal forests. Neat!

It was a huge Campground, but eventually I found the hiker/biker site, and setup my tent next to a few other human-powered adventurers. It was only 9pm but I was exhausted from a long day of travel, so I instantly fell asleep.