Monday July 17, 29.9km/18.6mi

Col de Lizuniaga (24.5km/225m) (España) to Hill above Elizondo (54.4km/310m) (España)

There were six of us camped at the restaurant last night, and the other four left earlier than me and Lea. The restaurant opened at 8am and we wanted to get a cup of hot tea and a croissant. After our relaxing breakfast, we hit the trail which was a dirt road most of the morning.

There were plenty of views of the Basque country farmland along the way.

These horses here are not afraid of anybody and don’t run away, it’s very strange.

Today’s goal was to make it to the little Mountain village of Elizondo.

Yup, the horses here definitely look like cows. From a conversation last night, I’ve also learned that they are likely being raised for meat.

There were a couple of small wrong turns along the way with all the criss-crossing farm roads, but we were both enjoying the scenery of the farmland.

We caught up with the two Dans, and had a short break near this tree, which I called The yoga tree, because it looked like some sort of inverted yoga pose.

The afternoon went by quickly, and I was equally distracted by the nice scenery and trying to remember how to properly conjugate various verbs in Spanish.

Later in the afternoon, the clouds started to move in a little bit and the weather cooled down.

At the end of the day we descended toward Elizondo and left the bare hilltops, and entered a denser forest.

It’s so cool randomly seeing these old historic buildings that are like 400 years old.

Yep definitely a damp climate here, there was tons of moss everywhere.

Lea and I took a short little side trip to a cascade, which was pretty neat but not as big or deep as we had hoped. We were both looking forward to taking a swim.

While walking towards and away from the Cascade, we heard gunshots from far above on the hilltop. And then suddenly very small pieces of ceramic were raining down on us through the trees, which was quite alarming. We quickly figured out somebody was clay target shooting above us and the pieces were falling here on this popular tourist trail. We got out of there as quickly as we could, it was only another kilometer to Elizondo.

When we got to town we took a quick swim in the river, and then walked over to the main village center.

We met the police in a little village square and gave a report about the shooting incident. They took down all the information, which took a little while with me since I had to figure out how to say some very specialized words in Spanish that I would never use normally (i.e. “bala”). We met up with one of Lea’s friends, Luca, who would be joining her for the next few days. We had dinner and a beer at the outdoor dining area, and then hiked a kilometer out of town to camp. Another full day!

Sunday July 16, 24.5km/15.2mi

Hendaye (0.0km/3m) to Col de Lizuniaga (24.5km/225m) (España) +2.7km looking for gas

I left late from my campsite at Camping Alturon, since I know the store didn’t open until 10am. I walked the 1 km back to town and enjoyed the view of the Atlantic ocean. There were tons of surfers out today!

Unfortunately when I got to the outdoor store they were sold out of gas canisters.

I walked over to the official start of the HRP, which is also the start of the GR10.

The little seaside village of Hendaye was full of tourists and little shops.

After I left the main commercial district, I enjoyed a walk along the bay for a while.

Most of the houses here were similar in style with the red clay roofs!

After 3km I finally left the pavement and was hiking on a little trail. It started to climb up and I got a better view of the ocean behind me.

Because this section is also the GR10 it is very well-signed. There are these bright yellow markers at junctions along with the elevation stamped into the post.

Looking ahead, toward a huge mountain that I would pass by at the end of the day:

For most of the afternoon the trail passed through farmlands. The cows here definitely look different.

I also met a couple that was hiking the HRP. They both spoke English as their first language so it was easy to converse with them.

As I climbed higher and higher I could see down into the little villages and farms.

For an hour I traversed a bare hilltop, which was full of horses. From a distance I thought they were cows because I could hear all the cowbells… But it was actually horses wearing bells. Which I guess makes them horse-bells?

The hill was 500m in elevation so I had pretty good views all around me.

I thought this sign was funny, requiring you to keep a 20m distance from cows. Ha!

Most of the signs in this part of Spain are written in two languages, Basque and Spanish. I understand a single word of Basque. After I hiked around the hilltop and dropped down into a forest, I emerged at a surprising site. A tourist village!

There were even cows lying around the parking lot, haha.

It was actually a pretty big mountain village.

I checked a few stores for a camping gas canister…no luck.

My plan B is to just eat other food for dinner until I can find a gas canister. I will be passing through a couple more towns in the next couple of days so hopefully I can find something soon. At the end of the village, the sidewalk ended and I took the elevator down to the road level.

I’ve never hiked a trail that had an elevator on it! Cool. After I left the village I passed over the next hilltop which was full of old historic bunkers from World War II.

It also seemed like a wet area as it was full of these massive slugs.

Halfway through the day I had met a French girl named Lea, and we had separated near the village. At the end of the day she caught up to me, and we talked in Spanish for a little while using my limited vocabulary. Pretty soon we also caught up to another group of guys from London, both named Dan.

There is a little bar/restaurant at Col de Lizuniaga, which allows hikers to camp on their lawn. We also ordered a beer and a snack.

We also needed water, so Lea and I went down to the little fountain. Getting water is so easy on this trail!

The sun sets pretty late here around 10pm, and we stayed up talking until then, not realizing how late it was. I was pretty tired from walking in the hot weather and also from using my language brain. A pretty great first day!

Tuesday July 11 to Saturday July 15, 0.0mi/0.0km

I arrived to Paris Tuesday afternoon, and

Wednesday July 5 to Monday July 10, 0.0mi/0.0km

I must have been tired, because I slept in at the hostel until 9am. The first task of the day was to retrieve my car which was in storage, so I rode the Max train up to Beaverton.

By the time I got to my car, it was noon so I had lunch, and then spent most of the afternoon shopping for various pieces of replacement gear that had worn out. There are a ton of outdoor gear shops scattered around Portland, so the process was not efficient. When dinnertime came around, I found myself just north of Portland, so I stopped at a place called Pinky’s pizza. They specialized in whiskey drinks and crafts pizzas.

The next day I had a few more errands to do, like getting my car’s oil changed, and doing a little bit of food shopping. And of course the requisite visit to salt & straw. Yum.

That night I got on a red eye flight to Charleston, where my sister and brother-in-law live. I was able to sleep for a couple hours on the plane, and by the time we landed it was morning.

The timing for this visit to Charleston was for my sister’s birthday, and a bunch of other people also arrived on Friday.

Their dog Gus was loving on everybody!

Saturday was the big day, a party by the pool!

On Sunday we had a more relaxed day, and went to see one of their friends perform with his band.

On Monday, my brother Jeff arrived back to Charleston so we had lunch at Lewis Barbecue. That afternoon was my flight to Paris, with a stopover at JFK. The plane going from JFK to Paris was huge and modern, and not very full so I had a whole row of seats to myself. Strangely, the USB ports were still the old style. Bummer.

I slept pretty well on that plane, and arrived to Paris on Tuesday afternoon. Time for a new adventure!

Tuesday July 4, 9.0mi/14.5km

Harris Beach State Park Campground (398.2/145ft) to Southern Terminus/California Border (406.3/40ft) (OR) +0.9mi to Oregon Welcome Center

I started hiking at 7am, since I wanted to finish by 9:30. There is an 11am bus just 5 miles from the finish, and I wanted to give myself extra time in case the taxi didn’t show up and I had to walk those 5 miles. As expected, it was easy hiking on roads.

I got one last few of the ocean before the fog moved in.

I walked through the little town of Brookings, which seemed really sleepy and quiet.

As I left town I crossed my final river.

There was an hour of walking down a rural road past farm fields, which looked really neat in the dense morning fog.

And then at 9:30am, I arrived at the Southern Terminus and the finish!

It’s at Crissey Field State Park (which is also the Oregon welcome center), they had tons of displays, exhibits, and free brochures to promote state tourism.

One of the staff took my photo with their official finish sign, ha!

I exited the park back to the main highway, and waited by the California border for my taxi.

The taxi arrived on time, and took me to the bus stop 5 miles away.

Oregon has a really good statewide public transit system, and from here I would spend the next 11 hours riding different buses all the way back to Portland, which was like 400 miles away.

I had a 2 hour layover in the city of Grant’s Pass, which for some inexplicable reason had dozens of bear statues scattered throughout the city.

I grabbed an early dinner at Grant’s Pass, since I had just realized it was a holiday today and I probably won’t be able to get food later. From Grant’s Pass I rode the Greyhound bus 6 hours to Portland, where I arrived at 10pm and checked into a nearby hostel. Long day!

The Oregon Coast Trail was a fun experience, and it was really easy hiking. The only difficult part was figuring out camping each night, since there is very limited legal camping, and it’s usually spaced at odd and infrequent intervals. My camping summary is that I stayed at hiker/biker sites for 9 nights, stayed at hostels/motels for 5 nights, and stealth camped for 6 nights. It turned out to be a somewhat expensive trail, since I paid for a place to sleep 75% of the nights. Between the limited camping, and the extensive highway walking, I’m not sure I would recommend it…
but maybe just a few short sections.

I’m sure my next hike (which I start in a week) will be much more wilderness!

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!