Thursday, April 9, 2009

Hiking The Lost Coast

Starfish

Day 3, Last Camp:

I woke up early this morning, got the fire going again, and ate some instant oatmeal and warmed up tortillas. Our sheltered spots in the Beachwood Inn proved to be nice and warm out of the ocean breeze, and I had slept pretty well. We were in no rush, and I took the time to try and tape up my blisters as well as I could.



The days hike started off taking us a bit higher up the hillside where we actually got into the pines a bit briefly. We enjoyed the view from up on the hill, and I enjoyed every moment that I could get my boots off.

After a bit we descended down into the Big Flat area, past a fancy private home complete with it's own runway, and had lunch at Big Flat Creek. The area was dotted with driftwood structures, and we saw more people here than anywhere else. Most of those camping here were surfers after those epic waves that break over the reef here. We spoke with a few, and they all seemed pretty friendly.

Leaving Big Flat we passed Miller Flat before being dumped back onto the beach for good. This started the last big stretch of tidal zones that are not passable during high tide. We had timed our departure this morning and lunch today to get us to this point at low tide.

Along this beach section many little streams came down through the cliffs, and due to the low tide there were spectacular tide pools. My desire to take photos was tempered by my blistered heels, so I mainly just kept on trudging along looking forward to the next camp were I could get off my feet.

It was a long days hike, but despite the pain I found it a bit easier than the final portions of yesterdays hike. Arriving at Buck Creek we set up camp, pumped some water, washed up in the fresh water and took a bit of a nap. Dinner was a mix of everything we had left. I contributed a veggie Kathmandu Curry dish and some dehydrated ice-cream. Rob put in some mashed potatoes and beef stroganoff. It was quite the feast.

With bellies full we walked down the the beach to watch the sunset. I only took a few photos, then just sat back and watched the sun go down. Some moments are best seen without a camera in your face. This was one of those moments for me.

Buck Creek Sunset

The day ended talking around the fire where we were joined by a couple of other backpackers. I hit the sack somewhat early, as we had a high tide coming in at 10 the next morning and still had 5 miles to the trail head with a couple of them being impassible during the rising water.

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