Oregon Coast Trail: Journal Anthology

September 29, 2019 “Done is better than perfect” Read my Oregon Coast Trail anthology: Oregon Coast Trail Beach Walking Discovery Since John and I completed the Oregon Coast Trail and drove south through  California to Borrego Springs and our winter home at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, I’ve been compiling the blogposts that I wrote during …

Oregon Coast Trail: Finale

September 13, 20196:45 p.m. Finished! We crossed the Oregon-California state line on the beach at Crissey Field State Park. There was no marker. John looked at Google Maps. We situated ourselves so the little blue dot hovered over the line. Done! To get here we returned to the bus stop across the street from the …

Oregon Coast Trail: Port Orford

September 13, 2019 There are many aspects of this particular journey that are different than my other long walks – the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail, and others. One of those is what piques my interest today. Generally, I have walked each trail once, in a single direction. By contrast, we have …

Oregon Coast Trail: River Crossings

September 4-6, 2019 Three days, in which we walked into the night toward a lighthouse, stopped briefly at a County Park, camped near a river to cross at midnight, stopped briefly at a State Park, walked another six miles on beautiful beach and finally rested at a hotel in Port Orford. I’ll bundle these three …

Oregon Coast Trail: Double Day

September 3, 2019 We got up at 4 a.m. anticipating a grueling 16-mile beachwalk through ATV land. We cooked our oatmeal and stored it in our Ziploc bowl to eat later. We made tea and coffee. That put us two liters of water ahead so our combined 6 liters could keep us safely hydrated. We …

Oregon Coast Trail: Osprey

September 2, 2019 Labor Day Holiday…in which we hiked over a dune, walked the beach, got picked up by a boat, shopped at two convenience stores, a bakery, and a fish cannery, then walked a road to end the day at a state park Hiker-Biker site. We started at a wooded campsite near Three-Mile Lake, …

Oregon Coast Trail: High Tide

September 1, 2019 Our hotel rest stop was a welcome break and a sort of new beginning for the rest of the trip. We took an entire day off at the Villa West Hotel, at the crossroads of US101 and 126 in Florence, Oregon. We stayed until checkout time at 11. John’s willingness to take …

Oregon Coast Trail: Tunnel

August 30, 2019 “I simply won’t walk through the tunnel,” I said. “I will ask at the parking area until I get a ride.” That’s what I had said about the tunnel cut through the mountain on US101 just south of Heceta Head. It would be our challenge for the day, and the only place …