Twig Adventures

Tuesday, July 24th, 2023, 0630-1630Crook Point to Harris Beach State Park20 miles, Gain 3000′, Loss 2800′, elevation 150′ It was a good call to stay where I did. Not only was it a fantastic site but it set me up well for a 3 mile walk on HWY 101 first thing. There’s usually no better time than the early morning. Even still, there were a surprising number of commercial trucks going by…but it makes sense that professional drivers enjoy the light traffic in the mornings, as well. The highway at least had a pretty wide shoulder and also some passing lanes at regular intervals. Oddly, only a few vehicles gave me the courtesy of moving over into the left lane[…]

Sunday, July 23rd, 2023, 0600-2000Humbug State Park to Gold Beach23 miles, Gain 1000′, Loss 1000′, elevation 340′ I departed early, eager to get a head-start on the traffic. I had the second longest HWY 101 road walk coming up at nearly 5 miles. My timing was perfect, as it doesn’t get quieter than a Sunday morning. I had my breakfast at a day use area in Humbug State Park, happy to find flush toilets, but no sink or tap water. I’d sort of been counting on water being there, since it was listed in the guidebook. Luckily there was a pretty little stream, so I just filtered water from it. The guidebook said not to trust any surface water and[…]

Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, 0600-2000Sixes River to Humbug State Park Dry Run Creek17 miles, Gain 1500′, Loss 1500′, elevation 170′ This was one of my favorite campsites, so I was not excited about leaving just to ford a cold river right off the batt. It was still foggy and the wind blowing, though not as bad. I could see quite a difference in the river level but I was still about 3 hours before the low, so I think the water level was about +3′. The current was ripping at the outflow onto the beach, the swiftest I’d seen of any water crossing on the coast yet. I went for it anyway and the water only came up to my[…]

Friday, July 21st, 2023, 0600-1700Bandon to Sixes River21 miles, Gain 1000′, Loss 1000′, elevation 210′ I slept mostly undisturbed in my somewhat questionable campsite. I was finally woken by an animal, quite abruptly in the middle of the night. It made a sound like the combination of a scream and cough, repeated multiple times. Thanks to my thru-hike on Catalina Island, I knew that it was probably a fox…I’d been barked at by the miniature foxes there. This time, I wasn’t sure if the barking was directed at me or something else. Normally I would dismiss foxes as rather harmless, but I’d read an account from another backpacker whose tent was attacked by a rabid fox in Arizona. Thankfully the[…]

Thursday, July 20th, 2023, 0500-1950Cape Arago, Sunset Bay SP to Bandon25 miles, Gain 1000′, Loss 1000′, elevation 85′ For some reason, I was wide awake around 4 am, so I just started packing and was walking the trail in the dark. It was nice and quickly I was at the campground. I was surprised to see several Oregon Coast markers at the trailhead. I hadn’t been relying on them much during the whole hike, which was a good thing, since they were pretty spotty in places and then here, not even marking the actual route. I used the bathroom and saw a warning sign about there not being hot water, so I was glad I hadn’t stayed at the hiker[…]

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023, 0610-1920Bluebill Lake to Cape Arago, Sunset Bay SP10.5 miles, (plus 7 mile bus ride), Gain 500′, Loss 300′, elevation 260 I loved my little hole of a campsite by the lake. It was dead quiet once the ATVs went to bed and my tent was completely dry in the morning. The mossies did start to swarm me as I packed, then followed me down the trail a ways. They were the most aggressive I’d seen them yet. I was basically camped next to a giant swamp, so I was surprised they weren’t much worse. I reflected on how little animals had bothered me at night on this entire trip. I hadn’t heard anything walk by my[…]

Tuesday, July 18th, 2023, 0720-1730Umpqua River outlet\ North jetty to Bluebill Lake19 miles, Gain 50′, Loss 50′, elevation 40 Sometime in the middle of the night, I was woken by a siren from across the river. I was instantly awake and terrified, assuming it was a tsunami warning. I’d read that when the ‘big one’ hits, it could take as little as 15 minutes for the subsequent tsunami to reach the shore. I tried to think of what to do with my half-asleep brain and all I came up with was just to keep laying there. I hadn’t felt an earthquake, so this made me less afraid. I’d actually thought about it the day before, realizing I was in the[…]

Monday, July 17th, 2023, 0830-1910Florence to Umpqua River outlet\ North jetty21 miles, Gain 100′, Loss 100′, elevation 10 I got a lot done during my NERO in town, but I still hadn’t worked out any logistics for getting across or around Winchester Bay. Worst case, or perhaps best case, I could split a ferry ride with Mike on Tuesday afternoon. It would just mean waiting around half a day or more, which wasn’t a big deal. As such, I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to leave town. Only problem was, I needed to cross the Siltcoos river near low tide, which was at 9 am this day. However, it was a negative low followed by a +5 high[…]

Saturday, July 15th, 2023, 0520-1740Beachside State Rec to North Jetty Park, Florence 30 miles, Gain 1600′, Loss 1600′, elevation 60 I got a very early start, hoping to reach a certain area while there was still a mid-tide. It didn’t work out, but at least I was immediately reminded of why I like to be on trail so early. For starters, the highway had very little traffic. The foreground of the beach was all private property where I rejoined the highway and I didn’t feel like backtracking to the campground, so I just road walked for a mile to the next campground. I was able to use the bathroom there, then I was on the the beach, enjoying the first[…]