OCT – Twig Adventures

PCBCRT Summary and Stats

Since the Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail was my conglomeration of 4 named long distance trails (Oregon Coast Trail, Bigfoot Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Tahoe Rim Trail), it was difficult to summarize such a journey in one post. I struggled between breaking the summary into distinct parts to cover each trail, or lumping all the data together. In the end, I did a little bit of both. Several of the trails were pretty intermingled, especially the PCT and BFT. I also followed a spur trail down the California Coast, which I characterized as part of the Oregon Coast Trail, yet it was really just an extension to connect to Crescent City (terminus of the BFT) and see parts[…]

PCBCRT Day 25: Redwoods Redemption Day

August 1, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Saturday, July 29th, 2023, 0630-1700Flint Ridge to Gold Bluffs Beach Campground 18 miles, Gain 1000′, Loss 1400′, elevation 10′(My mileage also reflects the side trip I took). I had some anxious and \ or reflective thoughts overnight. I was even wondering if I wanted to continue on with my thru-hike. I think a combination of not being around other hikers, taking this detour, and being a month into the trip put me in a funk. I was also tired of smelling my funk. As I laid down to sleep, I kept getting a whiff of something bad, and I couldn’t tell if it was my gear or body or both. I guess going 2 weeks without machine washing any of[…]

PCBCRT Day 23: Crescent City Magic

August 1, 2023 kaulua26 Bigfoot Trail, Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Thursday, July 27th, 2023, 0700-2030Tolowa Dunes to the southern end of Crescent Beach15 miles, Gain 100′, Loss 100′, elevation 90′ My tent had a lot of condensation in the morning, but I actually expected worse. I tried to mop some of it up with my pack towel but there’s only so much one of those can do. I’d ended up going to bed in this went tent at the end of the day, since I never took the time to dry it…that’s how it goes sometimes. The beach was so much nicer than the day before. The wind finally died overnight and the tide was lower. A person’s experience on these coastal routes has everything to do with the tides…low[…]

PCBCRT Day 22: Into California and Kayaking on the Smith River

July 30, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023, 1500-1940Harris Beach State Park to Tolowa Dunes10 miles, Gain 20′, Loss 20′, elevation 10′ There was a lot to do this day. I needed to buy some things in town, namely a fuel canister, finish the OCT at the OR\CA border, then meet with a kayak guide, Carl, to get a ride across the Smith River. I’d read the tip about his services from Buck30’s blog. He and Steady had finished the OCT and continued to hike about 100 miles of the California Coast Trail. To stay on the beach and avoid a long road walk around the Smith River, they rented a kayak to ferry across. Since the next section of my hike, the Bigfoot[…]

PCBCRT Day 21: Samuel Boardman Corridor

July 29, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

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[…]

PCBCRT Day 20: Cape Sebastian

July 27, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

Monday, July 24th, 2023, 1000-1800Gold Beach to Crook Point17 miles, Gain 1300′, Loss 1200′, elevation 180′ I would have kept going past Gold Beach the day before, if not for needing to mail some things at the Post Office and also check the hardware store for fuel canisters. Neither were open when I got there the day before on a Sunday. I’d been limping along with my first canister for nearly 3 weeks, using it very sparingly for the past week. I was down to my last couple of boils. I called a local outdoor store but they were out… according to the clerk, all the RV people had bought them. It used to be that such travelers only used[…]

PCBCRT Day 19: Gold Beach

July 26, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

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[…]

PCBCRT Day 18: Agate Hunting

July 26, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

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[…]

PCBCRT Day 17: Stopped by the Sixes

July 24, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

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[…]

PCBCRT Day 16: Cape Arago and Bandon

July 22, 2023 kaulua26 Oregon Coast Trail, Pacific Coast Bigfoot Crest Rim Trail

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[…]

Tag: OCT