 |
| Stepping out on Bayocean Spit after a ride across Tillamook Bay from Garibaldi. |
Bay mouth crossings: they’re one of the things that
make hiking the Oregon Coast Trail extra fun and different from other long-distance trails. You
can avoid them (and the uncertainty or expense of getting a boat ride) by simply
walking around the big bays, but that puts you on miles and miles of highway
shoulder walking, forces you to skip miles and miles of beach walking, and kind of defeats the purpose of hiking the OCT, in my opinion.
The good news is that there are now outfitters who will offer rides at every
major bay crossing, plus several less-major ones.
When I last hiked the OCT a decade ago, I just
hitched rides with recreational boaters across Tillamook Bay, Netarts Bay,
Siletz Bay, and the Umpqua; I paid for a ride across the Nehalem (easy and
cheap) and prearranged and paid for a ride across Coos Bay. Bumming rides from
boaters still strikes me as a good option for people willing to live with some
uncertainty (and willing to ask a favor of strangers, and eager to save money,
and inclined to not plan ahead). There are usually lots of boats out and about
in summer. (Though certain bays need to be crossed only at high tide, or only on an incoming tide; only later did I realize how lucky I was with my timing of the
tides.)
 |
| CoastWalk Oregon participants climbig into a Jetty Fishery skiff to cross Nehalem Bay. (You don't know about CoastWalk Oregon? Google it.) |
But you might prefer some predictability (and a
licensed captain) and be willing to pay for it, especially if you are hiking as
a group. Great news: there are now outfitters available to provide a boat ferry
almost everywhere you really want a boat ride. The three most important bays to
boat across, due to the length and unpleasantness of the highway-walking
alternative, are Tillamook, Umpqua, and Coos; you might be able to hitch a ride
across Tillamook Bay and the Umpqua River, but you’ll need to prearrange a ride
across Coos Bay due to the length of the ride.
Here is a downloadable list of the outfitters I’m aware of who are
offering boat ferries at each major crossing on the OCT in 2019, listed north
to south. Directions for where to meet the boat, in each case, are explained in my book Day
Hiking: Oregon Coast.
(OOPS--the link was going to the wrong list. Fixed now.)
