In September 2008 I made a through-hike of the northern half
of the Oregon Coast Trail, backpacking from the Columbia River to
Yachats. In July 2009 I completed the trail, backpacking from Yachats to the
California border. In 2009 OregonState Parks' OCT website went live,
but I find it lacks a level of detail hikers need, and it directs hikers around
bays (which ruins an OCT hike, as far as I’m concerned) rather than giving tips
for getting rides across river/bay mouths. While I work on the next edition of
the book, I’ll be blogging about the trail in greater detail, including updates
that I and other hikers (you?) have sent me and continue to send. If you use
this guide to hike the OCT and you find any changes or discrepancies with your
experience, please post a comment or e-mail me via my website (bonniehendersonwrites.com). (UPDATE: The third (2015) edition of my guideook Day Hiking: Oregon Coast is out and includes pretty much everything in this blog and more, up to when it went to press!)
The OCT is far from a wilderness experience, but that's part
of its charm; it takes in the coast's small towns, where you can stock up on
groceries or eat in cafes, as well as the state park campgrounds and waysides
arrayed along the shore, and motels are frequent enough to allow
"inn-to-inn" hiking in most places. But walking it for more than a
day is still an adventure. Creeks and bay mouths must be crossed by wading or
by catching a boat ride (to avoid a long detour by road). Campgrounds or other
suitable camping spots are widely spaced in places. The trail route is not well
marked everywhere. And there are long stretches on the south coast with few
services.
Here are some OCT basics before launching
into trail descriptions/updates on forthcoming blog posts.
PERMITS: No permits are required to walk any portion of the
Oregon Coast Trail, though some trailheads charge day use fees for parking.
WEATHER: The Oregon coast gets an average of at least 60
inches of rain a year (up to 100 inches on the north coast), but only 10
percent of it falls June through September, when river and creek levels are
also at their lowest. August and September are probably the best months to hike
this trail, though hot weather in the inland valleys can draw fog and strong
winds to the beach, usually for just a day or two. Summer's prevailing winds
are from the north, so most people hike north-to-south.
WATER: No need for a water filter on the north coast; there
are plenty of parks and waysides where you can fill up (and I really wouldn’t
want to drink from a creek here). Carry two 1-liter bottles and you'll be fine.
On the south coast, however, there are very long stretches with no publicly
accessible tap water. Consider carrying a filter or purification tablets. (I
actually made do mostly by carrying two extra 1-liter bottles, filling them
when necessary).
CAMPING: Camping on the beach is permitted most parts of the
Oregon coast. Exceptions: It's not allowed adjacent to state parks, nor to many
towns. Obviously you need to be cognizant of how high the tide is likely to
rise if you camp on the beach. Forest camping is possible in a number of spots;
there is a lovely backpacker camp at the top of Tillamook Head with snug log
shelters (nothing like this anywhere else on the trail). Camping has been
outlawed at Oswald West State Park, on the north coast, which does problems for
through-hikers; more on that in a future post. One great option (that I mostly
used) is to camp at state parks. All coastal park campgrounds are open
year-round and have designated hiker-biker camps, used primarily by cyclists. For
$6 (2013) you get a campsite in an area shared with like-minded folks, along
with restrooms and showers (no extra fee). They are spaced widely enough,
however, to require fairly long days of hiking from one to the next, and some
are more attractive than others. There are also some Forest Service campgrounds
along the coast (such as at Cape Perpetua); some are open year-round and some
only May-September.
LODGING: An inn-to-inn hike is doable on the more populated
northern coast (but trickier to pull off on the south coast due to long
distances between lodgings in places). A trip built around availability of
lodging results in a more constrained itinerary than that of a backpacker
(resulting in some long days), requires more planning, and costs a lot more,
but you enjoy the pleasure of a lighter pack as well as a bed and dry room at
night. In the fall, when there are fewer tourists, it may be possible to walk
inn-to-inn without advance reservations on the more developed north coast.
Likewise, you could investigate reserving yurts at state parks (you would still
need to carry everything but a tent, however).
TIDES: Some points (smaller headlands) may be rounded only
at mid- to low tide. Some creeks and smaller rivers can be waded only at low
tide (like the mouth of Sand Lake, below). And many beaches are much easier to walk at low tide than at high tide,
when only the softer, steeper portion is dry. A good online source for Oregon tide
tables is Hatfield Marine Science Center.
RIVER/BAY MOUTH CROSSINGS: In a number of spots, especially on the north coast, you need to get a boat ride across the larger, deeper river mouths to avoid making a long road detour around a bay to reach a bridge. Obviously, a ride is preferable, because it allows you to stay on the beach (and anyway, it's more fun). In most cases I was able to hail rides from recreational boaters, without any prearrangement. In future posts I will provide names of marinas and outfitters known to offer ferry service to hikers for a fee.
GROCERIES/RESUPPLY: Towns are spaced closely enough to allow
you to buy groceries (and even restaurant meals if you like) fairly often; no
need to send food boxes ahead, as on the Pacific Crest Trail.
TOILETS: With a little planning, you should be able to take
care of major bathroom needs by using restrooms in state and city parks and
waysides (along with the occasional pit stop to pee on the beach), except in
some wilder stretches of the south coast. Carry a trowel to bury wastes well away from water.
DISTANCES: I averaged
17 miles of hiking a day (ranged from 12 to 23); you can hike shorter
distances, but through hikers often need to go 15-20 miles to get from one
state park to the next (or, if you're hiking inn to inn, one motel to the
next).
Success! July 19, 2009
Success! July 19, 2009
