Mama's Casa

I was able to stop in and see my mom before I flew out of town. I called Ben before I came to California and asked if they would come to Sunday dinner so I could see their kids. They came and Aaron and Jacklyn came. It was fun to hang out with my family that I don't see very often.

My mom made a family favorite: sweet and sour chicken.

 The kids love playing on the trampoline.

 We snuck in a partial group shot right before Ben and company left.

I hate living so far away from this crew. So grateful they spent some time to come say hi.

The Lost Coast Day Three

This day was so great. We didn't know how awesome it would be to sleep in and hang out until 11:30am waiting for the tide to start to recede. It was amazing. It was so nice to take our time in the morning. Let our tents dry out. Eat a warm breakfast. Enjoy a Brady fire. Watch the Otter put on a show for us. It was a great start to the last day.

Our Otter friend. It was way better than the zoo. He swam did flips and showed off for a little while.

Time to start hiking. This was our first time hiking while the tide was going out and it was awesome. We hiked a little over 7 miles to Shelter Cove. The bad news was that it was all on sand. Lots of it was on really fine black sand which meant we were not super fast.

 Another foggy gray day. Luckily we didn't have any precipitation.

 Some of the beaches were so rugged.

 It is crazy how yu felt all alone. We hardly saw any other hikers. In the peak season this would be a little different because they give out twice as many permits. We felt like we had the whole coast to ourselves.

There were some beaches that had some pretty big rocks.

Occasionally there would be a little inlet in the bluffs and we enjoyed looking at some pretty canyons. These two pictures are two of my favorite from the trip.

We knew we were getting close to Shelter Cove when we started running into day hikers. We took advantage and asked them to snap a group picture.

 Then we hit the black sand. This was the really fine sand that was tiring to hike in.

 I didn't get a picture but we also saw bear prints on the sand this day. It was cool to see. We had to have bear bins and knew they were around but it was cool to see evidence of them.

 I could see the end at this point. That means it is selfie time!!!!!

 This last section was during low tide. The ocean is so incredible to me. You can see how low the water is. You can also see why it is a scary beach when it is high tide.

We made it to the end!!!!!!!I loved the last day. We timed the tide perfectly and so I felt very safe all day. We weren't racing against danger.

 I loved hiking with these people. Such a great group. I felt like a grandma compared to them but I loved the trip.

 I think because I am so much older I felt responsible for their safe return. That is ridiculous because they are all adults but it stressed me out a little while we were hiking.

 Gotta love the signs as we were leaving the beach.

 I am laughing because I know we made it out alive. I now have zero stress!

Such a cool hike. We headed back towards civilization and stopped at the best little burger joint. We took three days two nights to hike the 25 miles. I would not have wanted more time. We had plenty of down time in my opinion. The few groups we did talk to were hiking 4 or 5 days. So we did it faster than most. I feel like this would be a great introduction hike for people getting into backpacking. While hiking in the sand is challenging I felt like it was easier than going uphill. I actually didn't realize how tired my body was until I hiked three days later, Tuesday, and just felt very tired. This was  GREAT TRIP!

The Lost Coast Day Two

So in retrospect, which is always better, I would have done day two completely different. That is the crazy thing about doing something completely new. You don't really know what you are doing. You are just trying to get out alive. We planned the day wrong and learned that we could have done it differently and more easily. The good news is we survived and it was fine! This picture helped guide us along with the map we bought from our shuttle company.

Day two we woke up at 4:45 so we could get hiking by 5:30. We needed to be out of the impassable zone by 7:30 and so we figured this would give us enough time. Hiking in the dark with headlamps was not the best idea ever. The problem was the we had to either start at 5:30 or wait until 11:30 to start hiking. Now we know we should have waited but at the time we had no idea so we were hoping to maybe get through both impassable zones on day two. That didn't happen. We hiked a little slower day two. I think the early start made us all a little tired in the afternoon. There was a lot of beach hiking that just took a long time.

So hiking in the dark was an adventure I didn't love but it was fine. The problem was we were running out of time. It was 7:30 and we were still in the impassable zone and we didn't really know where we were. If you ever hike the lost coast there are not signs that tell you the names of things so you are kind of guessing, which is never good. We all got our feet a little wet. I was drenched above my knees by the time we made it out of the impassable zone. I remember going around bluff after bluff and thinking we have got to almost be there. Finally we were and it felt great. We needed to stop and eat as well as get on dry socks.

 That little patch of blue sky was the only blue sky we saw all day.

 Looking out at the ocean from our breakfast spot.

 At this point the trail goes up on the bluff again. The ocean was coming right up to the rock wall as high tide rolled in.

 We were grateful to be back on the trail. Poor Brady and Aaron really had to watch for poison oak, there was tons, but it felt great to not be hiking in the sand.

 Another little break spot.

 We took a few break spots this day. We were exhausted from starting at 5:30am. We also hiked in so much sand.

 We got through Big Miller Flat and started in the third impassable zone. We got there late enough that we knew we would end up camping in the impassable zone because of time. I think the last mile on the beach we hiked on this day took us 45 minutes. We were going SLOW. But we were tires and the sand was crazy.

Back in the impassable zone. I stopped to pee and then decided I needed a selfie.

We made it to Shipman Creek about 30 minutes before the clock said we should be done hiking for high tide. The rule the shuttle driver told us was to be done hiking two hours before high tide. The don't start hiking until two hours before low tide. So far we had been running from the tide as it came in and I always felt stressed in the impassable zones. Shipmans creek had two other groups camping there. That was a bummer. But we made it work. It was a cool spot because we were right next to the river. Definitely didn't compete with our spot the first night but we liked it.

 We got camp set up and made dinner. Brady worked his fire magic again and we enjoyed a lovely evening around the fire.

We hiked it at the perfect time because it was the first week you were allowed to build a fire. The fires made it so fun in the evenings. It was chilly and very dark at night so no fires would have meant that we would have had to go to bed at dark. We enjoyed visiting until we were actually tired. This helped me to sleep a lot better. Day two was a success.

If I ever hike the lost coast again I would not wake up early to try to race the incoming tide. We planned Day three perfectly and hiked as the tide was receding. This meant no stress and we had loads of time to hike. Definitely the better way to do things. We would have started hiking at 11:30 and then slept at Big Miller Flat which is right before the impassable zone. You live and you learn. Day two was also are longest hiking day. I think we hiked between 11 and 12 miles. I slept so great this night.

The Lost Coast Day One

Somewhere somehow I learned about the lost coast hike. It is a hike in Northern California. California has highway 1 that was built to run parallel to the beach. It is a beautiful highway and a popular road to drive. In Northern California there is a 25 mile section that was too rugged to build the highway on the coast. They had to take the highway inland. This left 25 miles of untouched beach. This is the lost coast and the place I got to backpack over Fall Break. It does require permits. They are cheap to come by, easier in the Fall than the summer.

I had a hard time figuring out who would come with me initially but we ended up with a great group. Aaron, Jacklyn, Brady Robertson, Kelsey Robertson and me. Kelsey and I flew to Sacramento on Wednesday night late. Brady picked us up late and drove us to Shelter Cove. This is where the hike ends. It was a 5 hour drive and we didn't get in until after 4am. It was crazy but I was grateful to have Brady to drive. Ia m too old to drive that late.

Thursday morning we met our shuttle at Black Sands Beach in Shelter Cove and headed to the start of the hike. The hike starts in Mattole California. We were equipped with bear canisters and lots of gear. We also had maps and tide charts to help us navigate the trail. There are three impassable zones, area where you can't hike during high tide. These zones make it so you have to be careful on your timing while hiking. We had all read a lot about the hike but really just hiking it taught us more than we could ever understand from other peoples experience.

Our shuttle driver took our picture before we started. We were so clean!!!!

We didn't start hiking until around noon. The day started off dreary looking. There was lots and lots of sand. It felt so good to finally be moving after so mmuch time in the car.

 Stopping to most likely ponder why I thought backpacking was a good idea:) It is always a shock to carry a heavy pack.

Then the sun came out and we were blessed with the most beautiful day!!! The temperature was perfect.

 A little over 2.5 miles in to the hike we could spot the lighthouse that we had heard about.

The Punta Gorda Lighthouse was 3.75 miles from the trail head where we started. We were making great time. The weather was amazing. We made it through the first impassable zone with no issues. We decided to take a break and enjoy the beauty all around us.

 It is always a treat to ditch the packs for a little bit! It was windy and the lighthouse protected us from the wind while we enjoyed lunch. All of our meals were sponsored bu Jetboil!!!! Love these things.

Group shot in front of the lighthouse.

 Of course we climbed to the top. The stairs were a little sketchy!

 Down on the beach in front of the lighthouse there were a bunch of seals and elephant seals hanging out. We went down and checked them out.

 I am glad we spent sometime here on the beach because this was the nicest day we had on our trip. It was also the only day we saw blue skies and the sun.

We hung out for over an hour and then decided it was time to start hiking again. It had been a great break. The next section of our hike had an upper trail which we took and so we were able to hike really fast.

 It felt so great to be off of the beach while hiking.

 I had Kelsey snap a picture of the three of us. So fun to be on an adventure together!

 We hiked a couple miles on the bluffs above the ocean and then we ended back down on the sand in the impassable zone. The tide was starting to come in and so we knew we were going to stop at the first campground in the zone.

 You can see the water already reaching the bluff that we need to go around up ahead. Definitely an interesting and a little scary thing having to be so careful about the tide.

 I was grateful Kelsey did a lot of research as well. Together I feel like we kind of had an idea on how to do things.

 We found the most amazing campground to sleep in. I think it is maybe the top camping spot I have ever had. We were on the most amazing bluff above the ocean. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed watching the sun set in the distance.

Taking a breather before we set up camp.

 Watching the sun go down . . . . . pure magic

All the panoramic shots are very similar but I couldn't choose just one. The night evening was amazing.

 We enjoyed a lovely dinner watching the sunset.

Then Brady, our awesome fire builder, worked his magic and we stayed warm by the fire.

 That was the perfect ending to an awesome day. We all went to bed early because we were waking up at 4:45 am the next day because we were sleeping in an impassable zone and wanted to get out early so we could hike further on day 2.