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.