Mini Vacation to the Lost Coast

July 2010

After a long week with the circus and temperatures reaching the 100's we decided to take a break and do some backpacking on the Lost Coast. Since we had Monday off for the holiday we just took Tuesday off along with our regular days off of Wednesday and Thursday and headed to Humboldt. Our first night we spent camping in Humboldt State Park home of the famous Avenue of the Giants. Our site was along the Eel River surrounded by old growth redwood trees. We had to rough it without our big comfy air mattress because we were going to be backpacking the next couple of days.

After we set up camp we took a drive along the parkway mesmerized by the canopy created by the trees. Sometimes you wonder when the road will be taken over by them. We stopped and took a quick mile trail to visit the oldest tree in Founder's Grove. It won the award after the tallest and oldest tree The Dyerville Giant fell to the ground. One of earth's largest creatures, born a thousand years before Columbus, now lies in state to give visitors a new perspective on spectacular trees. When measured in 1972, the Dyerville Giant stood 362 feet tall and had a circumference of 52 feet four inches and a crown spread of 74 feet. At 1,010 total points, as measured by the American Forestry Association's scoring system, it was second only to the giant sequoia champion. The Dyerville Giant's crown is now in pieces, but the tree's final height has been estimated at about 370 feet, certainly within several feet of having been the tallest tree in the world.

Even for those who saw it when it was still standing, its size is difficult to comprehend. This tree was as tall as a 30-story building, 200 feet taller than Niagara Falls. It weighed more than a loaded 747 Jumbo Jet. If you stand up and look down at a quarter lying on the floor, you will see how small a person lying on the ground would look if you were on top of the once-standing Dyerville Giant.

The enormity of these trees is incomprehensible and you stand in wonderment of this ecosystem. Hopefully Wyerhauser and Home Depot don't destroy it!

The next day we got up at the crack up down to some nice cool temperatures, packed up our gear and headed to the Lost Coast. It is aptly named due to it being the only section where Highway 1- the famous coastline road of California- does not traverse. One can only visit this area by foot. It has a mysterious feel to it because of the low hanging fog and lack of tourists. We started out at Shelter Cove the southern most end of the hike after stopping to get our permit at the Ranger's station. Once they confirmed we had a bear can to securely store all our food we were off. We definitely had to be creative with our shopping to make sure all our food and provisions would fit in the bear can. I made up a big batch of brown rice and mixed it with some tuna and peas and stored it in a baggie. It would smoosh inside the can easily. No need for plates! Lots of raisins, nuts, and M&M's. Lunch consisted of salmon, cheese and crackers with a side of applesauce. Tuna and salmon, don't think we attracted any bears do you??

Once we reached the coast, although not foggy we had great cloud cover and a morning temperature of about 50 degrees-perfect football weather. Dressed in a light fleece jacket and hiking pants I was in heaven. We trampled along the beach at a quick pace but still not at our usual rate due to having to hike in pretty deep sand or through rocks. At times it felt like you were walking on the bottom of a riverbed. The only noise you heard was the roar of the waves and your feet click clacking over the rocks. Having checked the tide charts we had plenty of time to make it to our destination. At a few spots along the hike you have to be careful of the tides due to the narrowness of the beach. You will become one with the ocean if caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

We chose not to have a schedule and decided to hike until we felt like stopping. With no pressure on us to reach a destination we took several breaks and had an hour and a half lunch. We pulled up a seat on the beach with our backs resting against a huge washed up log and talked about our "Plan B" starring out at the ocean. We probably would not have moved except we were in that critical tide path and the sun was going down. Thankfully we only had about another 45 minutes to reach the first camp site at Buck Creek Canyon. Upon arrival we scouted out the area. The Buck Creek flows down from Kings Crest Canyon into the ocean. Alongside the creek are several camping spots and we had the pick of the area. We chose a spot just above the beach with a perfect view of the ocean. The evening winds picked up and we put on our jackets and enjoyed a nice dinner listening to the waves crashing on the sea walls. Our neighbors below invited us down to their fire and we logged another evening with a "one night Stan". These guys were high school buddies from Napa but currently live in Los Angeles and Portland. Each year they get together and do an all boys backpack trip. During our visit they convinced us to take the Buck Creek Trail up to Kings Canyon upland instead of continuing down the beach. It would give us different scenery and a good workout because it was 2500 feet in elevation change over a 2 mile trail. Once the fire burned out we called it an evening and headed back up the hill to our campsite. Roby found a good hiding spot for our bear can about 75 yards from our tent. We snuggled into our sleeping bags and at least dreamed of a good night of sleep. I deliberately did not drink a lot of water that evening because no way was I going to get up in the middle of the night and stare down the local mother bear and her two cubs. My strategy worked and I made it to morning.

We had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal bars and fruit. No hurry to get to our hike because we were going to leave our tent at the camp site and return for another evening. At about 11:00 am we packed up a small backpack with our lunch and filled our canteens with water and headed uphill. Immediately the terrain changed and we entered the forest. It felt like we were in the Hobbit Landscape. Lots of ferns, green lush vegetation and poison oak everywhere. I kept my hands by my side and did not get off the trail having just recovered from a bout of poison oak the week previously. The boys told us they had seen bear scat along the trail when they came down it the other day but did not have any sitings. With our luck and the salmon in our backpack we figured we were targets. They must have not been in the mood for fish because the only wildlife we found was mosquitos and flies!

The majority of the trail was shaded by tree cover except when we got closer to the ridge. The sun baked us for a short distance but we found shade and stopped for lunch. We had a very interesting view of low hanging clouds with bright blue sky above it. Felt like we were just above heaven. The hike up was a tiny Mt Rainer and we had forgotten our hiking poles which would have been extremely helpful for the adventure down. Good thing we did not have on our heavy packs because the majority of it felt like a 5k run. Coming out of the forest we were welcomed with a nice gentle breeze from the ocean and cooled off quickly. The fleece jacket and winter stocking cap were put on before we enjoyed our dinner. Another night of tuna and rice out of a bag.

After a wonderful night under the stars we chose to get up early and head back to Shelter Cove so we would miss high tide at 10::00 am. Having reached our destination early we decided to take the long way home down Highway 1. We were going to pick it up at its inception a portion we had not yet traveled and take it through Fort Bragg to Anderson Valley where we would stop for a beer at a solar-powered brewery. The coastline changes dramatically as you head south. We saw many out abalone diving. We can now say we have officially driven Highway 1.

Once we headed East the windows went up and the air conditioning came on-a reminder our journey was over.