230 miles on the Oregon Coast Trail!

We’ve passed the halfway mark on the OCT as we wait for snow on the PCT to melt. We’ve now been thru-hiking for two months, and have hiked 800 miles. (Published on 5/31/23.)

The two of us sitting at the Perpetua Head lookout, built by young men from the Civilian Conservation Corp during the depression.

The Trail Provides

“Do you know where you’re going?

A Subaru had just passed us, then stopped in the middle of the road in Waldport, Oregon. The fifty-ish year-old driver stood at his car door, asking questions.

“I mean, do you know how to get to where you’re going? Do you need a ride?”

Kristen and I looked at each other, nodded, then said, “Sure,” in unison as we hopped in the car.

“You’re doing the Oregon Coast Trail, right? Do you need a ride to a store?”

“Yes,” we answered, feeling particularly thankful when we realized the Hilltop Market was at the top of a long hill. Go figure ;)

About ten percent of the OCT is road walks. We occasionally hitch-hike these stretches, but this was the first time someone had stopped unprompted. The driver, Richard, was clearly a question-asker, but after a bit, we managed to get a few questions in edgewise.

Richard was from Bend and had recently bought a second home in Waldport. He had retired, and was eager to do more backpacking. He established his hiking bona fides by rattling off his gear, including the weight of each item. He had clearly heard about the OCT and was curious to learn more.

Richard parked in front of a local store and I immediately hopped out of the front seat. I could see KarMMa hesitate in the back seat; I knew she was considering whether we could trust this stranger with forty pounds of our most worldly possessions. But after a minute she joined me inside the store. As we shopped, I reminded her that I had gotten Richard’s email address and that anyone with a ruse as elaborate as his deserved our gear.

Richard was indeed waiting as we walked out of the store with chips and salsa, two beers, plus granola and sixteen ounces of milk for next day’s breakfast. The rapid-fire questions continued:

Q: Where are you going next? A: Beachside Park, three miles south of town.

Q: Do you want a ride there?

We knew there would be a long, narrow bridge with lots of Memorial Day highway traffic, so we said, “Yes!” (Our approach to the OCT is N.E.F.I.— Nearly Every F-ing Inch.)

As Richard dropped us off at the hiker-biker camp KarMMa invited him to visit after dinner to compare notes on the OCT, backpacking gear, and Bend. Three hours later, he and his wife, Heidi, appeared with four plastic chairs, a bottle of red wine, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. They stayed until far past hiker midnight (8 pm). When they left at nine, the campsite was nearly dark.

After two months and eight hundred miles of thru-hiking, Richard and Heidi’s goodwill didn’t surprise us. Trail Angels help hikers in order to experience the adventure vicariously, to give back, and to enjoy the social interaction. For two months, our backpacks have been a non-stop calling card for help from dozens of strangers. Each act of kindness restores our faith in humanity.

Two days later, we were on the porch of the Heceta Head Lighthouse B & B, contemplating how to get through a very narrow road tunnel, with zero shoulder, at Heceta Head. There was a sixty-something newlywed couple— Steve and Debbie—who had just eloped from Bend. They overheard us and offered a ride. (It’s not really a surprise that they offered to help us as our “plan” was to hit the “Bike in Tunnel” button to turn on the flashing warning lights, then run like hell for two hundred yards.) They happily drove us three miles south to the first beach access. Once again, the trail provides.

Luxury Light

We’re in Florence now, 230 miles down the Oregon Coast. The OCT is very much the epitome of “Luxury Light” thru-hiking; we eat hot meals in local cafes, camp in hiker-biker camps (equipped with hot showers and charging stations), and occasionally stay in gorgeous B & B’s, like our ocean-facing room in the lighthouse keeper’s quarters at Heceta Head. (See the photo above.) In the last two weeks we’ve stopped at enough brew pubs that we’re now calling this the “Oregon Craft Beer Tour.” We’re 60, dammit!

What hurts?

Our bodies are holding up pretty well. We’re both more fit but the bunion in my left foot flares by noon each day, and my shoulders are sore. My hernia appears to be giving birth to a golf ball, but causes no pain. KarMMa complains of a neuroma in her left foot and is treating an aggressive skin rash on her butt using various items from her one pound medical kit, plus new prescriptions from her Trail Angel physician, Dr. Kocurek. Both of us do the “old man/lady” walk when we first stand in the morning, but our inflamed soles warm up as we walk. Like all thru-hikers, our conversation inevitably circles back to our gear, the weight (in ounces) of each item, and our aching feet.

What’s next?

Today we doom-scrolled the internet for signs of snowmelt on the PCT. There’s little progress, so we decided to finish the OCT, walking all 412 miles to the California border. We’ll arrive in Brookings, Oregon (at the California border) around June 14 and plan to restart the PCT a bit later, just north of Mt. Lassen, at Old Station. As usual, our logistics will be complicated, but we’re hopeful that friends, family and the trail will provide.

We’ve adjusted our PCT “fuzzy vision” so we’ll walk all the way to Canada by mid-September, then we’ll fill in our Tahoe to Lassen gap in late September. By then, we will have hiked 2,650 miles (including our 412 mile OCT side trip) and will return to the unfinished High Sierra next summer.

It’s a bummer that we won’t complete the entire PCT in one year, but with Sierra snowfall that’s 3X normal, few will run the PCT gauntlet this year. Plus, we’re excited about our bonus exploration of Oregon. With our northward hike of Oregon along the PCT, and our southward OCT hike, we’re really getting to know our new home state.

Tomorrow, we’re off to hike from Florence to Winchester Bay with Bonnie Henderson, the author of “Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail,” as our guide. Should be fun!

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Happy Trails!

Pudding and KarMMa

(Gib and Kristen)

PS. For more photos, you can also follow us here:

• Gib on Instagram

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PPS. If you want a best guess of where we will be when, or to see the crazy spreadsheet that powers our PCT resupplies, click here.