The Lost Cost Trail

Dates: June 23-25, 2008

Duration: 3 days, 2 nights

Mileage: ~18.7 miles Group Members: Jack Martin, Chris Genger, Mike Ahlmann, Nick McGuire Pack Weights: Chris (~25 lbs), Nick (~ 47lbs) Notes: Views were awesome from mountain trail but not really worth the awful climb and immediate decent…very rough on the knees. Beach route much better….maybe try the other part of the mountain route we didn’t try past Cooskie Creek but probably the same. Wind really bad this trip.

Day 1: (~ 9.4 miles) Mattole trail head to Main trail to Cooskie Creek Trail to Cooskie Creek

Got a later start since we met in the Trinity Alps off Hwy 299 to backpack there but the fires prevented this so we had to drive all the way to Eureka, get a bear barrel and maps and then drive all the way to Petrolia. Left the both cars at the trailhead around late morning or early afternoon. Hiked along main trail for a while. Weren’t quite sure where Cooskie Creek Trail was so we accidentally took the trail up to Windy point where it was EXTREMELY windy. Went back down to main trail and up off the beach on the low bluffs there was a marked sign for the trail. Climbed up very steep trail and again it was VERY windy and somewhat dangerous with the packs. Arduous climb to top of Gorda 2 (2378ft) and trail once you get away from the beach is marked well with signs but then becomes very hard to follow. Went through very dark thickets in the woods and ran into cows several times. After finally making it to the top we had a grueling decent all the way back down to sea level to our campsite alongside Cooskie Creek. Campsite was nice and the creek was very clear and relaxing.

Day 2: (~3.0 miles) Cooskie Creek trail north to Cooskie Spur Trail to Main trail south to mouth of Cooskie Creek. Hiked back out to the main trail along the spur trail and then south to where Cooskie Creek meets the ocean. No one wanted to go on further even though it was early in the day so we made camp in an awesome driftwood fort by the creek. Hiked back along the creek for a ways and then hung out the rest of the day. Creek was very shallow but right in front of our campsite it was pseudo dammed in two places creating a 25 foot long 3-4 foot deep pool. Small fish in it and then I randomly noticed a HUGE trout. Fashioned small hunting knife to a long branch and was able to stab the fish. It was able to get off the knife but was seriously wounded and tried to go upstream through one of the dams and jack was able to grab it and throw it on shore. Turned out to be a 22 inch steelhead trout….filleted it, wrapped it in tinfoil and cooked it over our fire…tasted awesome.

Day 3: (~6.3 miles) Mouth of Cooskie Creek north on main trail back to Mattole trailhead. Headed back north that morning and made it back to the trailhead by late morning/early afternoon. Chris’ knees REALLY bothering him and the wind towards the end got so bad it was whipping sand up in our faces and blew away my hat…sunglasses were a must here for safety.