Dates: August 20-21, 2010 Duration: 2 days, 1 night Mileage: ~24 miles Group Members: Nick McGuire, Amanda Eberle, Michael Ahlmann Pack Weights: Unknown Notes: Planned on doing around 8 miles a day over 3 days but ended up finishing the route on the second day so we only spent one night instead of the two originally planned. Weather was overcast but very mild (not too hot and definitely not cold....no wind which was very nice) Day 1: (~ 6 miles) Left Mattole Campground around 2PM and planned on going down to Randall Creek, just outside the second "impassible" zone. Made it ~3.2 miles to the light house around 3:10PM before continuing on. Reached the Cooskie Trailhead turnoff and noticed that the Lost Coast Trail route sign had been modified and had you continue along the bluff above the beach instead of going down to the beach through the gate by the run-down cabin. Hiked quite a ways and thought we made it to Randall Creek. The tide was coming up at this point and just before we got to the creek (that we thought was Randall) there was one sketchy spot where the tide was up against a rock outcropping that we had to run around between the waves which wasn't super safe. The creek is right afterwards though so we were able to stop there for the night. around 5PM It was the same creek that we camped at during our 2008 trip, which I have written down as Cooskie, which was my first clue that we may not be at Randall. Day 2: (~ 18 miles) Left what we thought was Randall Creek around7:45AM and quickly realized there was a long section that was still pseudo impassible (tide was coming in and there wasn't a lot of beach left). It wasn't and issue till we got to another rock outcropping that the water was crashing against that we had to run around between waves. After we made it around that outcropping we got to a creek and the trail went up on a bluff above the beach to avoid a treacherous stretch along the shore. Given how far we had come that morning to get to this point we realized that we had actually camped at Cooskie Creek, traveled through the rest of the second impassible section that morning, and had just reached Randall creek where the impassible section ended (hence why the trail now left the beach for the safety of the bluffs). Reached Spanish Ridge TH at 9:30AM, Kinsey Ridge TH at 10AM (15 min break), Etter Cabin at 10:35, Hadley Creek at 11PM (10 min break), Rattlesnake TH at 12:10PM, Big Flat Creek at 12:25PM (lunch break till 1:10PM), and Black Sands Beach / Shelter Cove at 5:40PM. The final impassible zone wasn't an issue because the tide was going out. Overall the tides were much more of an issue this year although I don't know whether its a time-of-year specific or something about this year. Outbound Travel: Black Sands Beach to Ranger Station = 17 minutes Black Sands Beach to Ettersburg Rd turnoff = 22 minutes Black Sands Beach to Honeydew = 1 hour Black Sands Beach to Mattole Trailhead = 1 hour 32 minutes Mattole Trailhead to Hwy 101 = 1 hour 20 minutes Mattole Trailhead to Davis = 5 hours 35 minutes
