I have to admit I was too tired to really log our progress of describe the trail well.
Introduction /factors
The trail is about twenty-five miles. The name comes from the fact that the coastal highway could not be routed through the area.
Thus it gained the name “lost coast”.
There is a trail down the coast at that point. The significant point is there are three areas where the trail drops down to the beach and can only be hiked through when the tides are low and are impassable when they are high.
Much of the sea in the area consists of sharp drop offs and rip tides and those areas are terribly dangerous when the tide is high.
In addition, access is limited by permit to avoid overuse.
Beginning
Starting the hike has a few parts
- Check the tide charts for good windows.
- Obtain a permit.
- Have a bear canister (required) (there are bears. We saw a lot of paw prints).
- Reserve a shuttle.
Generally one arrives at Whitethorn, California. The next morning your car is parked at Shelter Cove and a shuttle picks you up and drives you to the other end.
The twenty five miles of coast takes about two and a half hours to drive, which gives you an idea of how unsuited to roads the area is.
Day one
You are dropped off at Mattole Trailhead.
The trail starts on the headlands slightly inland from the beach, in parallel. Heading south, the ocean is always to your right and to the west.
The coast at this point has three tectonic plates intersecting and it grows almost an inch a year in height. The rock is shale and the beaches are black sand, rock and boulders.
At times the beach is carpeted with seals and sea lions accompanied by sea gulls. Those areas made me even more grateful for the higher trail.
The first day takes you through two impassable zones and a number of water crossings. A stream that will get your feet wet occurs about every two miles. When the water is low (no rain for a week or more) they are no more than knee deep if you choose wisely.
A bad route can run you waist deep.
There are some neat landmarks like the decommissioned lighthouse. Milepost 3.2.
There are a lot of waterfalls in the hills (and often cliffs) next to the trail.
On the way you pass cabins from time to time. When the park was set up, landowners who did not want to sell were allowed to keep their cabins.
For the most part the only access is by airstrip or hiking in. At least one cabin has collapsed and the trail is blocked by the fence cordoned ruins. We took a bypass trail at that point.
Eventually you get to Oat Creek after eleven miles.
At this point we were at 11.7 miles. There is often heavy fog, the ocean is near and there is a flowing stream.
Set up nestled closely under trees on pine needles instead of grass leads to being able to camp without condensation problems.
Winter notes
This time of year sunset was about 5:30 and sunrise about 7:30. That means more than twelve hours of darkness.
This leads to less time for hiking.
As an aside hikers are asked to pack out their toilet paper and to either cathole 200 feet from camping or to cathole on the beach below the high tide mark so the ocean will cart it off to fertilize the kelp beds.
Day two
Day two starts with some nice trail and a roadblock at the next impassable zone.
While it is the west coast, the coast slants here so that in the winter the sun actually rises over the ocean.
So when the sun rises enough, we began to hike into the sunrise.
At times the trail is at the edge of the bluff and has eroded off the cliff edge, but early much of it is clear.
This leads to some double track and an airstrip on the trail. The fog was really heavy by then and no airplanes. There were a lot of deer.
There is only one very rough double track leading into the trail area. For the most part access is very limited.
At this point you come down off the bluff and onto rocks, boulders and sand and the third impassable zone begins at mile 17.2.
We took a nap there until the tide dropped enough by 2:30 started down the trail. There is a false trail that stays on the bluff and goes nowhere safe.
The first half was really rough. Then a stream where you can camp (and be trapped until the next low tide).
That is Shipman’s Creek at 18.6.
Next is Buck’s Creek at 20.0. It has camping but again is in the impassable zone.
Gitchell Creek at 21.5 ends the zone. It has campsites but they are completely exposed.
So. We had thought of stopping there for the day but Gazelle was game to keep going and led the way.
23.6 at Horse Mountain Creek there is also more camping but it is completely exposed.
Sunset was coming but we had time to finish.
25.4 and the trail ends with a parked car and a number of warning signs regarding rip tides, undertows and other dangers in the ocean.
I was glad we hiked out and headed for showers and town food. Slept very well.
Videos
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17oRSA6ax7/?mibextid=wwXIfr—lost trail video collection.
https://youtube.com/@ethesis?si=FZAjo3mf7eRAmp6l —YouTube videos.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17xsJbGVGX/?mibextid=wwXIfr—old video from other trails.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BxE814fCp/? Album of video and photographs from the Lost Coast Trail
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