the lost coast

Ten days ago I drove up to Berkeley to embark on a backpacking/camping trip with Andy to the Lost Coast in Northern California! Once at Berkeley we assessed all of our supplies and packed and repacked our clothes, food, and camping gear until everything was in order. The next morning we were off! It took us 5 hours to drive up to the trailhead to a community called Shelter Cove, the starting point of our 23 mile hike. It was immediately a sight to behold, with shores of black sand strewn with giant driftwood trees and branches, tumultuous waves of "unusual size" and awe-inspiring forests that seemed to grow right up against the shore.

The only thought looming on my mind once we had our packs on, as we started our hike, was that we'd gotten to the trailhead a little later than anticipated, thanks to an unreliable map and our own hesitancy, and the tide had already started to come in. Though we had read many warnings about hiking the "impassable at high tide" strip against the incoming tide, we determined that we'd make it albeit narrowly, so we trekked something like 9 miles in about 4.5 hours.

It was difficult. I was totally unused to hiking with a big pack on, nor stomping on damp sand, or scrambling over boulders and rocks with said pack strapped on. I could feel angry spots on my feet already forming, which an icy stream crossing or two unfortunately couldn't help. We passed a group of six stopping for lunch, and worried about if they'd be able to make it with several miles to go and time against them. Andy was calm and encouraging, but I was nervous and stressed about my greenness in backpacking and helplessness against the ocean. After rounding corner after endless rocky corner (though maybe it was like...six of them) we finally made it past the impassable zone, to a delta where a river flowed out to the ocean.

We stopped to make camp. Andy scoped out several areas while I sat and massaged my sore feet, and then after crossing the stream to assess these areas, we decided on a clearing surrounded by scraggly trees and lush shrubs, close enough to the ocean to hear the pounding surf, close to the river to hear it rushing along, and near some abandoned otter burrows (?) of some sort. Andy pitched the tent (I helped a little bit) and then we tucked in to a delicious hot meal of reconstituted freeze-dried lasagna, which was amazing after our long day. After dinner I settled in, exhausted, and watched Andy build a tiny fire. I remember I could hear it crackling in the cold air - I was happy to be on this trip, and happy that we made good strides on our first day.