Saturday, October 7, 2017

Day 37 - Sept. 25

Usal Campground to Antelope Creek (39.95341, -123.97379)

I noted that it was chilly but I could feel my feet when I woke up!  I had heard this week was supposed to be about ten degrees warmer.  I asked the group camping next to me if they knew of any creeks nearby.  They didn't think there would be anything for a while and offered to fill up my water bottles.  I took them up.  Today I would finally be tackling the Lost Coast.  The guidebook warned that the upcoming segments were some of the toughest on the whole CCT.  Another reason I wished I had started in the north.

It grew hot and my blister began to flare up.  I stopped to put the Tiger Balm and tea tree oil chapstick on it, and ate more trail mix.  A woman and her father passed me and chatted.  I would catch them again at a creek up ahead where they stopped for lunch.  I sat down to rest for a minute too and the woman handed me a granola bar.  She had done part of the AT and was excited for me.  She showed me her water pump and said I should give it a try, it was pretty efficient.  After refilling my bottles I headed out again.  There would be many more creeks ahead, now water was plentiful, just as the guides online had said.

A while later I met a professional camper taking a group of eleventh graders from the east coast on a field trip.  I told him about my trek and he offered me two apples.

I tried to jog when I could, but ended up mostly hiking, as the trail was sometimes uneven, sometimes falling away.  I wondered how such a renowned trail could sometimes seem so unkept?  In one segment the pampas grass was growing so thickly over the trail that I had to shield my eyes.  It cut my legs and made them bleed.  The fronts of my ankles were feeling raw.  I switched to my longer socks and was protected from there forward.  If I had it to do over again I would have brought one pair of higher top socks.

As the sun set I approached a group of campgrounds on the beach.  It was beautiful.  A couple had made their camp at one of them that had the remains of a brick oven.  They were reading and drinking wine, it looked idyllic.  I said hello, and we talked briefly.  The man said he would advise against doing the next section at night.  I was determined to get in more miles though.  My sleep schedule had been shifted so I needed to hike at night.

I said hello to a guy camping alone on the other side.  He asked me if the campsite with the oven was taken, it was his favorite.  It was, I told him.  He lived nearby but hadn't hiked the segment ahead of me.

Off I went.  Alone on the trail and back in the forest I saw what looked like a wild board run across a stream.  Huge redwood trees flanked the path.  In the dark the trail here was actually no worse than it had been before and moving cautiously I felt safe.  A few miles later I had to keep waiting for a huge Elk to walk off the path before I proceeded.

I was happy when I arrived at the Needle Rock visitor center.  The hard part was over.  Now there would be at least a few miles of flat trail.  I couldn't find any electricity or water at the visitor center but paid the fee to camp in the park and decided to bed down for the night at a camp up ahead.  A few miles down the road I spotted a sign for a campground and made a short detour toward the beach for it.  I couldn't find the tent sites so gave up and put my bivy down on a patch of grass that was already matted, maybe from an animal, or a previous camper.  I had read this was at least better than camping on fresh grass.  In the morning I would find tent sites on the other side of the trail.






























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