Seaside to Indian Beach

Took the kids on their first overnight hike of the season this weekend! It was wonderfully wet and muddy as an early season hike should be.

Our original plan was to park at Ecola State Park's Indian Beach Parking lot. When we got there however, all signs said no overnight parking. We drove around a little looking for a spot but couldn't find a spot that afforded overnight parking. Here's the fun part:

We decided to drive around to the Seaside end of the trail hoping to find overnight parking there. NOPE! We parked down the hill at a public beach for the night. When we got to the hiker camp after getting water, there was a group of hikers who pretty much carried the usual assortment of car-camping gear up the hill to the camp. We asked them where they parked: Indian Beach. Turns out the signs are dirty rotten liars. You can park there overnight, you just have to pay for two days or have the season state parks pass, which I have. The only sign I saw that suggested this was at the hiker camp. I think Ecola needs to reconsider their signage. Still, I am glad we hiked in from Seaside.

Storms over the last year or so have wreaked havoc to some of our coastal forests. Dig back to my post on Cape Falcon a few weeks ago and you will see more of what I mean. In fact, that hike and this one form into the same trail and I am told, make a great two to three day shuttle hike. Anyway, this section of trail is no exception to the havoc condition.

Some of the largest trees have fallen making for complicated traversing with kids and pack dogs. One of these made a great spot to sit and enjoy lunch overlooking the ocean; another took us about ten minutes to get the crew across.. In other spots, fallen trees were smaller and more numerous. They fell in all directions, tearing the ground around them into a mud field. Maintenance crews have gotten to most of these spots and carved the trail through as you will see in the pictures.

This trail is beautiful and I recommend it anytime of year so long as there hasn't been heavy rain for a few days before you go. If you are up for a short overnight hike, there is even a hiker's camp closer to the Indian Beach side with three cabins that sleep four, a large covered picnic table and fire pit area, and plenty of room around this community area to pitch tents. See pics.

Be aware that there isn't much water from Seaside until Indian Creek unless you can filter or purify from the mini marshes.

Overall the girls were great. After about eight miles we started to hear the complaining of hurt feet, but never saw any blisters or chaffing. Also worth note is that at about mile eight, the kids dropped their packs at the hiker camp while we hiked down to Indian Beach in search of water. They must have got their second wind or been kissed by the "my feet are ok" fairy as they were running, jumping, playing like kids are known to do. We decided to trick them into an extra three mile loop while we fetched water at Indian Creek. They were oblivious until we had to climb the hill back to the hiker camp. Then the feet started to hurt again. Still no blisters or chaffing…

So we set camp at the hiker camp; the kids and Jane in one of the cabins and us parents in our tent just outside. I wanted to test the tent in the rain as it had let me down a little up Eaton Ridge a few weeks ago. Since then, I have sprayed it with a water proofing spray and committed to using all stakes and tie-downs. Rain started falling about 11:30pm and persisted until about sunrise. Dry. The windward side pressed the rain-fly against the main tent wall, causing a little wick-through which I figure is to be expected. I may be able to lash down the rain-fly slightly different to prevent this next time.

An eighth of a mile down the hill from hiker camp is a beautiful overlook of Tillamook Lighthouse. We were able to watch the sunset here and then came by again before heading out to see the sea by morning light.

I recommend this trail for short overnighters, testing new gear, hiking with kids or old slow people. If Gena and I were doing it without kids, we would likely continue the trip to Neahkahnie Mountain.

Link to Flickr Set... Still trying to figure out how to post them in the message text.

Trask Peninsula Trail

Just a quick post, I will let the pictures tell the story.

We loaded the packs for a workout and hiked this short 1.5mile loop yesterday with the kids and Jane. Jane was in boots for the first time that I want her to get used to for hot or sharp rock trails this summer. She did very well.

The flowers are in beautiful bloom right now, the mosquitoes are too, but the frogs seem to be plentiful enough to get them eaten up soon.

Maintenance has been done to remove some fallen trees, but some stairs on the lower end are in need of repair do to the wet season damage.

Flickr

Arch Cape to Oswald

Disclaimer: we started where this trail crosses highway 101. This cut about a mile off the trail length if you find it in a book. Here's the details...

North of Tillamook on Hwy 101, just passed mile marker 37 there is a slow vehicle turn out. Southbound traffic is climbing a hill and so has a passing lane. At this point of the highway, the Neah-kah-nie Mountain trail crosses 101. The trail on the east side of the road continues the 1.4? miles to Arch Cape. The trail on the west side of the road winds through coastal mountains to Neah-kah-nie Mountain by way of Cape Falcon and Oswald State Park. Between this crossing and Oswald is 7.4 miles.

I met Gena at work on Wednesday and we made our way to this hike. Leaving her truck at the parking lot of Oswald, we continued in my truck to the crossing of the trail and the highway. Jane carried six and a half pounds, Gena about 21 and me about 32.

At ten minutes to 3pm, we were geared up and headed down the trail. Five minutes into the hike we had to climb over our first blow-down.

Off the top of my head, I can’t remember when the last big windstorm was. Between the ground moisture and this winter’s winds, though, this trail is a jungle gym right now! I didn’t count how any trees are across the trail right now but the number is pretty high. Some of them are so large that you have to fight through brush as many as 30 meters to ge around the log and back to the trial. One of these fallen giants, closer to Cape Falcon, is nearly ten feet in diameter! This one was especially fun to circumnavigate.

I had to grab Jane by her pack and toss her up 4ft atop what used to be a dirt berm side of the trail. From here I had to climb up onto the narrow landing with Jane and toss her again onto the trunk of the tree. Jane started walking the length of the tree and I had to call her back. She wouldn’t even have noticed me climbing down the side of the tree! Gena made it up and over just fine except for the air that turned sour when tossing Jane caused her to pass gas. There was a very large branch sticking off the south side of the tree that served as a sort of step down. All three of us were able to use this as a stepping stone off the behemoth.

We made it to Cape Falcon about 5pm. Then to the Oswald parking lot at five passed 6pm without further incident. From the north, the fallen behemoth was the last of the fallen trees on the trail.

This time of year you need water proof boots on this trail and you better not be afraid of getting muddy. Regular visitors to this trail will tell you that even in the summer months there are swamp sections that never seem to dry. Being a sort of coastal rainforest, I recommend always carrying rain gear.

Here's some pics from a passed hike: Flickr

Late Post: Merry Christmas!

We aren't really gifts people, so Christmas day, Gena and I hiked a section of the Wilson River between Foot Bridge and Jones Creek. The first half was pretty cold. The trail was great, though and we had it all to ourselves.

When Moses wanted to commune with God, he went to the mountain. So did Jesus. I think of these things when I am many hours of foot time away from so many who won't use their feet to escape the chaos of sub/urban life. Maybe I am just a little anti-social.

Whatever the case, the trails were great this week!