The Lost Coast: Day 1, July 6, 2016

Some wilderness areas are so amazing that words cannot start to do the descriptions justice. The Lost Coast is one of those rare finds. I will write another blog soon on how to organize a trip, but for now just enjoy the photographs we brought back. This blog is labeled as day 1, but includes photos from our first night at Mattole River Campground (we would begin hiking the trail the next morning) and a few from our second morning on the trail. I will add Days 2,3 and 4 very soon.

 Tuesday, July 5, 2016. After a six hour drive from Sacramento up I-5, West on 20 through Clear Lake, up 101 through Willits, the Redwoods and up to Garberville we arrive at Black Sands Beach, the end point of our 4-day hike.

 A nice monument at the trailhead.

 My younger son Gavin (age 17) and at a overlook of Black Sands Beach.

We check our gear as we wait for our shuttle to arrive. 

 The first shuttle arrives. We hired two shuttle to transport us and our gear another 45 miles (2 hours of driving time) to the trailhead at Mattole River. We used shuttles from Mendo Insider Tours (mendoinsidertours.com) because they were the only company we found able to transport a group of 15. We were extremely pleased with the service. Both shuttles arrived within 20 minutes of each other, the drivers were very nice and personable and gave us tips on the hike to come.

The small town of Honeydew. We are about 30 minutes away from the trailhead at Mattole Beach.

 The Lost Coast North Trailhead, Mattole River Campground, July 5, 2016.

My son Gavin getting ready for dinner.

Our campsite for the night.

 Sunset.

On the trail.

An archeological garbage dump: The remains of a shell midden left by the local Mattole Indian Tribe. This midden is believed to be over 1,000 years old.

The trail opens up into nice loose sand.

 We start to move off the beach and into the bluffs above.

 Parts of the trail were overgrown since a lot of hikers stick to the beach.

 the fog was nice to have, but it burned off quickly leaving a searing sun behind.

 Back on the beach.

 Our first view of the Punta Gorda Lighthouse. It is the tiny spec in the center of the photo. We have almost completed 3 miles.

 The Punta Gorda Lighthouse, our first stop of the day.

Backcountry houses left over from the lighthouse days. One had recent construction done.

 Fourmile Creek.

 Sea Lions swimming and playing in a deep tide pool. To the left Elephant Seals are laying on the beach a short 50 feet from the trail.

 The Punta Gorda Lighthouse.

 The stairs are not stable and not attached to the wall or any other support. So we climbed up anyway.

 Yes, that opening is as small as it looks. I barely fit my shoulders through.

 The beach below the lighthouse. A wrecked navigational buoy to the right and elephant seals to the left.

A closer view of the sea lions in the tide pool and the elephant seals on the beach.

 Leaving the lighthouse behind and continuing to our next stop: Cooksie Creek.

The beach gets rocky, but still passable. This is still low tide.

A washed up fishing buoy.

Found this guy almost by accident. A washed up octopus. This is larger than my head.

Sea Lion Gulch: The end of the road. This avalanche happened a few years ago and now blocks the beach. There is a trail to the left that takes us up and over to the other side. We are 2 miles away from Cooksie Creek and our final stop for the day.

The trail cuts in then up. You can just the trail marker (or ducks) on the large rock in the center of the photo. The trail switchbacks up the cut on the right.

Looking back. I was a bit ahead of our group, scouting the trail ahead. It is still low tide but the tide is slowly coming in. Today we were lucky, the tide was only at 6 feet, so the beach, for the most part, would remain passable.

Trail markers, or ducks. We climbed about 70 feet before heading back down the other side.

We reach Cooksie Creek, and our campsite for the night. We have hiked just over 7 miles on rock and sand.

 Cooksie Creek looking toward the Pacific. Hiking in as we did you don't see the opening until you are almost right on it. The water is about knee deep, and very cool and soothing. One of the first things I did was take off my boots, slipped on my water shoes and sat down in the pool for a nice soak.

 Morning, 6:30 AM. They came straight down the hill across from camp.

 Our campsite for the night, complete with bench and table for our stove.

 The King's Range in the background.

 Gavin is not a morning person. And yes, we both fit in the tent along with our gear.

 A view of our camp from the "latrine." We had to climb a rather steep hill to get to a place far enough away from the water.

Low tide. We have a tad over 10 miles to hike today.