South Of Florence

Up at 4:30 for a 5AM start on our drive back to the coast. That is only half an hour before dawn. At 6:30, Nancy drops me off on South Jetty road and I hoist my 32 lb pack and start out over the foredune toward the beach, only pausing to wave goodbye as she heads back home.

Thirty two lbs is a heavier than usual pack for me. I have a couple extra days on this next leg which means more food and I am carry extra water because there are a couple days when potable water will be scarce. I figure the food and water add an extra 5lb to my pack.

The wide beach is empty at this hour. In a couple hours it will be filled with dune buggies roaring aimlessly about, but yesterday’s tire marks are the only sign.

The tide is going out and will be negative one foot in an hour and ten minutes. I am pretty happy about that as it will make fording Siltcoos River possible. But I have to cover 5.5 miles to get to it. I just can’t walk that fast, especially with this heavier pack. Nothing to do but try.

I walk, and walk, and walk. This beach is part of Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area- “one of the largest expanses of temperate coastal sand dunes in the world.” I see no one, just my shadow and sand. After an hour I’ve gone 3 miles. Low tide is in 10 minutes and I still have 2.5 miles to get to the river. I keep walking. Another mile I see something ahead in the sand. It’s not driftwood and there is absolutely no garbage on this beach. As I get closer it looks like a body! Has a corpse washed up on shore?! I approach a little slower. It is clearly a corpse, but a sea lion corpse. It must have recently been washed up as it is pretty good condition. Well, I have a river to ford and the tide is coming in. I walk on.

A mile and a half later, and 40 minutes after low tide, I arrive at the Siltcoos River. About 50 ft wide and running pretty strong. I move west along it’s shore toward the ocean looking for a sand bar. I eventually come to a wide area near the mouth where it is braided with shallow and deeper channels. Since it was a negative tide, being a little late to cross appears not to be too important as this looks doable. I unbuckle my pack’s hip belt so if I go down I can ditch the pack quickly and I step into the cold clear water. Using my poles like a blind man I probe the bottom and move steadily but slowly across. I avoid the deep channels and make it to the far side unscathed. It was anticlimactic, but I’m glad.

Seven more miles of sand and I finally meet a backpacker coming north. Tom was doing the PCT, but too much snow drove him to the OCT. Then , another half mile as I was looking for a camping spot, I meet Mike from Oregon. He is southbound on the OCT.

Found a good hammock site for the night and set up camp. Tomorrow I cross the much larger Umpqua River.

Happy Trails…