Intense And In Tents

Cappuccino and I were cliffed out. We found ourselves staring straight down at the crashing surf 50 feet below from our precarious perch on the jumble of massive boulders we had just climbed. Backing down was a terrifying option as was proceeding, but let me start at the beginning.

We were up at 5AM. Looking at a 5 mile road walk along 101, we wanted to try to get in as many miles as possible early in the day. When there would be less traffic and fewer big trucks.

We hiked the two miles of forest trail to the Humbug picnic area and stopped to make breakfast. Then we were up on the highway shoulder. The morning was cool and the traffic light and it was not unpleasant as we put away the miles. Our goal was Arizona Beach where we might be able to leave the road for a couple of miles and continue on the sand. No close calls with Wide Load houses today, and after a couple of hours on the shoulder, we arrived at the sign for Az. Beach. There was a long walk into the beach, but we found a picnic table in the shade of a big pine when we got there and plopped down for a snack and to check the guide book.

If the tide was low to medium you could get through, it said. You had to make it around a rocky point then traverse a rocky talus type beach. Beyond that would be sand up to a wall of large boulders that jut out into the sea. One must climb carefully over the boulders to the beach on the other side. Then continue on to the Three Sisters, a set of three 200 to 300 foot high rocks, at the other end where you would leave the beach and return to the road.

The high tide was 4 ft. And the low tide was 3 ft. Not much of a change and on the high side for a low tide. The tide was going out, so we had that. We decided to go take a look.

We got around the rocky point without a problem and negotiated the slippery rocky talus beach past the odious carcass of a big sea lion. The sand beach beyond was strewn with the wreckage of a small boat. We would find various pieces of it all along the section. Lots of haystack rocks on and off shore, but the water was a little high. Still, we were in no danger.

We worked our way to the wall of big boulders, which, in the distance, looked easy. But when we finally got up close we realized they were a formidable obstacle. We clambered a few feet up the obvious route until it split. I went one way and Cappuccino went the other. Her’s dead ended so she scrambled up to me. Once we got over the first set of rocks we were about 25 feet off the beach. But then we had to climb another 25 feet up. As I advanced I heard Cappuccino slide and look back to see her clinging to some grass and a ledge of rock trying to get her footing on a slanty boulder. She managed to heave herself back up and get stable before climbing up to join me. Which is where we were when I started this story, staring down at the surf crashing 50 ft below. No good way forward and no good way back.

But as we sized up our choices, we noticed a kind of chute or hole to our right that might offer a way out. It was no more terrifying than any of our other possibilities, so I lowered myself down in the chute with my arms and ducked under a twenty ton boulder, straddled a fat chunk of old growth driftwood, and slid to a spot only 25 feet above the beach on the far side. Cappuccino followed. From there it was a matter of climbing through piles of shipwreck pieces, interleaved between two and three ton boulders and finally a jump to the sand and we were through! It had been intense!

We walked the sandy beach to the Three Sisters, had some lunch, and hiked back up to road for our walk into Ophir and our campsite.

We arrived at HoneyBear Campground and, although they had our reservation date messed up, they were able to accommodate us without a problem. Unfortunately, they do not allow hammocks on their trees, so to night, for the first time on this trail, we are staying in our tents. Yes, both of us have been carrying a tent along with a hammock, “just in case.” Tonight is that case.

Tomorrow, on to Gold Beach and a motel.

Happy Trails…