Post PCT - Oregon Coast Trail day 3
[Arch Cape to Netarts]
I woke up in the morning and as promised by the Google search the weather was miserable, I decided to head out anyway and hiked about 10 miles through a really overgrown but quite pretty Oswald West State Park touching every wet fern and bramble along the way, I was dripping wet towards the end, last time my shoes got so full of water was well in Oregon when I hiked out from Ashland during the PCT over a month ago. I wasn't in the best of moods, my consolation price was seeing couple of elks which I spooked while they been grazing on the trail. Along the way I met group of people I also encountered yesterday on Tillamook Trail, they've been riding down the coast doing short hikes, it was quite funny as they have been the only humans I encounter in this miserable weather so far, we talked for a bit and went opposite directions.
Oregon Coast Trail decided to steer towards Highway 101 as it usually did and force me to do more road walking which I did for another few miles until it finally decided to join a proper trail again but unfortunately it was closed due to 'hazardous conditions'! Now I was facing hiking another couple of miles along a busy road in rain and fog.. That was the moment I decided to change the rules of this hike (it tends to happen when I'm wet, cold and miserable and the trail ahead is closed). I decided that it will be a mix of yellow blazing, hiking and whatever else I can come out with along the way. Next fifteen miles or so were going around bays anyway which meant hours of boring and fairly dangerous road walking. I found the best spot near the trail closure and stuck my thumb up, but no one was willing to pick me up for half an hour.
Then a white van came out of the other direction took a turn in the parking lot I was standing and I saw couple of hands waving at me from inside, it was the group of young people I've met on trail today (and yesterday)! We all started to laugh, what a way to get a first hitchhike on the Oregon's coast. As we drove they told me I was the first hiker they have picked up so far and that indeed they have been spending couple of days riding southbound and exploring the coast. After about ten minutes they dropped me off at Manzanita. From here I walked down to Nehalem, next town inland as there was no road connecting Nehalem Bay State Park with Nedinna Beach, aka many miles of road walking. I decided to carry on hitchhiking around the bay, got my second short hitch with Gary to the town of Wheeler, walked to the edge of it and caught the third ride of the day with the guy I forgot the name of working for Intel, developing processors, he dropped me of at the Rockaway Beach, here I spotted one of my favourite cheap supermarkets Dollar General and went to buy a couple of snacks.
As I was going through the town I noticed a tourist attraction steam engine getting ready to depart so I asked which direction it was going, well it was going my way to Garibaldi five miles down the coast, I bought the ticket for 12.50$ and hopped in on board! It was a pleasant, slow stroll down the coast, engine was huffing and puffing and the surrounding area smelled like fish and manure. Garibaldi was a small port marking the begging of another, even bigger Tillamook Bay, it had a fish market and everything here seemed to be revolving around amphibians. I rinsed and repeated - went to the edge of town and put my thumb up.
It was the quickest hitch I got so far, within seconds a big white truck stopped behind me and I got greeted by Tom, local handyman living in Tillamook, he offered to give me a lift to his hometown. He dropped me of by McDonalds where I got two McDouble's for 4$ and went to Safeway's to buy another deliciously discounted round of Ben&Jerry's (Netflix&Chill'd), then I sat down at the edge of town devouring it.
If I managed to get a hitchhike from here it would be my undisputed record of 5 hitchhikes caught in one day and it would also set me up nicely for tomorrow if I could reach the town of Netarts, as it looked like a good walk without many obstacles from here for a while. So I took my hitchhiking stance and.. nobody was willing to pick me up for another hour. Finally I gave up and started to walk down the road, Netarts was miles away and it was getting late, so I changed my plan to set up camp at the next suitable place.
After about 20 minutes of walking a car stopped right next to me and a woman called Rachel asked where I wanted to go, she saw me standing by the road when she was going to Safeway's to do her shopping and since I didn't manage to get a ride she decided to help me out. She was driving an old, beaten up green truck and was working in a local motel, she was living a mile down the road but drove me all the way to Netarts, it was very kind of her.
My final mission for the day was finding somewhere to sleep, the town had a beautiful road running right along the very calm looking Netarts Bay, I saw many pelicans dive bombing for food, a kingfisher and even a seal scouting the bay from afar. It looked like a perfect place to spend the night, after half an hour walk I managed to find a tiny peninsula where I could fit my tent, levelled enough to have a decent sleep and fairly well hidden from the road above. I put my tent up here and hoped no one will be bothered to tell me off, it was getting dark so the odds were in my favour.
I really liked the dynamic of today's events, I might try to carry on in this fashion from now on.
Netarts Bay a small fishing boat and pelicans flying above:
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