Post PCT - Oregon Coast Trail day 7

[Wakonda Beach to Exploding Whale Memorial Park]

Today was my second day of last days for the inevitably ending trip to US, it was the last day of hiking and it couldn't be more.. anticlimactic. It was one of the most dull days I had on trail ever, no grand finale just rocks and dust (or wind and sand).

I hiked the few last miles in the morning and got to Yachats just in time for a shuttle to Florence - I paid 3$ for it and 50 minutes later I reached my final destination. As the bus was approaching the stop I noticed Forrest, the very guy who convinced me to hike OCT, standing there waiting for his transport. It turned out that him and Flash also had enough of beach and road walking and decided to end the hike in Florence, just like me! We talked for a while before Forests bus arrived and he admitted that starting this trail after PCT has been a doomed idea, he even rescheduled his flight back to Germany for the next week (originally he was supposed to fly back in the middle of September). We had a laugh and whished each other safe journey home.

Now I had a lot of time to waste as my chain of intercity transportation wasn't starting until tomorrow morning. One thing I definitely wanted to sort out before hopping onto a train was the laundry and a shower, luckily city of Florence had me covered. I went to the coin operated Laundromat and Shower at the end of the town - it was very well kept and buzzing with customers, I paid 3.50$ for the laundry, 1.25$ for the washing powder, 1$ for the dryer and 4$ for the shower, not too bad.

After that I started to look for some other activities to fill my time before the evening, I checked the cinema but they only accepted cash and cards (no contactless pay) so I decided not to go there because of my limited cash budget and no card whatsoever. I also went to see where the bus was leaving from tomorrow just to double check if it was correct (after my recent accident with catching the bus I thought it will be a good idea). Then I just wandered around the shops, got a new toothpaste and a deodorant in Grocery Outlet as I needed to smell like a citizen from tomorrow onwards and then ate some junk food.

Around 5pm I started looking for a place to camp, initially I was thinking about the beach but on the way there I noticed a place called Exploding Whale Memorial Park and I thought to myself, yeah this is where I want to spend my last night on the trail!

The story behind it goes as follows (written by Luke Carlson): 
On November 9, 1970 a forty five foot, eight ton sperm whale washed ashore near Florence, Oregon. In addition to the stench and the possibility that the body would burst local officials were concerned that the people would climb on it and fall inside. After consulting the US Navy and munitions experts Assistant District Highway Engineer George Thornton decided to treat the carcass as a boulder and to use the dynamite to dislodge it. 

A crowd of spectators and local reporters gathered on the beach on November 12 about a quarter mile from the carcass. The engineers expected the whale to explode into small pieces, which seagulls and other scavengers would take care of. When Thornton gave the signal, State Highway Division workers set off a half-ton of dynamite.

“The beach erupted in a 100-foot-high column of sand and whale,” Larry Bacon reported in the Register-Guard. “Chunks of the animal flew in every direction, and spectators began to scream and run for cover when they glimpsed large pieces soaring directly overhead.” A sedan parked near the onlookers was crushed by a large chunk of blubber.

While no one was harmed by the explosion or the falling debris, chunks of the whale had to be collected and buried. KATU television news reporter Paul Linnman provided a memorable account that included this description: “the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.”

I remember watching a documentary on YouTube about this event and now lo and behold I will be spending the night in the place dedicated to it, splendid. It seems that the hike ends with na explosion anyway!

Forrest:

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