Legs and Borders

It took an entire day and night to get from Florence to San Francisco. I got quite quickly to Eugene from Florence by bus but then had to wait until 5:30pm for a connecting overnight train to San Francisco. I've spend few hours walking by the river, parks along the way and a brilliant, massive bookshop called Smith Family Bookstore which contained way more paper than Powell's Books in Portland and had some very obscure themed sections like: 'Health: Allergies, Astma, COPD', 'Labor Studies', 'Addiction and Recovery', 'Childrens Sleep' or 'Marriage'. Amtrak arrived on time and I took my seat upstairs next to an Australian girl called Nichole who was visiting her friend in Eugene and an American guy Frank who was going to see his family in Sacramento. We ended up chatting and looking for interesting details outside the window as the train was going inland. It even crossed the PCT at one point at Shelter Cove Resort where I was resupplying a ...

[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 Sep...

[Warrenton to Gearhart] Out of the few options I was considering to take like hiking the Olympics Park, Tahoe Rim Trail or even Colorado Trail, I went for the easiest in many ways the Oregon Coast Trail. First of all this trail didn't require any extra permits or long distance traveling. Resupplying seemed quite easy with many small towns along the way, it was also completely different to the PCT. Another good thing about it is that I don't really care all that much about thru hiking it and if I don't it won't be a problem. I'll just see how and if I enjoy it, hike for a week or so and then perhaps go to sightsee few more cities before going back to Europe. It seems like the most budget friendly option as well. So did I like the trail so far? Not really, turns out that walking log distances on a beach is not particularly enjoyable, I'm hoping that next few days will bring some variance. There's so many cars on the beach, people living around here love to dri...

It looks like squirrels had some better things to do at night and I actually had a decent sleep, I wrapped up everything early before people started to arrive at the park and walked back to the Pike Place Market to have a cappuccino from the first Starbucks coffeeshop opened in 1912. I thought they will have some oldschool cups but nah, just the regular paper ones. On the old logo at the shop Starbucks still has boobs and nipples which makes a lot of people excited while they wait in the long line for their beverages. After the coffee I had a walk alongside Lake Union towards Discovery Park, it was alright both the shore and the park, nothing too exciting but definitely worth that 3 hours of my time with a nice view of the docks and mount Rainier looming in the background, I turned back when I reached the small lighthouse at the end of the park. From here I took the bus back to the city centre and then another one to the Marymoor Park, since I had time to spare I went to the Costco Who...

It looks like I've spent four nights at the Ravensong's Roost, yikes! The maximum stay Lion has allowed was two days but with an asterix that if someone wants to stay longer then they can ask, and that's what I did. Feel like I've spent my time there quite well, I ate over 3 litres of walnut ice-cream, drunk 4.5 litres of soda but also built a shelf for the rocks people paint after the hike (I also painted one) and helped to clear up several new spots for the campsites as the big bubble of hikers will need way more space in few weeks time. I met a couple of people and not people walking on and off in my bubble - Zohan, Sugar, Starburst, Truman the dog, Forest and Stretch. I cycled 13 miles down to Winthrop in the heat of the day to resupply and fix my google pay, only to give up on the way back and catch a hitchhike with Cheryl who loaded my old rusty bike onto the back of her pick up truck. On the day three I got completely wasted on a hash cake that was supposed to be...