Legs and Borders

Santa Barbara didn't make a great first impression on me, but on the other hand what was I even expecting? It was your typical beach resort where rich(er) and middle classi(er) people were coming to have fun, get drunk, sail on a boat, buy a cheesy marine themed souvenir and rave hard at a stag or hen's do. It was loud and cheerful all around, well at least on the two main roads along the beach and the nearby shopping centre. Once you hit the back alleys it was quickly getting quiet and ordinary which personally I didn't mind at all. On the first day I only had enough time to walk the wharf and check the surrounding beach, the verdict for camping here was negative, the beach was way too shallow and busy, it wouldn't be comfortable or particularly safe to spend a night here. So I activated plan b - I made my way over to one of the surrounding trails and found a good enough place to camp. Trail was called Hot Springs Canyon and it was situated on the outskirts of the city...

Around midday after a long trip from Oregon I decided to not waste any time and start exploring the city. I went along the San Francisco Bay and seen the Treasure Island, Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge from the distance. I kept on walking and finally arrived at the Pier 39 where I could take a boat tour going around the above attractions, Alcatraz tours visiting the island itself were sold out for the next two days so I decided to substitute it with the bay sightseeing. The tour took 90 minutes we went right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, twice around the Alcatraz and then to the other side of the town next to Treasure Island with a good panorama of the city, it was definitely worth the time and money. Pier 39 had another unexpected (for me) attraction a bunch of sea lions decided to make it their home in 1989 after their habitat got destroyed by earthquake. They been resting and causing all kind of drama on the wooden platforms at the bay, they were an absolute joy to watch and I...

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...

[Beverly Beach State Park to Wakonda Beach] Today wasn't a particularly amazing day. I start to think that it must have something to do with the Newport area, perhaps people hiking here in the past did not leave the best impression. I only spend about half an hour trying to catch a hitchhike as I knew it would be a waste of time and it was. The stream of cars didn't have any interest of stopping or even acknowledging my existence, so I gave up the concept altogether. Road and beach walking was the name of the game, I reached Newport fairly quickly had breakfast ice-cream and two McDouble's and carried on walking. Going through the massive Yaqina Bay Bridge was the highlight of the day, I really liked it's art deco design and the scale of it. It was hot and sunny all day and I forgot to top up my water before leaving the campsite but luckily there was few little water streams by the beach in the Seal Rock area. Half way through the day it finally occurred to me that I ne...