Lets try another one of those tide/river crossing math problems for the Oregon Coast Trail.

Say I want to hike north from the campground to the next town of Bandon = 16 miles. The New River needs to be crossed at low tide = either 6:47am or 7:24pm. The New River is 11.3 miles from where I am camping. Oh yeah, this is the hardest section of the Oregon Coast Trail (says the guidebook) because of the deep soft sand I will be hiking through. Some say my progress will be 1.5 miles an hour, I’m betting I can walk 2 miles an hour.

What time do I have to leave camp if I want to cross the New River at low tide?

If I want to cross in the morning, I would need to leave camp just after midnight, and hike all of the miles to the river in the dark (sunrise is around 7am here). I don’t want to do that. If I’m going to hike the coast, I want to see it!

If I want to cross in the evening, I would need to leave camp after noon, cross the river at 7:24, and have 5 more miles to hike into Bandon. Sunset is at 7:04pm, so that would mean the river crossing and my last miles into town will be dark, and I would get in around 10ish. That is more doable, especially if I were staying at a hotel in Bandon, but I’m not, and don’t want to make Kirk drive up that late.

So, what I’ll do is an out and back. Hike north when I feel like it, and turn around when I feel like it. (Day hiking seems like quite the luxury some times!)

The last few days have been full of unhurried bliss.

This is especially sweet because I’ve booked a very busy next few months which includes a new business launch, three Blue Mountains Trail presentations (in Bend, Boise & La Grande), two ONDA stewardship trips, a wilderness first responder recert, teaching a Central Oregon Community College class, presenting at the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Conference and spearheading a Signature Trails calendar fundraiser as the incoming board chair for the Oregon Trails Coalition, visiting my folks in Louisiana, heading out on our annual Thanksgiving river trip, trying to catch the October eclipse in remote SE Oregon, and plenty more I’m sure! I only seem to have 2 modes: full steam ahead at 110%, or extreme sloth at 10%. I guess that’s my balance? But I can see that the inflection point for that balance is migrating. I seem to need more down time between the busy times…I guess that is the aging process?

Ok, beach time.

I walk.

I plod slowly up the beach.

Moving next to the constant ocean is to be in a timeless feedback loop.

Everyone always has walked this. This is what we do.

I don’t have the same motivation on an out and back trip that I do on a linear trail. I could turn around at any point. There is no real goal. I will be where I need to go even if I don’t leave. Eh. Then why go? I like progress. The kind of progress where the quickest way out is through.

I find what looks like an extra outlet for the New River far before where it should be, but thats what happens on the ocean: rivers migrate, water finds a way to make new inlets and outlets. The tide is rising and I can see that water passes between river and ocean here, and I don’t want to be on the wrong side of the tide… especially since the next low tide isn’t until tonight. So, I only walk another half hour north before turning around.

After I make it back to the south side of the river breech I find a windblock of a sand dune and spread out my tvek for a break.

Then I walk back and watch the colorful sails race up and down the lake.

When a week is so slow and meditative that you are ready to get back to the frey, than its time to go. We’ll be wheels up in the morning (or later if there is wind for one last foil session).

Mission accomplished. I’m sufficiently rested and ready to taken on the world.