I went to bed thinking that I might regret sleeping without the rainfly on the tent due to dew and moisture and stuff in the coastal air, but things remained dry despite the early morning fog. Winning!

I had to make a trip to the beach to do my business, a beach that was all baseball-sized rocks. The drop-off into the water was sharp and I kept my eye on the ocean….it could have been disaster if a rogue wave had caught me precariously perched on that steep rocky slope of ball-bearings, but I made it through. The view was worth it!

This part of the trail has some of the deepest waters along the entire west coast. Check out these fun facts about the section of trail we would hike today:

“As you’re pinned against the cliffs, dodging waves and the occasional rock-fall, remember this: Just south of Shipman Creek, the ocean plunges into sudden depths of a channel of the Delgada Submarine Canyon. It gets deeper faster than almost anywhere else on the West Coast.

This canyon is a massive chute for sediment as it flows down into the deep sea. It is a remnant of the San Francisco Bay drainage. As the Pacific and North American plate slide past each other, it has migrated north at a few centimeters per year.” (From an online guide to the trail. There are other fun facts in there too, like the story of a hippy comune that took up residence at a lighthouse that we passed yesterday, and to get rid of them the BLM burned down all the buildings! 😯)

Back to the day…Cindy took off before we were packed up, she was feeling strong and spry…and is training for a Colorado Trail thru-hike later this summer. Lace and I walked along the hard-packed wet sand in the overcast day; it was a very pleasant morning because we had expected a slog through deep sand. Low tide was at 9:30 this morning, so we had ample exposed beach to walk. This part of the coast seemed much more abundant, and we started seeing starfish and other sea creatures in the tide pools…the tide pools to the north had been devoid of life to our disappointment. There was also a blissful absence of trash! Lace and I had only picked up three plastic bottles between us, and a few small pieces of colored plastic on the hike so far.

We dodged waves that broke on the beach when we got too close to the water, and stopped to smile at a few seals napping on rocks just off the shore.

We caught up to Cindy about half way into our mileage for the day as we walked towards Shelter Cove. The houses perched on cliffs above the sea steadily got larger, and we started talking about lunch options. Sure I could eat my last tuna packet for lunch, but I could also eat a burger in town….🤔 there really wasn’t a decision to be made 😉 we would reach the car about 11am, a hot meal was in our future shortly after.

We hadn’t been sure of our pace with the tide miles, so had given ourselves ample time to make it back to Bend….tomorrow if need be, but our early arrival at the car meant we could easily make the 9-hour drive back to Bend in time to sleep in our beds. Brilliant!

After burgers at the campground we walked over to view the coast stretching to the south and finally saw the namesake cove of Shelter Cove. We even saw whales breach the water! It was a fitting end to the trip.

Lost Coast Trail: worth the drive and tide puzzle