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| Lost Coast Trail - Usal Beach to 3 Miles North, CA | |
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| | Lost Coast Trail - Usal Beach to 3 Miles North, CA | | | |
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Lost Coast Trail - Usal Beach to 3 Miles North, CA
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| Hiking | 7.00 Miles |
1,700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.00 Miles | 7 Hrs 22 Mns | | 0.95 mph |
| 1,700 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This hike on the southern end of the Lost Coast Trail in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park started at the Usal Campground TH and follows the trail north for about 3 miles. We made a loop hike by returning on the now closed Hotel Gulch Road.
For my last two days in the Sinkyone Wilderness I drove south on HW 101 and HW 1 to the Usal Road which travels north 5.5 miles up the coast to Usal Creek where I would camp near the south end of the Lost Coast Trailhead. The plan was to meet up with a hiking friend, Alan, from California who I met in the fall of 2014 on a 2 week camping/hiking trip to the Eastern Sierras. Usal Road is a narrow one lane dirt road with very few turnouts for passing cars coming in the other direction. It was raining all day and the coast was socked in with fog so I missed the great coastal scenes from Usal Road. I was supposed to meet Alan at the Usal Campground which unexpectedly was large, 23 campsites, spread out over a large area. It took most of the afternoon to locate each other but by late afternoon we had a great campsite on the bank of Usal Creek close enough to the ocean to hear the surf at night. While wandering around looking for Alan I met the one other lone camper in the campground. A local who shared interesting knowledge about the history of this place and also gave me 3 fillets of fresh caught surf perch which I enjoyed that night for dinner.
The following day the rains were gone and we started up the Lost Coast Trail in beautiful sunlight. The trail was overgrown and we were soon soaked up to the waist with water dripping down my ankles into by gortex lined boots. But it was turning out to be a warm day and we would soon dry out. The trail climbs up high above the coast and provides great views up and down the coastline. The lushness of the vegetation was amazing - Something I've really missed since moving from Oregon to AZ. We met two backpackers who were headed north to Little Jackass Creek. They were the only other hikers I met on 3 days of hiking sections of the Lost Coast Trail. However, this was probably due to being the middle of the week before schools get out. After 3 miles we decided to turn back. The trail comes within sight of the Hotel Gulch Road at that point and I talked Alan into making it a loop hike by returning on this closed road. Although the road doesn't have the coastal views it passes through a dense red wood forest. After getting back to camp we hiked down Usal Creek to the beach. Along the way we saw 5 large bull elk enjoying a mid-afternoon siesta on an island in the creek. The next morning I would encounter these guys close up on a half mile walk from camp to an outhouse. They had little fear of humans and gave me challenging stares which hastened me on my way. On the way back the largest bull of the group was standing in my way and every time I took a step towards him his head would pop up and he'd give me that challenging stare. So I decided to retreat a quarter mile up the road and chat with a new camper who had just arrived. Another interesting local with lots of historical info so it was a half hour before I started back to camp. All five bull elk had disappeared by then and it was a safe return. That afternoon we packed up and headed out to HW 1. This time the weather was clear and sunny so there were great views from Usal Road.
It was with reluctance that I left this beautiful Lost Coast area of northern California but I had been on the road (and river) for 18 days and it was time to continue the drive back to AZ with a weekend stop in San Luis Obispo to visit my son and his wife. |
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