O.C.T. Ecola State Park to near Oswald State Park

Cloudy, foggy and occasional drizzle. Highs upper 50s, lows around 50.

The next 2 days would be the most frustrating and scary of my entire 2019 hiking tour and would leave me questioning whether I’d actually want to continue on the OCT.

The day started off well, still up in the coastal mountain range, amongst the amazing Sitka Spruce forests. The Sitka Spruce is a rather unique tree. They can grow to an enormous size, living for hundreds of years. What makes them rather unique is that seedlings often sprout on top or in the stumps of dead Sitka Spruce trees. Those stumps can be the remains of a tree blown down, snapped off 20 feet high. As the new Sitka Spruce grows, the stump of the “host” slowly decays, leaving the root system of the new tree exposed, resulting in a rather bizarre looking first 5-30 foot of tree. See the picture examples below.

I descended out of this wonderful forest and had to walk the shoulder of HWY 101 for quite a while. A lot of the OCT is simply highway walking from one state park to another. This is extremely dangerous because the highway shoulder is very narrow in spots!

It started to rain lightly after I took this picture. I’d get sprayed with road water every time a semi drove by. I was honked at a few times and even yelled at by passing motorists. 2 vehicles blew by me, one tire on the white line or shoulder, missing me by less than 2 feet!!!! I walked through the city of Manzanita and I’d say hello to people out walking. Many of them gave me a condescending look and would not acknowledge I had spoken. I often did not feel welcome in these communities as a thru-hiker!! They may be mistaking me for a homeless person. I’m not sure. This would be what I encounter throughout the northern third of Oregon. The treatment I receive will greatly improve the farther south I advance.

I would end this day illegal camping! I arrived to the state park late in the day and there was a no camping sign. This is also a common theme. No camping allowed. I bought a book written by a gal that hiked the OCT and she said, in the book, this park allowed camping. So I hiked on, finding a small opening in the forest off of HWY 101, on somebody’s private property, not long before dark. These are the times that really tests ones strength and determination to see something through till the end (making it to California in this case)!