It Cannot Be Found, Cept By Those Who Know Where Tis...

wan·der·lust/: Noun: A strong desire to travel: "a man consumed by wanderlust".

Quirk. Fun. Travel. Experience. Laughter. Redwoods. Friends. Wilderness. Culture. Wildlife. Passion. Insanity. Health. Stress. Life. Wonder. Once-In-A-Lifetime.

 

Welcome To The Lost Coast.

 

One thing I've always wanted to do was to backpack. Not just jump from dodgy hostel to dodgy hostel all over the world, but to actually strap a pack and a tent to my back and hike. Sounds fabulous in theory right? Well I got my first shot at it, backpacking the Lost Coast of California.

 

One thing I learnt from the weekend on the trail was that holy hell do I need to get into shape! I'm getting there, I would never have been able to do the hike back at home, but I've still got a way to go. But the pain, tiredness and the pain was worth it!

 

We left Friday night, the weekend after I got back from San Fran. I had rented all my gear from uni, and it turned out being really cheap! Myself, Marlis and Isabel packed all our gear into the van our trail leaders had organised for us, and along with about nine others, drove off to our campsite for the night, and our entry point to the Lost Coast Trail. First lesson; a "four man tent" is not a four man tent. It is a three smallish females tent with, if you squish together, enough room to stack our packs on top of each other at our feet. Safe to say, we did not get cold!

 

 

 

We broke down camp at around 9am on Saturday, placed all our food into bear canisters (apparently people have had their tents/packs chewed through before, so now its a legal requirement to have the canisters...) and started hiking. We were really lucky with the weather; it was stunning.

 

The hike itself was not what I had expected. I had expected a cruisey beach walk. Ahhhh no.

1. Walking on sand? Really hard/annoying
2. High tide...you lose beach to walk on.
3. We walked on the trails up on the hillside....there was vertical climbing involved....with 15kg packs on our backs...
4. River crossings
5. When walking, we discovered that it wasn't particularly safe to stare at the landscape for too long when on hillsides...you had a tendency to almost plunge to your death a lot.

 

But really? I wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe the really strong headwind we walked the whole way home in on the Sunday; that sucked really bad. The scenery was absolutely spectacular; the Pacific Ocean as far as you could see, rocky cliffs and hills that dropped straight down to the sea, Harbour Seals popping in and out to say hello and the sunset on Saturday night really put on a show for us. Even though I got no sleep, it was one of the best weekends of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But next time? I think I'll be a bit fitter before I go at it again!
Oh, and on a side note...getting icecream on the way home...best idea ever. Walking into my appartment to Claire making chicken in breadcrumbs? One of the happiest moments of my life! ;)

Peace <3