Sunday September 8, 22.2mi/35.7km

Bogachiel State Park (1156.6/240ft) to Olympic Coast Trailhead (1178.8/43ft) (WA)

I was up early, and excited to make a breakfast run into town. I hitched into Forks, WA at 7:30am, and got a ride from a nice man and his daughter on their way to a whale-watching tour. He dropped me at the grocery store, which also happened to have a hardware store, department store, and coffee shop. So convenient!

I sat and enjoyed a chorizo breakfast sandwich and a hot beverage, then bought some fruit and ice cream at the grocery part. The hitch back to the trail was the slowest on this entire trail, almost 1.5 hours. I finally started hiking at noon, and I kept moving all day to cover 22 miles by dark (8pm). The first mile was on a busy road, highway 101. Some people drive this road all the way to California!

I crossed the Bogachiel River, and then turned onto dirt roads.

After leaving the highway 101, I only saw three cars all day. It was easy walking, and the weather mostly cooperated, with only three brief rainshowers. Umbrella to the rescue again!

I listened to some podcasts, “Stuff You Should Know”, and “For the Love of Climbing”. The hours and miles flew by, and I took a brief break at a nice wooden bridge.

I cruised the rest of the afternoon, and came to the Olympic NP access road for the wilderness coast. It followed along the Hoh River for a couple miles.

I arrived to the trailhead at 7:45pm and setup camp. I got everything done by 9pm, and set my alarm for 3:45am. The next section requires a 1ft low tide to pass, and that tide occurs at 4:15am. Stupid moon!