Tuesday June 13, 0.0mi/0.0km

Peter Iredell Campground (3.8/20ft) (OR)

I was awake at 5am, and drove across all of Oregon. Eastern Oregon is always a beautiful drive thru the high desert, and it was great to see the Wallowa mountains. Western Oregon was a little cloudy and cooler (20C/68F), and I saw plenty of snow on top of Mount Hood.

I stopped in Portland to buy a few things. The first stop was at Fred Meyer to do my food resupply. They have the grossest flavors of Doritos nowadays….

I stopped at Next Adventure, one of Portland’s local gear shops. I bought a new fuel canister and I was looking for a rain kilt, but they didn’t have one. Then I went downtown to get my Patagonia shorts replaced (warranty), and of course stopped by my favorite bookstore.

I had arranged to store my van at a place in Beaverton, so I dropped it off there, and then got a train to the Sunset transit Center. Public transit in Oregon is pretty good, and there is even a bus line that goes twice a day out to the Oregon coast & Astoria.

The bus arrived a little after 6pm, and after making stops in every little town along the way I finally arrived to a Fred Meyer grocery store on the coast at 8:15pm. Perfect! My plan was to get an Uber to the start of the trail, and then hike the 3.5 miles to the only legal campsite, at Fort Stevens State Park. It would get dark at 9:30pm, so this was just enough time. Unfortunately the Uber driver called me and said he wasn’t coming, “it’s not worth it”, and since he was the only driver available (both local taxi companies were out on long trips), I was now stuck. Time for an impromptu plan B. I decided to go directly to the campground at Fort Stevens State Park, which was only 4 miles from my current spot. I went inside the store to ask one of the employees about other local taxi services, and she said she was done with her shift in 10 minutes and would just drop me off there herself. Sweet! I got to the campground at 9:15pm, and setup my tent in the hiker/biker site.

I sat at a picnic table and made my dinner….it felt so civilized! I didn’t get any hiking miles done today but I am technically on the trail. Tomorrow I will hitch a ride 4 miles north to the start of the trail and then begin the hike south!