Where Curiosity Takes Me: Weekend Coastal Hike - Norwegian Memorial/Cedar Creek/Starbuck Mine Ruins

Sinkin in the mud!

Last weekend brought me to the coast for a nice little overnight hike. This being my first time out this way (as are most of the hikes I try to go on besides Green Mt) I learned that normally the gate 2 miles up from the Trail Head is normally closed and locked on this logging road. We got lucky this weekend and drove right to the TH! It was only a 1 mile trail from the TH to the beach but oh boy was it a muddy 1 mile! My new boots (maybe they aren’t so new anymore) sure made me proud, I was able to tromp through the mud without any hesitation. Maybe I was bragging a little to my friend Matt by stomping right through the swampy areas as he tip toed and jumped from dry spot to dry spot… I have to say that I am very impressed how clean he stayed!

It took about an hour to get to the beach. We dropped out packs and went searching for the perfect camp site. We walked down the beach a short ways and settled on a nice space that already had a fire pit set up as well as benches and a table even, all made out of driftwood nailed together. It’s very convenient having a place to sit and relax and the table was up high so it was perfect to stand around to cook…there was even a stool put in place on the ground for the height challenged hikers! ;)

Camp already set up

Tents set up at camp

Norwegian Memorial

Right after we set up camp it started raining. Darn it! Good thing I’ve invested in the proper rain gear, can’t let a little rain put a damper on the weekend. We set up tarps and quickly gathered some dry wood to get a fire going, thank goodness for fire starters. It rained until maybe 5:00 that evening, though that didn’t keep us from exploring! Kelsie and I hiked up the coast to check out the Norwegian Memorial, dedicated to The Prince Albert that sunk on Jan 2nd, 1903 leaving only 2 survivors. The wind and the rain soaked us and I was surprised at how many people we saw out hiking today! Many groups even had umbrellas, I thought that was weird but I guess it’s not that unusual. We passed a big group camped out not too far north of us, they looked like they had been there a while…they had hammocks set up on the beach and we even saw cases of beer at their camp. Cases! I wonder who got the lovely job of hauling those in from the cars. People from that group were also out gathering styrofoam (unfortunately you can find it ALL OVER the coast) for the HOT TUB they were going to build that night! We didn’t check it out but our unexpected camp guest for the night, Bruce, mentioned the next morning that he went up there and told us how they put some huge logs together and then some foam for insulation and then draped a tarp over that. They had some sort of gimmick with copper pipes that spiraled through their fire heating up the water before spitting it into their homemade tub. Bruce got to enjoy the hot tub with them and said the water was a good 100 degrees. Impressive.

Matt and I in the enterance of the little cave

Starbuck Mine Ruins

Since the rest of Saturday turned out so nice the 3 of us hiked along the coast looking for tsunami treasures and simply enjoying the wonderful weather. We headed south towards Cedar Creek, lots of people were camped out here too. To round the point right before Cedar Creek you have to either wait for the tide to go out enough or scramble up and over the hill where they have ropes and ladders in place to help out. The tide was out just enough for us to climb over the rocks and get around it, and on the other side there was a small cave! Of course I had to go inside. Matt and I crawled in through the small opening and farther back you could see that it opened up a little, but there were also a lot of bugs so we scurried out of there. I won the “race” out of the cave (I’ll never admit defeat) only to have my knee find a rock that was covered in sand. My knee is STILL bruised and swollen to this day from that darn rock! Past Cedar Creek is the remains of the old Starbuck Mine. There wasn’t too much left there but it was neat to find traces of the past out there! Back at camp a doe and her fawn came wandering up the beach in front of our camp. As we stood around the fire we watched as the mama tried to get her baby to follow her as she jumped up the bank. Multiple times the doe tried and each time the fawn couldn’t make it then finally the fawn hopped right up and they moseyed through our camp.

Camp looking out at the ocean

Camp looking in from the beach

The rest of Saturday evening and through the night was beautiful and rain free, the only snafu I had was that while we spent the day exploring and playing my camelbak spent its day draining in my tent!! My sleeping bag, pad and backpack were all pretty wet. I had to empty out my tent and try to soak up as much water as I could. Lucky for me the sun was starting to come out by now so I was able to lay all my stuff under the tarps and soon enough out into the sunshine. Didn’t realize my sleeping bag was so wet until later in the evening. (Thinking it was dry we had put it in Kelsie’s tent to stay out of the rain only to soak her sleeping pad too!) We spent a while standing by the fire drying out our pads and then my sleeping bag. I never got my pad/bag fully dry as I found out when it was time for bed, but that’s ok…it could have been worse! I’m just glad I caught it early enough in the day, sleeping in a soaking wet sleeping bag wouldn’t stop me from going again…but it sure would have made a miserable night.

Matt, Kelsie, Stefani

We didn’t stay very long Sunday. After breakfast with Bruce and his 2 companions, who showed up around 3 am, we packed up and hit the trail by 11:30. It was another hour long hike back through the squishy mud before we got to our cars. Another great weekend spent outdoors!

**I apologize for the low quality camera phone pictures**

More Pics from the weekend: