Jun 12, 2025 7 min read Oregon Coast Trail

Hiking The Oregon Coast Trail, Day 8 Part 2: Summit To Shoreline

A driftwood graveyard. A perspective that breaks my brain. I'm starting to get used to this simultaneously euphoric and disorienting emotional whiplash.

[Continued from Day 8, Part 1]

It feels awesome to yank off my shoes and feel my bare feet on the Oregon beach sand. I've just walked onto the Nehalem Bay South Jetty, and it looks like some kind of driftwood graveyard.

I've never seen anything like this in California – at least not on the southern or central coast. Driftwood defines the beach landscape for at least a hundred yards in both directions. Most are splintered and broken, cracked open and weathered. Some are absolutely massive, with twisted roots and cores hallowed out by wind, water, and time.

If you ever wanted a massive beach bonfire, this would be an ideal spot!

Beyond the wooden graveyard there's a dark stone jetty with even more driftwood strewn on top of it, bleached by the sun. From a distance they look like discarded matchsticks.

And beyond that, some fog is starting a slow crawl inland, like it's patiently waiting its turn to dominate the landscape.

Southbound to Garibaldi | Photo courtesy of CapturedByKimber

Once again I'm held in place by the force of nature, wanting to linger here for hours and inspect all the wonderful, warped, and weathered driftwood. And once again, I have to keep pushing forward.

Walking Through The Viewpoint

After about half a mile, I turn around and soak in where I've just come from. It is breaking my brain that 90 minutes ago I was perched on the summit of Neahkahnie Mountain, gazing down at this endless stretch of coast with its distant waves stitching the shoreline. Up there it felt like someone else's story. Now I'm in it, walking it, living it.

View from a sandy beach looking toward a forested coastal mountain. An inset photo shows the ocean view from the top, with a dotted arrow pointing to the viewpoint’s location near the summit. — Only 90 minutes earlier, I was gazing down on this gorgeous shoreline. Now I'm walking it.

And even though I saw the miniaturized preview from the ridgeline, there are still surprises to enjoy, like that driftwood graveyard which was obscured by the trees.

All of this is just... simultaneously euphoric and disorienting. A kind of emotional whiplash I'm starting to get used to. I guess it helps extend that magical moment when I marveled at this very stretch from 1700 feet above sea level.

After another couple of hours, I realize with a sharp sensation of relief that, well, there hasn't been any dramatic scenery in the last several miles. It's beautiful, of course. It always is! But aside from the occasional rocks hundreds of yards offshore with arches carved into their undersides, it's been flat beach, tan sand, and hypnotic surf.

A single foot splashes into shallow water along a beach, with an incoming wave lined with seafoam. — My favorite way to walk the beach.

I know it sounds strange, but I'm genuinely grateful that I'm not feeling overstimulated right now. Instead, I'm lulled into some kind of walking meditation where I'm focused only on the gentle roar of the surf and the sound of my feet splashing rhythmically into the shallow water.

I barely stop to shoot video, take pictures, or jot down notes. And that's also a nice change of pace.

And suddenly I'm looking at another dark row of stone jutting out into the Pacific; this time the Tillamook Bay North Jetty. It's crazy that in addition to everything else, I walked from one jetty to another today! And I'm still not finished with the hike.

A memorial near Beach Access 28A, close to the Tillamook Bay North Jetty.

But it's 6pm!? Apparently time has slipped right past me this afternoon. I'm currently near Barview Jetty Campground, with another 3 or 4 miles to go until I reach the port of Garibaldi. This presents a dilemma, because the majority of those remaining miles will be on a winding highway with a narrow shoulder, and half of them will probably be in the dark. No thank you!

I spot Kimber taking photos near the jetty, and a decision materializes: I'm done for the day.

Wasn't it just this morning that an accidental detour taught me to slow down? Taught me that "sometimes not fighting is the most profound thing to do"?

Instead of destroying myself and risking getting smashed by traffic, I end up crashing at Kimber's AirBNB. And instead of walking to Garibaldi tonight, we drive there and enjoy the hospitality and mouthwateringly delicious food at Crab Rock Pizza.

In the end, today won't end up being my longest hike ever. And stopping short will probably present a logistical hurdle or two. But I'm slowly learning to stop caring about statistics and waypoints and destinations and mileage.

The trail will be there tomorrow. And so will another adventure.

🎒

Total miles hiked on the OCT: 76.2