[pct-l] hiking california/oregon/washington coast

[William Skaggs]

From: Allison Mickey somecallmeallie at yahoo.com

> hello. im not quite sure how to use this, but here's my question.
> throughout the summer of 2009 my buddy and i want to backpack 
> the coast of california, oregon, and washington. we would be starting 
> somewhere outside of san diego. any information on making this dream 
> a success would be greatly appreciated.
> my main questions:
> -are these regions accessible to backpackers?
> -what about the legal stuff? do we need permits?
> -how would we train?
> -cost estimation?
> thanks so much,
> allie

Well, for California the only stretch of coast that is really backpackable is
the so-called "Lost Coast" south of Eureka and north of Cape Mendocino.
For the rest, you would be walking next to the road most of the time,
and often right on the shoulder -- and a busy road too.  The Lost Coast
is a primo experience, and you can find plenty of information about it on
the web.

If you want to do a thru-trip along the coast, bicycling works a lot better
than backpacking.  It takes about a month at a modest pace, and could
easily be extended by doing side-backpacks at the good places.  If you
wanted to do it by bicycle, though, you would want to go from north to
south, or the headwinds would kill you.

  -- Bill