The Oregon Coast Trail (or OCT) is not your typical backcountry thru-hike. In fact, some might hesitate to call the OCT a trail at all. This walking route down the Oregon coast strings together existing hiking paths through forests and headlands, adds in long stretches of beach walking, and then pieces them together with nearby roads — often on nearby Highway 101.
Heading into my OCT thru-hike, I had a really difficult time finding good information on the trail. Very few people actually thru-hike the entire route each year. And there just seemed to be a shortage of advice that would help me successfully prepare for this adventure.
So, now that my OCT thru-hike is complete, I’m trying to fill that void and add a few of my top lessons that I think every future OCT hiker should absolutely know before setting out on this adventure.
#1 – Where is the Oregon Coast Trail?
The Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) is a north-south running trail that runs the length of the state of Oregon Coast from Washington to California . Its northern terminus sits in Fort Stevens State Park on the mouth of the Columbia River, while the southern terminus is in Crissy Field State Recreation Site at the California border. The OCT generally runs within a narrow corridor paralleling the Pacific Ocean, but it also takes a few detours inland, at Tillamook Bay, Cascade Head, Florence, Reedsport, and Coos Bay.
#2 – How long is the Oregon Coast Trail?
It really depends. The length of Oregon is approximately 360 miles from top to bottom, and you can drive down the entire coast on Highway 101 without adding any miles to that distance. However, the OCT zigzags a bit down the coast, and every thru-hike of the OCT is slightly different. In addition to high tide and low tide alternates, there are more than a dozen larger rivers or bays that obstruct the route. Some hikers will attempt to ford the smaller rivers or get a boat to ferry them across. Other hikers will walk around each river or estuary. As a result, the length of the OCT varies anywhere from 382 miles to 425 miles.
#3 – Navigation isn’t Simple
If you’re expecting to hike on a defined footpath with lots of trail markers or blazes marking the way, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening on the OCT. This isn’t a thru-hike where you can just expect to head out to the northern terminus and wing it. Trail markers are few and far between, and hikers are often walking along beaches or open areas where signage would be impractical. So you’ll need to invest some time and energy into learning where the route heads and where the river crossings lie beforehand. And when you do see an OCT sign or marker, take a picture of it! It might be a full day or more before you see another one!
#4 – How to Plan Your route
There isn’t any comprehensive digital resource (like Guthook) available for the OCT. Instead most hikers rely on the section maps from the Oregon Coast Trail Foundation and the two major guidebooks about hiking on the Oregon Coast (Day Hiking the Oregon Coast, 2nd Ed. by Bonnie Henderson and Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail by Connie Soper). Unfortunately, even these items will probably still leave you with some pretty big information gaps. Prior to my hike, I spent hours trying to piece all these items together into a single navigation map using Gaia GPS. It took a ton of work, and it still wasn’t perfect. But the prep was definitely worth it when I got out on the ground.
#5 – A Real guide might be on the way
Bonnie Henderson is releasing the 3rd edition of her Oregon Coast guidebook in October 2021. Rather than focusing on exploring the OCT through day hikes, the new version of the book is entitled Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail: 400 Miles from the Columbia River to California. The publisher is billing it as the first and only comprehensive guide to the OCT. If this claim is actually true, this new guidebook may eliminate the need for future OCT hikers to go though all the steps I went through to successfully hike it from end to end.
*(Update as of 10/20/2021: I’ve now purchased and read the guidebook. You can read my full review HERE)
#6 – Ditch your trail shoes
Most long-distance hikers prefer hiking in trail runners, and I definitely count myself among this crowd. However, trail shoes might not be the right pick for this adventure. Instead, a really well-cushioned running shoe is more ideal for the hard-packed sand and the miles upon miles of asphalt roadwalking. I developed some pretty bad blisters on the balls of my feet during the first 100 miles of the OCT, and I ended up swapping my trail shoes out for a pair of ordinary road running shoes to get better cushioning for the rest of the journey. This was a game changer, and something I’d definitely recommend to future OCT thru-hikers.
#7 – Trekking Poles are optional
If you use trekking poles for your tent/tarp set up (in lieu of tent poles), then you’re probably still going to bring your poles on the OCT. For the rest of us though, hiking with trekking poles might be overkill. Sure, there will be some sections of trail where you go up and over steep headlands, but the trail is relatively flat when compared to most backcountry adventures. You won’t need your trekking poles for crossing narrow ridgelines, keeping wild animals at bay, or for the handful of river crossings. Plus people are notorious for leaving their poles behind or next to benches in the many towns dotting the coast. As a result, you might want to carefully consider whether you really want to bring them along on this adventure.
#8 – Consider Rubber Tips
If you do decide to bring your trekking poles on this trail, consider purchasing a set of rubber walking tips. These protective tips come in incredibly handy during the longer roadwalking sections of the OCT. These small, rubber caps are the best way to avoid wearing down the metal tips of your poles on the asphalt or pavement. You just slide them over the sharp end of the pole when you need them, and store them in a hip pouch when you transition back to the beach or dirt trail.
#9 – Where to Find good Water
Although you’ll be hiking next to a huge body of water for the majority of this thru-hike, finding good drinking water can be more difficult than one would expect. Along the beaches, there are a number of streams and rivers that flow down toward the ocean. But, some of these sources will be brackish (i.e., mixed with saltwater) and others will be tainted by oily, road run-off from Highway 101. My recommendation is to be super picky about which sources you water filter from, and keep a look out for water spigots at the state parks, USFS campgrounds, and local town parks. You will generally pass by several of these piped potable water sources every day.
#10 – beach camping Isn’t Easy
Thanks to the Oregon Beach Bill, the entire Oregon coastline is open to the public. However, that doesn’t mean you can just legally set up camp anywhere you want. Local ordinances usually prohibit beach camping within city limits and in front of most state parks. And even if you find a nice stretch of sand outside these boundaries, access is often roped off to protect all the snowy plover nesting areas. This shortage of camping is incredibly frustrating, and you’ll find former thru-hikers tend to be super careful about sharing details about where they set up along the OCT (because they often resorted to some “less-than-legal” camping spots at dusk).
#11 – Invest in Better Tent Stakes
When you finally find your perfect campsite on (or near) the beach, you may discover that some of your typical gear isn’t well-suited for a sandy environment. In my case, that item was my tent stakes. I normally carry lightweight, 6″ tent stakes like the Nemo Airpin or the MSR Mini Groundhog. But tent stakes like these simply won’t hold your shelter’s guy lines taut in the sand. The lightest breeze will pull your rain fly or tarp free in an instant. A better solution for this loose, sandy terrain is the longer, spiral-shaped tent stakes like the MSR Cyclone or a v-shaped stake like the MSR Blizzard.
#12 – Take advantage of the hiker-biker camps
Some thru-hikers might scoff at paying for a campsite when they can normally set their tent up in the woods for free. And I found some of the best campsites on the OCT were free spots perched up on the forested headlands overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the time though, when you’re down are near the beach, the camping options were rarely ideal. This is where the Oregon State Parks hiker-biker camps come into play. These campsites for walk-in (and ride-in) guests provide a host of amenities, including water spigots, bathrooms, food lockers, and power charging stations for a mere $7-$8 per night. And they’re usually just steps off the OCT! Although I was initially reluctant to use the hiker-biker camps on my thru-hike, I’m sure glad I relented. I discovered how much I really enjoyed the company of other outdoor enthusiasts (mostly cyclists riding the Oregon Coast Bike Route) after hiking completely solo with nothing but the sound of the wind and the waves all day. So my advice is to embrace them as a unique addition to the OCT beach experience.
#13 – Where do you poop?
This might be the most frequent question I got about my OCT thru-hike. When hiking on a more traditional backcountry trail, you can dig a cat-hole whenever needed. However, that’s not exactly feasible on an exposed beach filled with sandcastles or young kids. Luckily, the Oregon State Parks have public bathrooms down the entire coast near most of the beach access points. There are also plenty of public picnic areas, campgrounds, gas stations, and restaurants to make use of when nature inevitably comes calling. However, you may still want to carry a WAG bag (or an ordinary doggie poop bag) to pack stuff out, just in case your bowels force you to make a run for those nearby tall dunes covered with European beach grass.
#14 – River crossings & estuaries
Most hikers are used to fording rivers during their journey. But crossing tidal estuaries where a wide river meets the Pacific Ocean is a whole different game altogether. OCT hikers need to cross more than a dozen of these deep river outlets during their journey. That means you’ll need to either: (1) arrange a boat ride across the river or bay, (2) detour inland to an existing bridge, or (3) wait until low tide when these cold rivers might be fordable — though this is only final option is only possible on a handful of the OCT’s smaller rivers. In my experience, the vast majority of the rivers on the OCT will require several extra miles of dreaded roadwalking on Highway 101. However, these detours are also how you make your way into town for your resupply needs, so it’s not all bad.
#15 – How to Time the tides
Select portions of the OCT can completely disappear at mid- or high tide, so OCT hikers have to be very aware of the timing of the ocean tides during this thru-hike. Once the water comes in, you might find yourself boxed in by a steep, rock outcroppings jutting into the ocean with nowhere to retreat. No one wants to find themselves waiting 6+ hours for the tide to go out or backtracking several miles for an alternate route that detours around an impassible area. High and low-tide windows vary each day on the coast. To help plan for this aspect of the OCT, the Oregon State Park system publishes printable tide tables HERE. Hikers can also go online to get daily/weekly tide projections from resources like Saltwater Tides or NOAA.
#16 – Low tide can bring adventures
Constantly monitoring the tides can be a pain in the neck when you are trying to determine your daily mileage on the OCT. However, there are some real benefits to patiently working with it. Many of my favorite memories of this trail occurred at low tide. For example, Cannon Beach and Bandon have wonderfully picturesque beaches at any time of day, but they both had a novel dimension once the tide pools emerged. Hidden gems, like starfish and colorful sea anemones, reveal themselves just a few hours a day when the tide goes out. And there are a handful of special places, like the back side of Sisters Rocks, where hikers can climb down to a hidden sea cave at low tide. Visiting these secluded spots at low tide were some of my favorite memories of the entire OCT.
#17 – HOW do you Resupply on the OCT?
One of the OCT’s best advantages is how it goes through so many coastal towns. In terms of logistics, this might be the easiest trail I’ve ever hiked, and you rarely need to carry more than two days of food with you at any given time. All of the larger towns on the OCT have full grocery stores where you can resupply, and the longest stretch between resupply towns is just 35 miles. The northern part of the OCT goes through a town nearly once every day, but once you get further south, the towns do tend to spread out more. And if you’re tired of what you packed in your food bag (or want to try going stoveless on this hike), the OCT will also take you past plenty of food trucks and small shacks serving fresh fish, crab, or chowder.
#18 – Wet your whistle
In addition to all the seafood you’ll encounter on the Oregon Coast, you should know the state is renowned for its local beer. In fact, there are more than 20 independent craft breweries dotting the Oregon Coast, and most of these establishments are less than a mile from the OCT!! I even compiled a comprehensive list of these microbreweries if you want turn your OCT thru-hike into a brew-hike! But, if you beer isn’t your thing, don’t worry. There’s also plenty of small, local coffee stands brewing up java that’s lightyears better than anything you cook on your camp stove.
#19 – What is the weather like?
A wise and funny hiker once proclaimed the Oregon Coast only has two seasons : (1) rainy; and (2) windy. And there’s a bit of truth to this saying! The weather on the Oregon Coast is almost always chilly, with high temperatures that usually hover in the 60s, even in the peak of summer. During my OCT thru-hike in June/July 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced a heat dome that brought record-breaking temperatures to the the state. Portland was a blistering 111°F! Yet, the coast barely broke 70°F. While you are hiking, you should expect the weather to oscillate between cool, windy days and cool, rainy days – with a rare handful of hours that are sunny, dry, and calm. So, if your heart is set on hiking the OCT, bring a rain jacket (or poncho) and some warm layers. You’ll need them!
#20 – Protect your skin, even on overcast days
Although the skies are often overcast and the temperatures cool on the Oregon Coast, the UV index is not something you want disregard. Many tourists know the misfortune of discovering first-hand that sunburns are caused by UV rays (rather than by temperature). You’re not safe on the coast just because you’re spending time outside on cool, cloudy day. As such, OCT thru-hikers need to pay special attention to this risk and wear long layers while hiking this exposed trail. I wore a long-sleeved UPF 50 sunshirt and long tights for much of my hike, but I found myself taking a lunch break near Cape Kiwanda when the sun unexpectedly came out. Excited to feel its warmth on my skin, I pulled the bottoms of my tights up to my knees and enjoyed the rays for about 40 minutes. That’s all the time it took for my shins to burn – and I’d develop some very badly peeling skin a few days later.
#21 – When should I hike the OCT?
The temperatures on the Oregon Coast never gets really warm. It isn’t like the beaches in Southern California or Florida. The average high temperature in the summer months is a usually only in the 60-65°F range, with overnight lows dropping down into the 40s. When you add in the 75-80″ of annual rainfall that descends on the Oregon Coast, this can make for some truly miserable hiking conditions. Consequently, most OCT hikers attempt their thru-hikes in July or August when the temperatures are warmest and the chance of rain drops to a mere 1-2″ per month. The worst time to attempt an OCT thru-hike is probably December or January. During those months, the daily temperatures range from 35-50°F and the coast gets a whopping 12-15″ of rain per month! That’s definitely a recipe for hyporthermia!
#22 – What direction should I hike?
The vast majority of people who hike the OCT begin in at the Washington border and hike southbound (SOBO) toward California. The reason for this preference is because the prevailing winds on the coast blow in from the northwest. It’s far better to have the sand blowing at the backs of your legs than to have it blowing into your eyes and nose. Of course, hiking SOBO doesn’t mean you won’t ever have to endure strong headwinds or crosswinds. It just means that it will be a less frequent occurrence.
#23 – How much roadwalking is there really?
If you’ve heard one truly negative thing about the OCT, it’s probably that there is a ton of roadwalking to endure. And it’s true! The OCT isn’t a typical backcountry trail with a contiguous path. It’s really a route that strings together existing trails along the Oregon Coast with long walks along various beaches, and then links them all together with roadwalks anytime the coastline is too rocky for a footpath. When I reviewed my final route, I found just under 50% of the OCT was on the beach and sand. Another 20% of my OCT’s miles were on trails or dirt roads. So that leaves the final 30% on pavement of some sort. When you do the math, that means I ended up roadwalking for 120 miles on this thru-hike, with most of it occurring in 4-8 miles stretches around the river estuaries or on high ridges above the ocean.
#24 – How to handle Long roadwalks
We’ve all heard the rule: When walking on the side of the road, pedestrians should always walk against traffic. That makes a lot of sense, right? You can see oncoming cars, and hopefully make sure they see you too. However, I’m going to go against the grain here and recommend walking with traffic on the majority of the OCT’s roadwalks. Here’s why. Hundreds of cyclists ride Highway 101 down the Oregon Coast each year, and the vast majority of them ride southbound so they get a tailwind. Since Highway 101 is pretty narrow, the Oregon Department of Transportation focused on making the southbound shoulder of the highway wider to accommodate the safety of these cyclists. Thus, the southbound shoulder of the road might be 3-6 feet wide, while the northbound should is often a mere 18 inches or less! With logging trucks, large pick-up trucks pulling camper and boats, and tons of distracted tourists driving the coastline, I usually felt much safer walking on the wider shoulder of the road, even if it meant my back was to traffic. This also has the added benefit of allowing you to easily stop and take photos of the ocean and scenery – which will usually be to your right side. Regardless of which side of the road you ultimately decide to utilize, I’d strongly recommend attaching a some really conspicuous reflective material to yourself and your backpack during all your roadwalks and/or use a clip-on strobe safety light so vehicles can see you clearly.
#25 – There’s tunnels Too!
While I’m on the topic of road safety, let’s talk tunnels. There are two 1/4-mile long tunnels on Highway 101 that hikers might have to go through on foot. The first of these tunnels is Arch Cape Tunnel just south of Cannon Beach. OCT hikers generally don’t have to walk through this tunnel, except when the 1.3-mile section of the OCT near Arch Cape Creek is closed from storm damage (as it was in 2021). Detouring through this tunnel isn’t terribly scary because there’s a sidewalk though the entire passage. Unfortunately, this same safety measure doesn’t exist with the next tunnel 150 miles further down the coast. Just south of the Heceta Head Lighthouse, the OCT merges with Highway 101 before threads its way though the Cape Creek Tunnel. This mountain tunnel is just as long as the other one, but without any sidewalk or even a road shoulder for pedestrians to safely walk off the roadway. The risk of a logging truck or RV bearing down at 55 mph inside this long, narrow tunnel will scare the daylights out of any hiker! As a result, many OCT hikers stop at the Heceta Head Lighthouse parking area to bum a ride through the tunnel, while others opt to traverse it very early in the morning while the road traffic is still minimal.
#26 – Are there bears on the OCT?
One might assume a coastal hike like the OCT will only include marine wildlife. However, sections of the OCT also traverse wetlands, climb over steep forested headlands, and navigate centuries old lava and volcanic remains. All told, the trail is more diverse that one might expect; and so is the wildlife! While trekking on the beach sections, hikers will likely see snowy plovers, pelicans, bald eagles, harbor seals, sea lions, crabs, and lots of seagulls. And if you are hiking the OCT in the off-season (winter or spring), you might even spot some Pacific gray whales migrating off the coast. As the trail moves inland, the wildlife transitions to river otters, Roosevelt elk, deer, osprey, wild turkeys, and even the occasional black bear. Bear encounters on the OCT are infrequent, but most of the hiker-biker camps along the OCT have storage lockers to protect your food from bears and other scavengers.
#27 – Let there be light
Lighthouses have been standing guard on the Oregon Coast since 1857, and these sentinels are one of the truly remarkable sights along this trail. There are still 11 historic lighthouses dotting Oregon’s rocky coastline, and the OCT passes beside to the majority of them. Tours of the most the lighthouses are currently on hold during the pandemic, however, future OCT thru-hikers should definitely consider visiting them when they eventually re-open! One of the more popular and photographed of these lighthouses is the iconic Haceta Head lighthouse perched 1,000 feet above the ocean. This lighthouse has been illuminated since 1894 and its bright beacon can be seen more than 20 miles out to sea!
#28 – Beware of ATVs and OHVs
Highway 101 probably poses the biggest risk to OCT thru-hikers getting run over by a motorhome or logging truck. However, this isn’t the only place where hikers have to really watch out for their physical safety. Many of the Oregon beaches allow vehicles to drive right out onto the sand, and the wind and waves tend to obscure their sounds until they are nearly driving next to you. One area hikers need to especially be careful is the 40-mile stretch of the trail between Florence and North Bend. This section parallels the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, where all-terrain vehicles and off-road vehicles seem to reign supreme. Most ATV and OHV riders stick to the towering coastal sand dunes managed by the state parks and U.S. Forest Service, but a fair number of them also venture out on to the beach near the trail too!
#29 – Cell Service on the OCT
The telecom infrastructure on Oregon Coast is not nearly as developed as other more populated parts of the state or the I-5 corridor. Nonetheless, you can expect to have reliable cell service on about 75% of this trail. Cell service is notably absent on some of the longer beach walks, especially near the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. It also disappears in the handful of places where Highway 101 delves inland and diverges from the coastline – like the section between Cape Meares and Pacific City and from Coos Bay to Bandon. Despite this shortcomings, the OCT does provide hikers with many more miles of cell service than the typical backcountry trail.
#30 – Read Some trail journals
You already know the OCT isn’t a mega-popular trail like the Appalachain Trail or Pacific Crest Trail. Only a few dozen people attempt to thru-hike it each year. Moreover, the maps and guidebooks available when I planned my 2021 OCT thru-hike left me with some fairly big questions and knowledge gaps. One of the key items to help me though this journey came from was prior thru-hikers. In particular, I found Brian “Buck-30” Tanzman’s planning notes for the OCT to be invaluable. As you are planning your own hike, take some time to read these journals or reach out to former OCT thru-hikers for advice on what they wish they’d known before this trail.
Final Thoughts
So there you go, the top 30 things I think every future OCT thru-hiker should know before they attempt this trail. If you’re interested in learning more about this trail, check out these other links:
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