Oregon Coast Trail Packing List

Packing for the Oregon Coast in June/July was a much more daunting challenge than I ever expected.

First up, I wanted to pack appropriately for the weather conditions. Locals joke that there are only two seasons on the Oregon Coast: (1) rainy or (2) windy. I’d get lots of both, along with nighttime temperatures that dipped down into the low 40s each night (even though it was mid-summer)!

My second challenge was the sheer variety of different terrain I’d experience in just 400 miles. Sometimes I’d be walking on exposed beaches or on soft sand dunes with no shade to be found. Other times, I might be hiking in forests, coastal headlands, rocky shoreline. Not to mention the many miles of roadwalking on Highway 101’s shoulder.

Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to switch my gear up twice during hike. And, trust me, I made a number of changes along the way!

The following list contains what I ended carrying the entire way down Oregon’s Coast. The items I swapped (or dropped entirely) are at the very end with an explanation on why that gear didn’t work for me and/or what I’d do differently if I were hiking this trail again.

(Note: As always, this packing list is simply what worked for me. I publish my packing list after each hike because I think there’s value in seeing what gear other hikers actually used, liked, or disliked on a thru-hike. None of the hyperlinks in this post are affiliate links. They are just there to provide a quick reference for the reader. Any item with an asterisk beside it indicates a deviation from my standard long distance hiking gear set-up.)

BACKPACK SET-UP

Backpack – Gossamer Gear G4-20 (42L) in electric blue
Accessories – Gossamer Gear Hipbelt Pocket (which I use as a fanny pack)
Accessories – Zpacks Shoulder Pouch (to carry my phone, headphones)
Pack Liner* – Pack liner from Gossamer Gear
Emergency ID – Road ID attached to pack

SHELTER & SLEEP SYSTEM

Tent – Nemo Hornet 2P tent
Sleeping Bag – Enlightened Equipment Revelation down quilt (30°F)
Air Mattress* – Therm-a-rest NeoAir XLite (size: regular wide) with pump sack

FOOD/COOKING ITEMS

Stove – MSR PocketRocket2 + 4 oz. fuel canister & mini lighter
Cook Pot – MSR Titan Kettle (0.85L) + homemade pot koozy
Spoon – Toaks long handle titanium spoon (w/ polished bowl)
Food Storage* – OPSAK odor proof bag (12″ x 20″)
Water filter* – Katadyn BeFree collapsable filter bottle (20 oz.)
Water storage – 1L and 1.5L plastic bottles & CNOC Outdoor Vecto 2L bladder

ELECTRONICS

Phone/camera – iPhone XR (128GB)
Garmin InReach mini – GPS satellite communicator
External battery – Anker Power Core 10000 external battery w/ USB cables for iPhone & InReach
Navigation* – Gaia GPS on my iPhone
Headlamp* – Nitecore NU25 headlamp (360 lumens)
Electronics Storage – Sea to summit Ultra-Sil Dry Sack (size: XXS)

HIKING ACCESSORIES

Trekking Pole* – One Leki Cressida Thermo pole (w/ removable rubber walking tip)
Sit Pad – Therm-a-rest Z sitting pad

HIKING CLOTHING (WORN)

Hiking Bottoms* – Nike Dryfit leggings & Patagonia Baggies 5″ shorts
Hiking Shirt* – Simms long sleeve hooded sun shirt
Hat – Headsweats Race hat
Sunglasses – Suncloud Cookie sunglasses with polarized lenses
Watch – Timex Ironman watch
Wallet – Roam minimal wallet (w/ ID, credit card, and cash only)
Undergarments – Patagonia Barely sports bra & underwear

FOOTWEAR

Shoes* – Altra Torin running shoes
Hiking Socks* – WrightSocks Cool Mesh II running socks
Gaiters – Dirty Girl gaiters

OUTERWEAR

Puffy coat* – North Face Thermoball Hoodie
Rain Jacket* – Patagonia Stretch Rainshadow Jacket
Sun Gloves*– REI sun gloves
Poncho* – Coughlan lightweight vinyl poncho

EXTRA CLOTHES/CAMP ITEMS

Underwear – Patagonia Barely underwear (extra pairs)
Sleep clothes – Smartwool merino wool leggings & Icebreaker 1/4 zip baselayer top
Sleep socks – Inexpensive fuzzy socks from Target
Buff Headband – CoolNet UV+ multifunctional headband
Camp shoes – Crocs Swiftwater sandals
Storage – Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil stuff sack (9L)

HYGIENE ITEMS

Toiletry Storage – OPSAK odor proof bag (7″ x 7″)
Dental Care – Travel toothbrush/toothpaste + floss
Vision – Daily wear disposable contacts & glasses
First Aid Kit – KT tape, Body Glide (0.8 oz), bandaids, ibuprofen
Knife – Swiss Army knife (w/ mini scissors)
Cleaning – Wet Ones (travel size)
Skincare – Chapstick and sunscreen
Toilet – Duece of Spades #2 trowel, TP, bandana (pee rag)
Shower Items* – hotel soap and shampoo, and a small Sea to Summit Tek Towel
Trash storage – Large ziplock bag

POST-HIKE THOUGHTS

My packing list evolved during this thru-hike thanks to the weather, some blistered feet, and the eventual realization that this trail wasn’t my typical backcountry hike.

I already planned to press pause on my hike around mile 140 so I could head back to Eugene for a few days to deal with some important “real world” needs (like taking my son for his second Covid shot, keeping my appointment with the DMV, and seeing the dentist about a cracked filling).

This break allowed me to completely reassess what gear was working and what needed improvement.

NEW GEAR CarrIED JUST FOR THIS HIKE

Navigation. There is no Guthook Guide for the OCT. Heck, there wasn’t even a good map or guidebook written for thru-hiking the trail. So, I had to I prepare my own GPS route using Gaia GPS. When mapping my route, I relied on two different guidebooks (Exploring the Oregon Coast by C. Super and Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by B. Henderson). Both had some shortcomings — as they are really geared for day hikes. I also used the maps on the Oregon Coast Trail Foundation’s website to get a general overview of the entire route and Buck-30’s trail journal for data on the river crossings. This method is something I’d definitely recommend! Right after I completed the trail, I learned Bonnie Henderson has a new OCT guidebook coming out in October 2021. I suspect the revised edition will be even more helpful to thru-hikers.

Katadyn BeFree water filter. I normally use a Saywer filter for my thru-hikes. I love their simplicity and durability. However, my Sawyer Micro mysteriously stopped working on my recent Mt. Whitney hike back in May, and I still hadn’t remembered to replace it. Luckily, I had a Katadyn BeFree (KBF) filter in my gear closet at home, so I grabbed it for this hike. I liked this filter’s fast flow rate and it worked perfectly fine for the water sources on the OCT. However, the KBF’s filter only works with the wide mouth soft squeeze pouch it comes with. It won’t fit on a 28mm threaded bottle opening like a Smartwater bottle or CNOC Vecto bladder that I typically use. You also can’t easily back-flush the KBF filter if your water source has a lot of sediment, but that’s rarely an issue on the OCT.

Clothing. Having visited the Oregon Coast many times, I already knew I’d need to protect myself from the sun’s harsh UV rays and the blowing sand on many of the exposed beach walks. I alternated between a pair of ultra thin 7/8-length Nike One Luxe leggings and and my quick drying Patagonia baggies shorts. Up top, I wore a Simms UPF 50 SolarFlex hoody sun shirt for the entire trail. This shirt helped keep me warm on the colder mornings, but cool on the sunnier afternoons – and it prevented sunburn on my arms and neck. Overall, these were great choices for the OCT, but next time I’d definitely choose full-length tights because I now have a funky looking 2-3″ strip of tanned skin between where leggings ended and my gaiters began.

Rain-proof items. The weather forecast showed a bit of rain for the first week of my hike and I knew the coastal fog would roll also in every night. As such, I packed with the assumption that all my gear would get damp. I left my beloved down puffy coat at home, and brought my North Face synthetic puffy jacket instead. I also packed a rain jacket with pit zips figuring I might have to hike longer distances in a more breathable rain gear. I also packed a ton of plastic bags to keep my things dry. This was was a good strategy, and one I’d definitely recommend to other OCT thru-hikers.

Sun gloves (and sunscreen). Initially, I didn’t do enough to protect myself from the sun because it was so cool and overcast each day. This was a big mistake! The UV index can be extremely high on the exposed coastline, especially in afternoons when the clouds burn off. My hands and shins got pretty sunburned in those first few days on the trail, and it forced me to definitely change my ways! I began wearing my REI sun gloves and applying sunscreen like it was going out of style for the rest of the trail!

Walking tip. After the first week on the OCT, I realized the metal tip of my pole was beginning to wear down from all the use on my road walks. To combat this problem, I started using a removable rubber walking tip on the pavement. (Luckily, I already had one in my hiking gear box back home thanks to my 2018 Camino de Santiago thru-hike.) I just slipped this rubber tip protective tip on the end of my pole each time I hit the asphalt and it provided some additional shock absorption and protection for the end of my trekking pole.

Shower items. One of the delightful things about the OCT is that it passes by several state campgrounds with hiker/bikers campsites (at $7-8/night). Because these campsites are part of bigger car camping campgrounds, they also have bathhouses for their guests. I’m never one to turn down a warm shower to wash off the grime after a long day. So I made sure to pack a small bar of soap, some shampoo, and a small towel for my stays.

Food storage. I wasn’t worried about bears on this hike, so I left my Ursack at home, and I just used a large (12″ x 20″) OPSAK to store my food throughout this hike. In hindsight, I probably could have gone even lighter and used a DCF food bag, but I still had some concerns about squirrels and chipmunks near some of the hiker/biker campgrounds. Hence, why I stuck with the slightly heavier odor proof sack.

Headlamp. This is only the second hike where I’ve used the Nitecore USB-rechargable NU25 headlamp. As someone who doesn’t do a bunch of night hiking, I can’t say this item was a big game-changer for me. But at 360 lumens, it is so much brighter than my old Petzl e+LITE. Plus, I no longer needed to carry extra batteries.

Pack liner. Normally I rely on a trash bag and/or use my Neo-Air’s pump sack as a waterproof pack liner. This method is cheap and easy, and it’s worked for thousands of miles. However, I happened to be ordering something else from Gossamer Gear this spring, and I decided I’d plunk down $5 for a 2-pack of their waterproof pack liners. At 48 liters, this clear plastic liner fits inside my pack so much better than what I was using before. Definitely worth what it cost me.

My beloved G4-20 frameless pack on the OCT

WHAT GEAR DID I DITCH (or change) during my hike?

My trail shoes. For the past 5-6 years, I’ve used Altra trail runners for all my thru-hikes. These shoes normally work great for me, but there didn’t seem to be enough padding on the shoe’s soles for all the asphalt road walking on this trail. As a result, I developed some pretty substantial blisters on my feet, including a giant one on the ball of my right foot. So, when I got to Depoe Bay (~ mile 140), I swapped out my trail shoes for my regular Altra running shoes, which were considerably more comfortable when walking on the road shoulders. (Note: I had to super glue a square of velcro onto the heel of each shoe to use my gaiters because the Altra running shoes don’t have gaiter traps like their trail shoes.)

Socks. I’m a huge fan on Injinji socks because they help me avoid friction between my toes when hiking. However, once I got those painful blisters on my feet from all the roadwalking and needed to swap out my shoes, I made some sock changes too. Thus, I switched over to Wrightsocks Cool Mesh II socks (my standard go-to running sock) for the remainder of the hike.

My tent. I started the OCT with my ultralight tent – The Gossamer Gear “The One.” I really like this tent, but I was definitely skeptical about bringing a single-walled, trekking pole tent on a hike that might require setting up in soft sand. Would I be able to get enough tension on the lines to keep the tent upright in such a sandy environment? Would the constant wind on the beach just blow it down? As it turns out, the biggest issue I encountered wasn’t either of these concerns. The real problem was the condensation that built up on the inside of the tent each morning when the coastal fog rolled in overnight. After a week of a wet tent, I decided to swap it out, and I used my trusty Nemo Hornet 2P (semi-freestanding) tent for the remaining 2/3 of the trail. This double-walled tent was certainly heavier in my pack, but it worked out great.

Air mattress. At the very end of my AT thru-hike in 2019, I developed a small leak in my NeoAir Xlite air mattress. Despite multiple repair attempts, and struggling with a slowly deflating mattress with on every backpacking trip I made in 2020, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a replacement mattress. I went with the same brand and model as my old one, but I opted to splurge on the regular/wide size this time around. I’m a stomach sleeper, and and have always struggled to get comfortable on the NeoAir’s narrow shape. The comfort of going from 20″ to a 25″ width was well worth the 3 ounces this new air mattress added to my base weight!

Extra rain gear. If hikers pack their fears, then I must really fear being cold and wet. I initially packed a rain jacket, rain pants, a rain vest, rain mittens, and brought an UL umbrella for this thru-hike. Then, as I was walking through the town of Seaside (on day 1 of my hike), I bought an inexpensive $6 vinyl poncho to keep my pack dry. All this rain gear really was overkill, and I off-loaded everything but my rain jacket and poncho by the time I met up with Keith at Barview Jetty a few days later.

What did I LEAVE BEHIND THIS TIME?

Beanie hat & gloves. Given that the temperatures were never really going to drop below the mid-40s on this hike, I left my cherished hot pink beanie hat behind at home and just used a Buff headband to sleep in or wear during the evening or colder mornings. I also left my Sporthill running gloves behind, since I had sun gloves with me. This was turned out to be a good choice for this summer hike, and I didn’t miss either item.

One trekking pole. Maybe it was the frequent road walks on the OCT or the fact that much of the trail is relatively flat. But for some reason, I seemed to only be using one pole throughout the northern section of this hike. I realized I was just storing the extra one in my pack’s side pocket during the entire day instead of using it. Thus, once I swapped out my tent for a semi-freestanding model, I no longer needed to keep both trekking poles with me. I went down to just one pole for the remaining 2/3 of the trail, and the only time I missed having the second pole was during a handful of steep sections of trail in the Samuel Boardman corridor (at the very end of my hike).

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY?

Hike during the peak months. If I were hiking the OCT again, I probably would have begun my hike just a few weeks later into the summer. My mid-June start meant I still had to deal with some heavy rainfall on the northern end of the trail. Timing might be a factor you want to consider when planning your own OCT hike. July and August are consistently the driest months on the Oregon Coast.

Go stoveless. One of the biggest benefits of pushing myself to hike bigger miles on the OCT was how my pace took me through a small town almost every day. I took advantage of this perk and stopped at a coffee house, brewery, or restaurant whenever I could. Since I was getting a tasty town meal on a regular basis, and I could have easily gone stoveless on this trail the rest of the time.

Pack a poncho. As much as I enjoy using an UL umbrella to keep dry in the rain while I’m hiking in the backcountry, that solution is far less practical on the windy Oregon Coast. A poncho will keep your core and your pack dry, and is much more breathable than a rain jacket and rain pants. I survived just fine with the $6 vinyl poncho I bought in Seaside, but if I were doing the OCT again (or outside the peak season), I would definitely consider a lighter, quick drying option like the Sea to Summit Ultra Sil Nano Poncho.

Better tent stakes. My favorite tent stakes are the MSR Mini Groundhog and the Nemo Airpin stakes. And while these choices might be fine for the backcountry, but they don’t cut it in softer sand you’ll find on the OCT. I’d strongly recommend bringing a few sturdier stakes if you don’t want to deal with your rainfly coming un-staked in the wind multiple times each night. The best tent stakes for sand are at least 9-10″ long and spiral or u-shaped.

Wide brim hat. I’m not good about re-applying my sunscreen throughout the day, so I used a brimmed, baseball style cap with a hooded sun shirt to protect my neck and face during my hike. If you don’t enjoy hiking with a hooded shirt, I’d definitely recommend packing a sun hat with a wide brim or a using hat with a sun cape (like this one from Outdoor Research).

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you want to learning more about some of the lessons I learned about the Oregon Coast Trail, get my best navigation tips, and read the advice I’d give to others contemplating this hike, check out my Oregon Coast Trail page.

And, if you’re interested in some other Oregon-specific adventures, there’s also: