Part 4 - The Lost Coast Trail - Expedition Team

START HERE - LOST COAST PART 1

One of the funny things about this hike was that I wanted to hike it alone and in the end I had two buddies join me.  I would not change a thing.  It made for a fantastic trip - lots of laughter and pain.  The best though were the memories and shared experiences we will be able to reflect on later.  Since I originally told my wife I was going on this hike solo - I think from day one she secretly campaigned for friends to go with me.  She likes to keep asking me, "How will you do this?  You blister so easy."  It is true - I have the softest hands known to man.  I cannot build calluses.  Any rough skin after a manly day of working in the yard or working on the cars, will be miraculously turned to butter hands overnight.   Same for my feet - no calluses there either...odd yes?  So a bad idea to do this alone.

Whitey Camp Shoe

Anyway, I collected a couple of great expedition members when I spoke so highly of this trip.  It was nice to hear that what I thought would be cool, sounded cool to them.   The first member was my buddy Matt - or "Whitey" as we call him.  He is a true outdoors person.  He plans his vacation time around different backpacking trips, fishing trips, and other adventures that sound fun.  Often I would get obscure texts or emails on a Friday night in the middle of winter saying - "Hey, camping at Wolf Gap tonight - come on out."  So he never shrugged at this trip - thought it would be a blast.  Another thing about "Whitey" was that he dedicates an entire room of his house to expedition gear: tents, backpacks, sleeping pads and bags (+40, -10, bag liners), camp stoves, shoes, water filters, trekking poles, food stores (digs the freeze dried stuff on sale), lights, and his world traveling orange Crocs (you can see them on his pack below)...I could go on.   It is his base camp at home where he can plan what he will take.  Obviously he would be a good one to have on the trip - as I at this point had nothing I could use that was made in this century.  When he was over once I thought I saw my wife pass him a Benjamin - not sure. 

Mattole Beach - Matt -"Whitey" - Mike - "Flyrod" - Ian - "Jagman"

The next member of the Lost Coast crew was my brother in law, Mike.  His trail name is "Flyrod" ("Fish Breath" would have been good too, but it is already taken by another fishing buddy of mine Milt, and that is not really a good name anyway - conjures up some bad cringing images) since he is an avid fly fisherman - always ready to pull out his rod.  Sorry - deal with my childish humor.   He has the "River Runs Through It" casting rhythm down so well I would not be ashamed to say he was probably the technical director for Brad Pitt in the movie.  Mike, like me, needs all new gear as well; we have not been in the "bush" for some time.   My sister, Mona, the one I mentioned earlier whom I went backpacking in Montana with, is Mike's wife.  She, I can happily say, is supportive of his adventures knowing that he needs a break from the everyday.  Mike and I both work in the financial field, he in business development and I in financial system development.  Even Whitey is in the finance world - so we are all a bunch of numbers guys.  And I really suck in math - go figure.

One of the first stops was for Mike and I to hit REI to grab a "bit of kit" as the Brits say.  We needed packs, sleeping bags, water filter, stoves, and a bunch of the staff's help figuring out everything.  Great store - I highly recommend them.  It was also fun loading up my eventual purchase, the Gregory 65 pack, with 45lbs of weighted bean bags then wheeze about the store frightening the small children as they thought I would topple over from the weight.  We also needed Bear Canisters for our food and anything that smells too - toothpaste, soap, etc. These canisters are very hard for even people to open - but there is a bear in New York State that has figured out how to open some models.  "I am smarter than the average bear, Boo Boo."  Really though - these are for the bear's safety as much as ours.  You are required to use them on the Lost Coast trail.

With great fanfare, Whitey, Flyrod and I met one Saturday morning over coffee and poured over the topo maps, calendars, and tide charts to figure out our schedule and route; we were going in September, between the sometimes fog of Summer and the heavy rains that start in October.  We pulled out other items of interest - headlamps, stoves, etc.  Then Whitey whipped out a very large knife to the concern of the latte drinking patrons when Mike asked him what kind of knife he should bring.  I wished I had a machete or something to add to the mix.  We could have taken that store!!
Next - Part 5 - The Lost Coast of California - Westward Bound! 

Tonight's Lost Coast Pic - Inn of the Lost Coast Webcam