Those waves crashing all night long is a game changer. No need for Melatonin or CBD Gummies. Just lay your head down and sleep like a baby. This morning I had oatmeal with my coffee. I’m not a big fan of oatmeal but this was a new packet with freeze dried blueberries and sounded good when I was purchasing it at REI. But after all, it’s just oatmeal and I can take it or leave it. After eating, I went to our lookout and checked for the seal. It appears he went back to the sea to live another day. I’m so glad.

We were hiking the beach just past 8am and the tide was out. There’s bright green grasses that are probably a version of sea kelp. Light weight and slimy to walk on. We made it around the first point, another Headlands. It’s just another rock scramble, reminiscent of the AT.

Once around N. Headlands, I imagined we’d be back walking on sandy beaches drinking margaritas. Think again. The guidebook mentioned we’d have miles of rocks and boulders, and they weren’t exaggerating. For the entire morning, we were climbing boulders, walking through rock fields, and when you get tired of that, you can always walk through tide pools that are just as treacherous. The most interesting part of the morning was Crab City. Every step you take, there are tiny and not so tiny crabs walking, scurrying and sliding away from us giants. They are so funny because they believe they’re hiding from us. I wanted so badly to see them, know where they were, so I didn’t crush their little crab house on their backs.

As Sally approached a poor unsuspecting crab, she must’ve scared the little guy. He slid into a tide pool and got gobbled up by a sea urchin. Nature at its best, or worse, however you tend to view it. I guess that sums up life on the Wild West coast.

Then to make matters worse, Sally was ahead again, and must have startled this big fat raccoon. Evidently he didn’t hear me coming around the bend, as he was be-lining right towards me. This guy definitely hasn’t missed any meals. He sees me, shakes his head in disgust and heads up the boulder, far away from my route of climbing.

For no less than three hours, we scrambled, climbed, rock hopped and just dreamed of sandy beaches. I thought I had seen one up ahead but as we approached, it was filled with flat rocks that covered up any facsimile of sand. Finally after our longest and toughest climb of the morning, a full on put your poles away and hang onto anything that looks solid, we arrived at, yes you guessed it, a rocky cove. It was close to noon and we had covered a whopping four miles in a little more than three hours! That’s some slow miles. We decided to stop and eat something, and prayed for some easier terrain ahead.

After fueling, we walked around the cove, over a large fallen tree and two deer were walking directly towards me. I stopped to see how close they would come. Sally was right behind me and they looked, looked again and kept walking. They have zero fear of us and can walk on the rocky beach like they were made for it! Well, I think they are, made for walking on rocky soil, gravelly dirt, sides of mountains and about anything else you throw at them. Me, well I’m still looking for that sandy beach with Tiki Huts and Cold Beer!

One last headlands to conquer and that utopia called Cedar Banks should be in view. Just before we made it, there was another sighting of a Bald Eagle. He was perched atop a rocky point looking for his daily provision of fish or crab or whatever tasty morsel he could scoop from the sea. We made it around the slippery green slime without incident and arrived at our beautiful beach. And boy oh boy, was I ready!

Cedar Creek was flowing but not the spring water we had yesterday. But still it was fresh and usable. Sally and I split up in search of landing zones. The beach is low with a rocky incline that leads to campsites. I looked a bit and found a site next to the creek but was quite windy and unprotected. Sally wasn’t impressed and continued her search southbound on the beach. About 2-3 football fields down the beach, up a rocky embankment, she found the sweetest little campsite.

We set up, did some housecleaning, searched for bathroom possibilities and I started blogging. The sun is brilliant with a good breeze, the waves crashing and the beach is full on sand! This is my little slice of paradise. Oh, and it comes with a resident raccoon. As I was writing this, she came over to inspect me. How do I know it’s a she? She’s much smaller than the raccoon from earlier today. He was most definitely a he raccoon.

Before long, a fog bank started pouring in. It was the first time on this journey that the fog hovered over our campsite. Most days we could see it on the horizon but never approaching our camp. Well sounds like an early night and maybe I’ll sleep a bit earlier. The beauty of backpacking, no really jobs to do but get from point A to Point B, build a house, make dinner and look for water. Here on the beach, you may wonder, where is the water coming from? We all know you can’t drink saltwater and I have no way of desalinizing the water. But you know what? There are springs flowing from the sides of the hills. Where you would least suspect, a creek is bubbling up from nothing. That just blows my mind and that’s how our God works. Nothing too complicated for Him to create. Thank you Lord for the drinking and most of all, the living waters of life.

“I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬