The Last Day

August 27, 2018. From stealth camp near Yellow Banks to Cape Alava.

I had a restless night. Finish Fever, I guess. By 4:30 I started packing.

The guidebook indicated the last four miles would be rocky, so I thought it would be wise to start early to ensure finishing before high tide.

It was dark when I set out. The full moon (sturgeon moon) was just the night before, so this morning’s moon was big as it shone above the western horizon.

Like yesterday, I started with a smooth beach walk. For some time I followed the footprints of a coyote that had scavenged the low tide. While the sun struggled to rise in the east, the moon seemed to resist setting in the west.

I stopped to eat the last of my food near the end of the appropriately named Sandy Beach. Out of the woods came a deer, wholly unconcerned about my presence.

When I rounded the next headland I was surprised to see small bear pawprints in the sand. In addition to the deer, coyote, and several bald eagles, it seemed bears visited this beach, too. When I looked up the beach, to my surprise there was a mother bear and a smaller blob. They were scrounging in the debris washed ashore at high tide.

I promptly pulled out my cell phone for video to capture the moment and bear spray in case the moment turned bad. If you read my blog on the CDT, you’ll know I’m not a fan of mother bears with cubs.

Just like at Deer Lake, everyone followed the training manual. I made noise and waved my arms to establish visual and auditory presence. Cubs exit to trees in land. Mom gives me menacing look and then follows cubs.

There was one moment when she was heading into the woods but suddenly reversed course for the beach. My pulse quickened. But it was just momentary and she then scampered off.

Understandably, I gave a wide berth around the place they entered the woods. Each time I looked back, I could not spot them.

I was relieved to find out that the guidebook’s warning about a rocky shoreline generally meant a lot of smaller rocks, not large slippery ones. This meant I was making much better time than expected.

The large rock formations were the defining image of this coast, in my opinion. There were some engaging ones this last day. One having a hole in it. Another looked almost like a loaf of bread.

I love how waves can drill through rock.

This one reminded me of a loaf of bread.

Another spectacular sight to wrap up the PNT was just around Wedding Rocks point. There were petroglyphs carved into several of the stones. I know I did not find all of them, but the ones I did see were impressive. Estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old, it struck me how it is such a human characteristic to want to create something meaningful and ever-lasting.

Not my area of expertise, but I translate this to mean “leaf us alone.”

Early emojis.

Finally, after less than four hours of hiking, I reached Cape Alava. The sea lions were making a ruckus on islands offshore. The sun was just reaching the outer edge of the beach. Only two people were visible, vandalizing this place by chiseling something into rocks off shore. I was pissed at first, but then considered that one man’s vandalism is another man’s petroglyph.

I took the obligatory selfie, let loved ones know I had finished, and then sat on a large driftwood log. I don’t know why, but I decided I would just sit and look and not think. Once the sun reached me, I would step off the beach and hike the three mile connector trail to the campground where my Dad was waiting to pick me up.

The sun reached me. 61 days and roughly 1,200 miles. It was time to leave the PNT and go home.