Lost Coast Trail

Hi y’all,

Not strictly climbing, but I’ve got a reservation to hike the Lost Coast Trail in the Kings Range Wilderness beginning on Tuesday. I planned this very last-minute, and am now realizing that a shuttle from the end of the trail (Black Sand Beach) back to the beginning (Mattole Campground) will be pretty expensive. Most companies don’t even have any openings for the day I’m supposed to get out (the 29th).

I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for cheaper ways to get from the end of the trail to the beginning. I’d also be willing to pay anyone who lives in the area and feels like taking a couple hours to ferry my girlfriend and I from the end of the trail back to the start on the morning of the 29th.

Thanks,

Townes 

Any chance you can drive there in two vehicles and then drop one at the end of the trail? That's how I did it. I alternatively considered trying to bike between the two trail ends and quickly gave that up after looking at the blind hairpins, half paved and half dirt road surface, and elevation gain. It's also common to do a key swap with a group hiking in the opposite direction, and if you go on the lost coast facebook page, you can often find people trying to coordinate key/vehicle swaps. 

Just hike back to where you started from. Not that far and it actually looks pretty different when walking the other way. 

Just do an out-and-back where you stay two nights at the same campsite, which lets you day-hike on that day and cover mileage a lot faster than you would with overnight gear. 

Even if you don't complete the entire trail, you'll still have a great experience.

Out and back from the Mattole trailhead, would be my recommendation.

I don't know if you'll be able to find someone to do this:

The Routeburn Track in New Zealand is approximately 20 miles point to point, but several hours to drive from TH to TH. The track is usually done in two or three days but we wanted to do it as a dayhike and definitely did not want to add on an extra day to be shuttled back to the beginning.  We hired a trail runner who ran the trail from the terminal trailhead to the beginning trailhead and then drove our van back to the terminal trailhead (it was NZ, so the keys were just left on the tire). Our van was waiting for us, and he got paid (well) for a training day.

Pavel K wrote:

Just hike back to where you started from. Not that far and it actually looks pretty different when walking the other way. 

And you can also return part of the way along the crest of the mountain range instead of the beach, making for a varied "lollipop" loop