OCT | Day 8 | Lincoln City to Beverly Beach

Lincoln Beach

A week of walking brought us to Lincoln City and a decision for me. Over the last 7 days, I’ve had a variety of pains in both feet but I felt like I was managing it pretty well with moleskin and willpower. After a hard Day 7, though, I developed a blister on the underside of my left foot and what felt like tendonitis across the top of my right. Not good, especially with another big day in front us. I was a bit unsettled as I went to bed.

In the morning, Jill was rarin’ to go but I wasn’t feeling that confident. Fortunately, the first 8+ miles today were highway walking that I figured I could easily trade for a morning of rest. The other girls had no interest in a 20+ mile day either so they hung back with me. We found a bus that ran south to Gleneden Beach where we could meet Jill.

While we waited for the bus, I stumbled across a reminder of our Central American Questival adventure last year — https://instagram.com/p/BVNZcMZBs5C

Gleneden Beach to Fishing Rock

The bus took us down the road 8 miles where we met up with Jill. Walking down to the beach, we found some helpful advice if there’s a tsunami while we’re on the coast.

The walk down to the Gleneden Beach provided a nice postcard-quality photo that looked like we’d emerge from the forest onto a tropical island beach.

The weather was certainly nice that day but I didnt see any Mai Tais or sunbathing.

We did run into a series of tree stumps embedded in the sand. At some point, there must have been trees growing here, or so it seemed.

Before reaching Fishing Rock, the beach effectively ended, forcing us to climb up and over a long rockfield. We decided earlier that the OCT involves traveling by Beach, Boat, Rail, Road, Trail, and Vehicle. Jill suggested we add “Adventure” to account for all river and rock crossings.

Traversing the rocks was trickier than it probably looks in the picture. We found a welcome surprise at the end in the form of an official OCT badge.

Behind the sign, we scrambled up towards the highway.

Working our way east, the trail meandered through a great section of trees that had grown so tightly together that it created a series of “caves” that we could crawl in.

Fogarty Creek to Boiler Bay

Crossing the highway, we ate lunch in Fogarty Creek State Park, then back to the highway to head down to Boiler Bay.

We found a new section of the OCT that was supposedly completed only in 2013. The trail largely followed the highway but provided a much safer path.

Occasionally, the trail would wander into the woods where the picture taking improved.

Eventually, we made it to the Boiler Bay viewpoint.

And more OCT badges.

Depoe Bay

From the Boiler Bay lookout, we made on our way down to the town of Depoe Bay. Here we found a nice boardwalk with plenty of shops and cafes for tourists. This meant real brewed iced tea for Rhonda along with a double espresso for me! Better yet, I found a craft beer bar at the end of town to fill a growler with Sunriver Brewing’s FuzzTail Hefeweizen for Christy and me at dinner later.

We picked up the OCT south of town, lost it, then found it again (several times) as we worked our way south.

Along the way, we found a spot down on the water where seals / sea lions would sun themselves on a large flat section of rock. Apologies for the image quality but I was at maximum zoom.

Here’s the full view.

As we passed the Rocky Creek Scenic Viewpoint, we left the highway at the Otter Crest Loop.

Otter Crest Loop

The Otter Crest loop largely runs parallel to the 101 and climbs all the way up to Cape Foulweather. The road starts as two lanes but ultimately turns into little more than a walking path where cars are limited to one-way travel.