First hike as a team

Dispatch from Morgan Beasley — May 25, 1997

Team members map out their first expedition to a nearby Oregon peak

We are on our first training hike (an informal one) on Tillamook Head between Cannon Beach and Seaside, Oregon. We intended to climb nearby Saddle Mountain, which is higher and more difficult, but the road up to the mountain had developed a sinkhole and was subsequently closed. As we turned off the highway onto Saddle Mountain road we ran into barricades and a friendly park ranger, who directed us to a great hike at Tillamook Head.

When we arrived on the Cannon Beach side of Tillamook Head, we went to the trail head at Indian Beach. There, we donned our packs and headed out on the short 2-mile (1,000-foot elevation gain) hike to Hiker's Camp. The hike was spectacular and afforded us a wonderful view of the Head, the ocean, and the lighthouse. We were also blessed with wonderful weather.

When we reached the Hiker's Camp we found it a bit too improved for us, with outhouses, picnic tables, and shelters. We headed out toward the cape and viewpoint, next to the old World War II radar bunker; this was about .2 miles. We set up camp near the bunker and had the most breathtaking view of anywhere I had ever stayed.

All along we had been teaching Michelle the ropes of backpacking. We went about setting up camp. Michelle and I set up the tent and gathered firewood. Bill built the fire and started dinner. For dinner we had ramen with sesame chicken prepared by the whole team. After dinner we went down to the bunker, which was quite eerie and unnerved all of us. Around 7:30 p.m. it was still very light so we went down to get water for the next day.

The sign said 1/2 mile to Indian Creek. We headed down the trail with our water bottles talking about the upcoming training and expedition. About 2 miles later we came upon Indian Creek where it met the ocean; it turned out that there were two trails to Hiker's Camp and the sign had been wrong! This taught us a valuable lesson — always carry a topo map.

We filled up our water bottles and started the hike back to camp. We made it to camp around nightfall, so we started the fire and watched the sun set over the ocean. Then we made the best Jiffy Pop any of us had ever tasted. We went to sleep around 9:30 and woke around 8 a.m. For breakfast we ate blueberry granola and hot sweet milk, which we found in the NOLS cookery, an excellent backcountry cookbook. We broke camp around 10:30, WAY TOO LATE. We hope to bring this time down to 9:00.

Again we were blessed with great weather and excellent views as we continued on 4 miles to Seaside. This was the first real thing we had done as a team, although Dan could not make it up from Corvallis. The one who had the hardest time was definitely Michelle; she was smacked hard in the eye by a tent pole, burned her finger, and fell face first onto the trail, but she kept on truckin' and stayed in high spirits. All in all it was a great trip and we all hope that we have this good luck on the big expedition.