Tag Archives: lost coast

Gear Review: ZPacks Hexamid Twin (2014)

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Hexamid Twin, Zpacks, Lost Coast

Quick and Dirty
Gear Type: Shelter/Tent
Material: .51 Cuben and Nano-noseum
Weight with Poles and Stuff Sacks: 13.5 oz
Trail weight: 13.5 oz with no floor, 18 oz with optional cuben floor
Price: $320 – $530
Link:  Hexamid Twin
Pros: Easy pitch, very lightweight, innovative design
Cons: Lacks headspace opposite of the door

The Zpacks Hexamid Twin (Hexamid) is a ultra-light sub 13 oz “fully enclosed” singled-wall tent or 18 oz with the cuben bath tub floor.  Zpacks uses .51 cuben fiber and a nano-noseum door and floor to ease construction.  The Hexamid is the only production tent on the US market that uses a noseum floor.  Zpacks claims that it is plenty durable for trail use.

Our Hexamid was purchased specifically to be used for solo and two person trips without the dog.  Our Hexamid is not the current storm doors model.  Instead, it is the 2013-2014, bonded model with the roll-down beak.  By far, this is one of the most beautiful tent designs on the market.

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Lost Coast Camp Sites

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One of the biggest issues we had with finding information for our trip was understanding common camp grounds along the Lost Coast.  With the exception of a few places, most of the campsites will have water or creeks available. Below is a quick guide to some of the popular camp sites along the northern stretch of the coast.  Sites are listed north to south.  Each site will have information including type of camp site, size, conditions of soil, natural wind protection, and water availability.

Size will be broken out by Large (6+ sites), Medium (3-5 sites), Small (1-3 sites) established camp sites.  There are plenty of viable sites along the trail, but we chose to use established sites for LNT (leave no trace). Continue reading →

Trail Report- Lost Coast Trail Day 4 – Gitchell Creek to Black Sands Beach and Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

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The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Lost Coast Trail
Distance:
Day 4 – Hike from Gitchell to Black Sands Beach – 3.9 miles.
Drive to Sinkyone Wilderness State Park (through a redwood forest/jungle) for Lunch. Drive out to Mendocino for a mini-vacation. 
Difficulty:  Easy 
Duration:  2 hours

The next morning, we woke up late and headed out and saw the remaining group behind us catching the low tide.  We walked along the wet sand for good footing and got to the parking lot about 1.5 hours later. We heard it is common for thieves to break into cars and were not surprised to see the car next to us with it’s windows smashed in.  We were just glad that it was not our own car.

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Car that was broken into at Black Sands Beach

We decided to drive down south to the ranger’s station to check out Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.  We stopped by the Shelter Cove General Store to pick up some fresh fruits and tea, then headed out towards Sinkyone. The drive was beautiful, it gave us a great view of alder and redwood forests we did not see during our Lost Coast hike, but we would not recommend small sedans driving through the road.  It is a narrow pave road, then slims down to a dirt road.  Driving the road on a wet day would be horrible.  We overheard the lady at the General Store mention that she sends out tow trucks to pull out small cars all the time.  Never the less, every car that showed up that morning was a small sedan.

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Originally we wanted to do some more hiking inside the Sinkyone, the Lost Coast stretches an additional 24 miles south of Shelter Cove. However, Louis’s feet hurting from the previous 50 miles.  We took a quick tour around the ranger’s station, got a free cup cake from the host and a walk out to Needle Rock and Johns Beach for lunch.

Needle Rock at Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

Needle Rock at Sinkyone Wilderness State Park

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Sweet little lunch spot above the cliffs

We hopped back in our car and drove two hours to Mendocino for a two night stay at the Inns of Glendeven before making the drive home.  Glendeven was a awesome place to stay.  Just off Highway 1, it has chicken coups, llamas, organic vegetable gardens, and bee hives.  Free wine tasting for guests at 6PM every night and a large selection of local wines and jams.  Just outside our door are trails to two State Parks.  Every morning we took a stroll before breakfast to the bluff tops.  Definitely worth the stay.  A HUGE thanks to Jeff  from SoCal Hiker for his recommendation at the Inns of Glendeven. We couldn’t have asked for a better way to end our trip.

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Trail Report- The Lost Coast Day 2 – Punta Gorda to Matolle Beach, Matolle Beach to Spanish Flats

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Light House at Punta Gorda

Light House at Punta Gorda

The Quick and Dirty:
Location: Lost Coast Trail
Distance: Day 2 – Punta Gorda to Mattole Beach, return back and hike to Spanish Flats – 14 miles
Difficulty:  Moderate, 50+mph gusts of wind made part of the hike unpleasant.
Duration: 8-9 hours

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