Lost Coast Trail
Remote beaches, steep headlands, creeks, sea lions, ranch remains, and tectonic mountains create a route where the ocean controls forward progress.
Artwork inspired by E. Charlton Fortune
Remote beaches, steep headlands, creeks, sea lions, ranch remains, and tectonic mountains create a route where the ocean controls forward progress. Several sections are impassable at high tide. The essential frame combines length—About 25 miles—with permit—Required—and type—Point-to-point.
Build the itinerary from official tide tables first, then fit mileage, shuttle, camps, and bear-canister capacity inside those windows. Permits sell out, sneaker waves and rising tides kill, exits are scarce, and wet sand makes nominal mileage much harder. Move deliberately from black-sand beach to King Range, then use impassable tide zones as a check on the first impression rather than as another box to tick.
- Length
- About 25 miles
- Permit
- Required
- Type
- Point-to-point
Quick guide
- First read
- Build the itinerary from official tide tables first, then fit mileage, shuttle, camps, and bear-canister capacity inside those windows.
- Then notice
- Compare black-sand beach with King Range, then use impassable tide zones to test what the site is trying to communicate.
Know before you go
- First read
- Build the itinerary from official tide tables first, then fit mileage, shuttle, camps, and bear-canister capacity inside those windows.
- Then notice
- Compare black-sand beach with King Range, then test that reading against impassable tide zones.
- Place in context
- Length: About 25 miles; Permit: Required; Type: Point-to-point
- Plan the arrival
- For Lost Coast Trail, navigate to Mattole Trailhead, Lighthouse Rd, Petrolia, CA 95558, the reviewed public trailhead. Before hiking Lost Coast Trail, recheck permits, parking capacity, road access.
Good to know
Permits sell out, sneaker waves and rising tides kill, exits are scarce, and wet sand makes nominal mileage much harder.
Notice these
- black-sand beach
- King Range
- impassable tide zones