FKT: Marcus Nuckolls - Oregon Coast 101 (OR) - 2022-07-20

Athletes
Route variation
one way
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
11d 18h 3m 20s
Report

I started on the coastline, instead of inland at the beginning of 101, as I wanted to run all of the Oregon Coastline, running North to South on road. I started at Fort Stevens, with my wife supporting me for the first day and a half. After that, on Days 2 - 5, I was self-supported, pushing a stroller with all my camping gear. Then at the end of day 5, I was able to receive support from friends in Beverly Beach, OR, who let me stay at their house and they shuttled me back to my running start / end point for day 6. On Day 7, I left from Yachats and ran to Florence Oregon, but without having to push the stroller, as another friend was able to pick up my gear on his way south to support me. He joined me for dinner in Florence Oregon, then drove us to a campsite that night. The next morning, Day 8, he dropped me in downtown Florence on the riverfront where I'd finished the day before, and then met me near the end of the day to run with me for a few miles. We drove back to our campground on the end of day 8. On Day 9, he drove me back to the endpoint of day 8, then left me with my stroller to continue on solo until my wife and kids saw me at the California Border. Since my family was driving down from Bellingham, WA area, they didn't arrive in Brookings, OR until quite late on the last day, so I actually had to kill time for about 2 hours to make sure they could be there for the finish. This is all still included in the total time to cross Oregon. After finishing, we loaded all my gear into my truck and my family and I went camping in Port Orford area. 

 

The last 4 days were self-supported, with me just pushing all my gear in the stroller and staying at Hiker-Biker campsites. For food on days when I was self-supported, I either went to restaurants near the campground or I picked up meals to cook on my little camp stove at my camp site. For refilling water, when I was self-supported I carried several water bottles to refill at gas-stations or campgrounds, and then I also carried a large water bladder to refill and used the long straw/tube to drink while pushing the stroller.

 

The total supported v. self-supported breakdown was 7 days self-supported and 5 days supported. While running with the stroller, I found it to be pretty manageable since the stroller carried the weight of the gear and I just had to push up hill and tap it while running on flats. Downhill, the stroller carried me along, as it weighed close to 100 pounds. At night, when self-supported, I would roll into camp, set up my little bivvy-tent with air pad and down quilt. In the mornings, I would crawl out and start coffee while eating a bagel and banana and disassembling my tiny camping setup. At camp sites I would do laundry while showering, then dry out the next-day's running outfit by hanging it on my stroller as I ran. This method worked well! 

 

I ran all of Washington in 2020/2021, starting at the Canadian border and following the coastline out to the Olympic peninsula and down the Washington coastline. After completing Washington and Oregon, I will next be running California this Spring/summer. As I am a teacher, I will use my spring break to run the northern California coastline for 10 days, then finish the remaining mileage over the summer to have completed the west-coast of US on foot