Crossing speed stays at one mile per hour. The estimate assumes continuous walking, with the extra allowance spent inside each crossing. Add time for longer stops when planning the trip.

Choose your overnight stops

Scroll along the route and tap a camp to add or remove a night.

Southbound · Approximate miles from Mattole.

The two trailheads are fixed start and finish points. Black Sands Beach has no camping. Check the BLM camping rules. Stop positions marked * are estimated mileages.

Green · Entry windowFalling tide with time to finish today’s crossing.Yellow · Do not startThe tide is rising or too little crossing time remains.Red · Do not enterThe tide reaches the limit or daylight is unavailable.

Suggested times are planning estimates using approximate zone locations. The wave’s colors apply to entering today’s portion of the selected zone. Choose a zone above the wave when a day has more than one crossing. Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect individual minutes. Swell, weather, and creek levels can still prevent a crossing.

Take the route onto the trail.

Our standard southbound two-night plan opens with both camps and trailheads already placed. Planning is free. Premium adds offline maps.

The app link opens the standard southbound plan; selected camps, dates, and direction stay on this page.

Open the standard southbound plan in the app

How to read the results and check the sources

The curve uses six-minute NOAA predictions for Shelter Cove, with interpolation for the minute readout. Minute precision in the display does not increase the prediction resolution. Crossing checks use bounding samples conservatively, require falling tide at entry, and leave enough time to finish below the limit and before sunset. Yellow means a rising or turning tide, or insufficient time to finish. Red means the tide reaches the limit or daylight is unavailable. Gray marks missing data.

Each summary searches for a continuous walk from the selected starting point to the next camp or trailhead, with approach miles, all tide crossings, and arrival before sunset. Walking pace between zones is adjustable; crossing pace stays at one mile per hour. The selected crossing allowance adds time inside each zone. The estimate does not assume a place to wait along the cliffs or include extended rest stops.

Zone positions are approximate positions along our guide’s scaled trail line. Punta Gorda spans miles 3.2 to 3.45, Sea Lion Gulch to Randall Creek spans miles 4.5 to 8.5, and Miller Flat to Gitchell Creek spans miles 17 to 21.5. The long-zone starts are derived from approximate agency lengths and the guide’s endpoint mileages. Cooskie Creek splits the second zone at mile 6.5. Check these approximate boundaries and access to camp refuges against authoritative maps and current conditions.

Mileages come from our existing guide. The public tide page retains the earlier calculation until the redesigned planner is reviewed and published.

Itinerary & camps