Adapted from A Walk Along Lands End: Discovering California's Living Coast (HarperCollins) by John McKinney. (In this excerpt, we join John in far northern California, some 1,400 miles into his 1,600-mile solo trek up the California coast.)

It doesn't get any wilder than this. California has a very long coastline, and millions of acres of wilderness, but it has only one wilderness coast. The Lost Coast.

California's wildest coast!

The Trailmaster personally scouted all the trails in Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and King Range National Conservation Area for this map and supervised the cartography. Enjoy black sand beaches, redwood groves and the magnificent Lost Coast Trail!

No backpack bound for the Lost Coast Trail should be without this essential safety item. For more hiking and trail information please see the Trailmaster's "California's Coastal Parks, A Day Hiker's Guide".