A tsunami warning temporarily closed state park beach access along the Oregon Coast on Dec. 5.

To live on the Oregon Coast is to live with the possibility of earthquakes. Those familiar words, “Cascadia Subduction Zone.”

Hiking along remote stretches of beach, the thought comes to mind: Where would I go if the “Big One” struck, right now, at this very moment? Where could I get to high ground before a tsunami strikes?

It’s not often that the region sees tsunami warnings, but on Dec. 5, one temporarily closed all state park beach access points along the Oregon Coast.

The warning came after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, California, off the coast of Humboldt County in an area known as the Lost Coast, where Highway 1 turns inland.

Reading the news took me back there, to one of those moments of planning, in a hotel room overlooking ocean cliffs.

My sister and I were at Shelter Cove, an outpost below the King Range Mountains, discussing the Lost Coast Trail. Hiking it takes several days and careful planning with the tides. Where would you go?

We’d been awoken in the night by a loud thunderclap sound, and then shaking. Mild, but it left us thinking as we went to search the beach for abalone pieces.