CA Coast 2 night backpacking trip?

Hi guys I was wondering if anyone could recommend a 2 night backpacking trip.

A buddy of mine and I were planning a trip up north on the Lost Coast Trail. Plans are just not coming together for this tip. At first we are a bit apprehensive that we can make the entire 25mile trip in two nights / three days. Every ranger I've talked to says pushing a pace of 8miles per day on the sand is really moving. Neither of us have any experience hiking or camping on the beach so we're a bit nervous of parking one car at one end and another at the other end and jumping in and committing to the whole 25miles without knowing what we're getting into.

So we planned on making a shorter trip, by starting at an insertion point halfway through and hiking out cutting the trip down to about 15-20 miles in 3 days which would be much more manageable. Well after doing some more digging it's likely that the access road is a 20mile gnarly 4wd only trail that is currently closed and doesn't generally open until may. (we're planning on going around the end of april). On top of that to hire a shuttle to drop us off at this insertion point would cost $200. Neither of us are excited about doing that.

So. That leaves us with 2 choices. hiking in/out which to me seems kinda lame. OR saddling up on a different trail. We are starting out in the Bay Area so anything within 2-3 hours drive north/south of there would be awesome. We'd like to do some beach trails and camping to give us a better idea of what we're getting into with the Lost Coast Trail which we plan on doing later when it's a bit more feasible.

TLDR: Friend and I are nervous to do the 25mile Lost Coast Trail in 2 nights. Looking for alternative 15-20 mile beach trail that will give us a better gauge of our ability and pace hiking in the sand.