Tag: Oregon

Day 3 ByWay to Bandon

We love byways and backways. You can find all sorts of information about these amazing beautiful highways on the internet, in fact I even found a national geographic book all about some of the nation’s greatest byways. Today we traveled the Charleston to Bandon byway along the Seven Devils road parallel to the coast, and out to the beach. This loop is part of the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway of Oregon.

The most amazing thing on this trip was the lack of cars and people along the route. The Seven Devils road winds over the hills that are between the South Slough area and the coast, traveling through young forests that were heavily logged about 70 years ago.

We stopped in at the South Slough Estuary interpretive center, hoping for some additional information about the slough. Our original plan was to kayak the slough, but the winds were too strong so we abandoned that plan. The Estuary information center is wonderful, though, with the best large scale aerial photograph I have seen in a long time. It is about 10 feet tall and shows the estuary at low tide. There is a tremendous amount of information about this estuary here, I could have stayed for hours, but we were headed for Bandon, so onward.

When we turned west to the Seven Devils Beach wayside, the winds were blowing hard, but not so much that it explained the completely empty parking lot. The beach is gorgeous, long and sandy, with hard packed sands that you can walk on for miles. Of course, it was windy. I posted a video on YouTube to show just how windy it was. I was still amazed to have that beach all to ourselves during July 4th week. Oregon is still wild and free in so many places, and still uncrowded as well.

We drove on to Bandon, stopping in town for a bit of shopping at Winter Rivers Books, a warm and friendly locally owned bookstore, for an artsy clothing purchase at Siren Song, one of my favorite clothing shops in the west, and some great clam chowder at Tony’s Crab Shack. The wind was still blowing furiously, (didn’t they say something about breezy?) so we decided to drive to the famous beach for photos, but didn’t walk there. Maybe next time. The beach in Bandon is one of the most beautiful on the Oregon coast in my opinion, but most of the times I have been there, the winds have been blowing furiously, often including clouds and rain. The sun was gorgeous today, but the winds still blew.

Day 2 Cape Arago


The road that winds along the coast from Sunset Bay to Cape Arago is part of the Pacific Coast trail. The forests are thick and lush with old growth Douglas-fir, spruce, and hemlock, with huge skunk cabbage plants in the streams. At almost every curve in the road a trail disappears into the forest. Openings in the trees reveal the coast in all its glory, with the only view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse along this road.

The road leads to the Simpson Reef Overlook and views of Shell Island where there are huge sea lions, elephant seals, and harbor seals in a protected world. Again, the trails are good, the signs offer great information about what you are seeing, and the views are fabulous. Gray whales migrate along the coast and are visible here but on this day the winds were whipping up the waves to such an extent that all we could see were whitecaps.

At the end of the road is Cape Arago State Park, with a steep but good trail leading down to the tidepools on the beach. The tide was out when we were there, and there were some green anemones and red seaweeds that were nice. Somewhat appalled at all the dead crabs lying around, and later discovered thanks to another sign posted at Sunset Bay that they weren’t dead crabs at all, but just the shells of crabs who shed their outer husks like snakes. What a relief to find that out.

Day 2 Shore Acres Gardens


We planned our first full day on the coast as an easy time of getting to know the area, driving to different access sites, finding a grocery store, and learning about accessing South Slough, our planned kayak adventure. It was amazing how the entire day passed so gently, so effortlessly, timeless, yet never really still. One great thing that we learned is that the kitties are quite satisfied to be caged at 3am or so when they think it is time to get up and start wandering and meowing. Into the cages they go, so there, and amazing to us, not a peep out of them till I let them out at 7am. Great thing to learn when traveling with cats, and not a bad thing to know at home either! A good nights sleep is a perfect way to start a perfect day!

Up then, slowly, easing into the day with morning coffee, hot and strong from the french press, a simple breakfast of egg and toast, a bit of warm heat to offset the night chill of the ocean. the sky was crystal clear as we headed south on the coast road to Shore Acres, the viewpoint overlooking Shell Island, and Cape Arago. This entire part of the coast is one form of state park or another, with trails down to the coves, trails through the incredibly thick forests, trails to the tide pools, over the mountains, and around the headlands. We aren’t likely to run out of hiking trails around here ever.

The beautiful roses are part of the display at Shore Acres State Park formal gardens, a legacy of the son of the man who established Coos Bay with his ship building and lumbering business. Louis J. Simpson loved to spend money, and his home at Shore Acres reflected that. The mansion is gone now, but the gardens have been handed down to the state of Oregon, and are now enjoyed by anyone who can drive here. Our twenty dollar fee for camping at Sunset Bay includes our night of camping with power and water, a free pass to all the parking areas at all the local beaches, entry to the rest of the day use areas , and to Shore Acres and the gardens.

There are flowers blooming at any season, but I can imagine the rhododendrons and azaleas in may would be breathtaking, and the dahlias in August and September are a focal point for the central gardens. Right now it is the roses, which surely seem to love this coastal weather, protected from the salt spray by huge firs. Not a sign of a bug anywhere. Wandering the gardens was like slipping back in time to a more refined era. After lunch we ambled into Coos Bay, maybe 12 miles or so to the north, and found a grocery store and a hardware store. Finally here there was just a bit of traffic, a bit of a hurried feeling right around “Freddies” (Fred Meyer stores for those not from the northwest), and the new Safeway. We saw the new boardwalk at Coos Bay, but it didn’t tempt us much, as it was basically a board walk along and some boats, no shops or much else to look at.

Driving back down the highway from Coos to Charleston, we laughed at all the “rv parks” which seemed to be nothing more than someone deciding to open their front yard to parking on the grass. Seems as though all old rv’s come here to retire and spend their last days.

Charleston is very tiny, with a few kitchy souvenir shops and a restaurant or two. We chose to have fish and chips at a restaurant with pale blue walls, white lace curtains, big pots of hanging purple petunias, and a very nice waitress. In spite of the pastel decor, the fish and chips were fabulous, today fresh caught halibut with perfect breading, not the least bit heavy or greasy, and a refreshing light glass of pinot gris. Ahh.

Day 1 Sunset Bay

Our route to the Oregon Coast was delightful, traveling HWY 140 to Medford, north on I-5 to Roseburg (not so leisurely with all the hills and curves), then west on HWY 42 from Roseburg through Coquille and on to Coos Bay.

The destination this time was Sunset Bay State Park, southwest of Coos Bay on the Cape Arago side road, off the busy track of 101. This particular route over the coast range wasn’t nearly as difficult as some can be. It seems there aren’t many ways to get from the Willamette Valley to the Oregon Coast that don’t involve lots of curves and hills, but even in the motorhome, this one wasn’t bad. We saw lots of rv’s returning from the west and were glad we were going the other way on this Sunday night.

At the moment, I am listening to the crackling campfire and the repetitive moan of the Cape Arago Lighthouse fog horn in the distance, muted by the sounds of crashing surf and winds in the higher treetops, and children on bicycles. Great sounds for a late Sunday afternoon settling in.

This lovely quiet stream is Big Creek, winding through the park to the bay. The trails here are wonderful, wandering through deep dark forests, climbing to high bluffs overlooking the ocean, and back down to empty beaches. Sunset Bay is a protected little cove, surrounded by Douglas-fir and spruce forest, and a gentle surf.

Even with the possibility of inclement weather, Oregon Coast camping is a fairly refined version, especially with rv hookups, cozy canvas yurts, even special sites for bikers and hikers doing the Oregon Coast trail, which passes through the park as part of it’s 297 mile journey along wild stretches of beach, cliffs, and headlands. Even the parts of the trail that wind through towns on HWY 101 have lots of signs reminding drivers to share the road, and nice wide bike lanes.

At the moment, though, I am very happy to be in a motorhome, and not trying to pedal a bike and pack up some of those long steep hills to find the next campsite.

The park here is clean and lovely, quiet, refined, fresh, and blessedly cool, with temperatures all week forecasted in the high 60’s and sunny skies. Breezy, I think it said. An understatement, of course. Breezy on the Oregon Coast would be considered windy just about anywhere else, but cool and breezy is much better than rainy and windy, so I am not complaining in the least.

Mo made the reservation for this site just a couple of weeks before the trip, and the park was full most of the time we were there. I think arriving on a Tuesday any other week would have been ok, but reservations are still a good thing. Back-in sites on the outside perimeter are nicest if you can back in, more privacy. The site we were in actually had a sewer hookup, but the park asks that you don’t empty your full tanks here, and instead go up to the adjacent county park and dump there for a fee. We never tried our tv, although some people had their antennas up. Cell service wasn’t available in the park, but was fine back in Coos Bay. Nice for a complete vacation, no phone, no computer, no tv, and I never missed any of it.

Day 3 Memorial Day weekend

May 24, 2009

We woke this morning to 39 degrees and fog. Since we did have free electricity, the little quiet electric heater set to 60 degrees kept things just nice and comfortable. It turned out to be a perfect day. Yes, we had bacon and eggs… again. Back to oats and yogurt and life cereal when I get back to regular life at home. I did promise myself that when regular life becomes long days on the road camping I probably won’t have bacon and eggs every morning. Have to draw a line somewhere.

After breakfast we decided that maybe kayaking in the morning would be better, and drove to the south shore of the lake and found a put-in spot just south of the Diamond Lake campground. It was cool so we parked in the shade and let Abby wait in the car this time. Kayaking with a restless dog is ok sometimes, but not for the long ride we looked forward to this morning.

The Diamond Lake story is an interesting one. It is a lake famous for its trout fishery, but in 2006, due to an invasion by chubs, the lake was nearly ruined. After much controversy, they killed all the fish in the lake with rotenone, and then completely restocked it. The story is here. It really worked well. The water is crystal clear, and the fishing is fabulous.

We headed along the southern shore of the lake, to the west side, where we found docks for a large number of summer cabins leased by the forest service. It has been done well, though, because the cabins are set back away from the shore and not at all visible around the lake. The FS used to lease these properties for 99 for a lifetime, and people have built really nice homes in many of these lake front areas. Just recently the FS has increased the fees on these places to something in the neighborhood of 6000 a year, and that is just on the property, not the houses which have a separate property tax. Big problem for people who have had these homes for many years. Gee, you think with all that new money they could open up the campgrounds??

We went almost to Theilsen View campground before turning to cross the lake toward the east side again. I found out later that the lake has limited boat speed of 10MPH, and that makes for some wonderful kayaking. Even on this holiday weekend, and with all the fishing boats out there, there weren’t any skiers or fast boats to contend with. We could kayak directly across the middle of the lake without feeling fearful of being demolished by a big speedboat. Back on the east side, we pulled out, and let Abby out for a swim. The weather was perfect, just cool enough to be nice, but warm in the sun, with big puffy clouds and clear blue skies in between.

We were on the water about 3 hours and traveled about 9 miles or so. It is 11 miles around the lake but we skipped out on the north side since we had covered that part yesterday.

Home for a late lunch around 2, a bit of a rest, and then time to try the biking thing with Abby again. The trail around the lake is really amazing, so we decided to try it from this end of the lake along the east shore. It was a bit of a challenge this time, because Abby was all excited and wasn’t quite as easy to manage on the bike, but after a bit she settled down and is getting the hang of leading ahead of the bike without pulling. Sometimes she would get excited and think about chasing a squirrel or something, but overall she was good. We biked a couple of hours, enjoying especially the quieter parts of the trail where the campground was still closed. In spite of Abby’s new skills accompanying the bikes, my shoulders were pretty sore from trying to hold on to the handle bars and the dog as well. Hopefully it will get better as time goes on. The other thing that gets a bit dicey is coming upon other dogs in the biking situation, especially if they are not leashed. But so far, no real problems. When we finally did ride up to the MoHo it was with a bit of relief and both of us were pretty happy to be settling in for a campfire, a couple of brats and buns, and a nice evening.

Many of the people who were here have left, and it’s really empty now in our free camping spot. Since the free camping was just a fluke, the sites in the southern half of the campground look really nice, if they ever open it up. At 14 per night and 18 for a premium spot, with our half price pass, it isn’t too bad. We will come back later in the summer to see just how crowded things may be when it warms up, and how bad the mosquitoes might be as well. Amazing, this time there wasn’t a single one to bother us. Decided that you just can’t beat this place, less than 2 hours from home, clean water, huge firs, great bike trail, no fast boats, and incredible gorgeous views in all directions of amazing mountains.

After packing up to leave, we opted for breakfast at the Diamond Lake Resort cafe, with a great view of the lake. The resort is quite nice, with motel rooms, cabins, a marina with lots of rental water craft, and a well stocked little store, and a couple of restaurants.

We dumped at the Diamond Lake Campground (for FS campers only or there is a fee), and headed home via Hwy 138 west to Hwy 230 toward Medford, turning back east at the Crater Lake Highway 62. The north rim road at Crater Lake is still closed due to snow, and it is a steep, curvy climb that may have been a bit more challenging. Highway 62 crosses the beautiful Wood River Valley, a sight not to be missed if you are traveling anywhere near Crater Lake. It is ranching country with grass so thick and lush that it can support a cow and calf on less than 2 acres. The Wood River Valley is north of the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, all just minutes away from Mo’s home.