5/7-10/17
Current Location: Snake River at Little Goose Dam, WA
Sunday morning we packed up our RV life of electrical cords and laundry detergent and headed southwest across the bottom of Oregon and briefly into California. We made a stop at a visitor center for Redwoods National Park but decided we’d continue our plan to get to the coast and head north. We met up with the famous Highway 101 who would be our close friend for the next few days. We quickly crossed back into Oregon and met up with the Pacific Ocean and its coastal sea stacks, crashing waves and fresh air. As we had mentioned previously, Oregon has this great habit of providing a brewery right in the middle of the afternoon when we say “huh, I wonder if there is a brewery in this little town.” In this case we were in Brookings and said brewery was literally right next to us at a stop light. We stopped in for a quick sample and chatted with the friendly locals who loved the van and Rooney, the latter of which was happy to lay on the floor of the bar and be petted by every patron and employee.
A short way up the road was Harris Beach State Park where we picked out an empty campsite on the bluffs above the coast. Oregon, we will learn, as a great state park system and all along the 101 there are dozens of small parks, some for a particularly gorgeous part of the coast line and many with small campgrounds. We quickly made our way down one of the numerous trails from the campground down onto the dark sand, rocks and driftwood beach. The tide was out so we explored around for an hour or so before heading back up to the van and dinner. Given that we are now in mid-May and directly on the west coast, the sun sets pretty darn late so we made our way back to the beach for sunset, including a nice rum & fruit drink perched on a large rock as the tide creeped closer and closer as the sun sank lower and lower. The timing was perfect and we hopped off the rock just as the first few waves started to surround it for the rest of the night.
The campground was pretty large but the section we stayed in was full of tall trees and it was well divided between sites. We were surprised by the number of people because it was a weeknight but this was a theme on the 101 as the tourism here was more constant than the weekend warriors we had seen elsewhere. The night was quiet with the dull roar of the waves in the background.
We were really excited that our planned route up the Oregon coast on the 101 was designed to be slow with no significant driving on any given day. This allowed us to stop and numerous pull offs and take in the coast line. The next morning we did just that. We pulled the roof down and started our drive north and no more than 30 minutes did we come across a lengthy part of the road hugging right along the beaches and cliffs of the ocean. At a big pull out we pulled over to take in the view. We both decided we were pretty hungry so we decided to make sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches. Nothing like spending an hour and a half break after half an hour of driving.
Back and the road we meandered in the best sense of the word up the coast. Most of the 101 in Oregon hugs pretty closely to the ocean and the views come in and out as you climb up a small hill behind a point sticking out into the ocean and drop back down with lengthy views of beach or rocky outcroppings. We eventually pulled into Coos Bay in early afternoon. We were intent on finding a fish market to change up our dinner routine. We waited for a train to make its way through town and crossed the tracks directly onto the docks of Coos Bay where a tiny floating market/fish and chips shop was located. We couldn’t turn down some fresh fried fish so we split an order and got some Pacific Cod to go.
We stopped at the ranger station for the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area to pick their brain about campgrounds in the area. We settled on a spot away from some of the off highway vehicle areas (buggies and atv’s) that was not too far away. We found a campground that was only about 1/4 full and only about 1/2 mile from the beach. While I started our fish soup Lara did a nice workout at our campsite. We made our fish soup with whatever random items we had in the van and it turned out delicious. The key factor was the small left over pizza sauce that gave the broth some great flavor. Pound of fish, couple of sausages and boom, fish soup.
Just before sunset we walked the road down to the beach, walking by the namesake dunes that extended for dozens of miles in a north-south orientation all along the coast. Some of the dunes are hundreds of feet and a mix of grasses and pristine sand. Given the weeknight and pretty quiet campgrounds we had a massive expanse of beach to ourselves to watch the sunset, let Rooney romp through the waves and frolic. We never saw a single other soul on our walk to, up/down and back from the beach, which was a couple hours at least. Rooney spent his time being confused by the protected Snowy Plovers, small dune-dwelling birds that fly in large packs low to the wave level, just off shore. As we played and walked through the edges of the surf they’d swoop towards us in a full group, sometimes splitting in half as a few dozen full-speed birds cut on both sides of the three of us. Sunset did not disappoint either. We were treated to another quiet night with the far-off white noise of the ocean doing its thing while the rest of us slept.
Again without any major travel the next day we got a relaxed start and headed back out to the 101. Our first stop was at the Heceta Head Lighthouse, one of only a few operating lighthouses left along the Oregon coast. A group of volunteers gave short tours of the lighthouse at the top of the 1/2 mile walk from the beach to the cliffs where the lighthouse and the old home still stood that housed the light keepers and their families. We heard about how the building of the lighthouse itself and, originally, two homes was all done through shipments from the sea as there was no access at that point along the coast. The lens was particularly interesting with hundreds of perfectly designed and installed glass all mean to reflect and enhance the light. A great roadside stop. Plus a nice place to pop the roof for an hour to make lunch next to the driftwood and stone beach.
Another excellent stop on this day was Thor’s Well, a spot of particular rugged coastline with small inlets breaking up the rocky and jagged rock. In one spot there is a blowhole that shoots water and spray dozens of feet into the air with the right swell and tide. Thankfully it was cranking away while we were there and we stared intently at the incoming waves as they crashed over the edge of the coast.
Onward, we continued up along the 101 and at one point crossing a major inlet on one of the dozen or so major bridges looked down to see Rogue Brewery, a nationally known brewery that we kind of forgot was along the Oregon Coast. About face. We stopped in for a quick sample and continued north to our destination of Cape Lookout State Park. The length of the days have really helped out and only having about 3 hours total to drive each day meant we could take a leisurely morning pace, make some planned and unexpected stops, show up at a campground to pick out a side in mid afternoon and partake in the local coastal/beach sunset options.
On this day we showed up, picked out a campsite only 100 yards or so from the beach and grabbed a backpack to go for a wander over the dune and rocks onto the expanse of a low tide beach. Once we got there we decided maybe a run was in order. The sand was perfectly packed and the tide exposed 100-200 yards of expansive beach that very few people explored beyond a quarter mile or so from the campground.
We laced up and headed north which turned out was a spit of land about 6 miles or so long, which meant there was no other access to the north. After only a mile or so we were completely isolated with the sea birds, a pair of bald eagles watching us from the trees along the dunes and just miles of packed glistening sand. The run was probably a top-10 run of my life, with reflective wet sand after a wave receded, low tide exposing short sections of well tumbled rocks, bald eagles and an absolutely gorgeous sunset. I’ll let pictures do much of the talking here.
Can you spot the two bald eagles?
Before bed we stretched on the beach, snacked on some dinner and sat on the dunes watching the full moon glide in and out of the clouds that were building. We went to bed with an even closer roar of the waves in our ears. Those clouds meant the end of our stretch of perfect weather but we were ready to head inland to visit with some family and explore a bit of Portland.
