We
headed due west from Portland to begin the "Coast" part of the tour.
Oregon has done a great job of keeping access to the ocean
public. While there are plenty of places where there is
development on the east side of the coastal highway, much of the water
side is available for everyone to enjoy. Great concept!
We
were so anxious to get to the coast that we took a scenic route out of
Tilamook that ended up looping back on itself. No problem though
- we stopped back in at the grocery story a second time to get the
stuff we forgot to get but didn't realize til we were back at the van.
A
lot of the coast looked like this -- huge rocks looming out of the surf
quite a ways offshore, with a long, sandy beach which is largely devoid
of people.
A lot of it looked like this too - trees that looked accustomed to the wind, and a fog bank looming just a ways off!
It
seemed like every few miles there was another bridge going over a river
like this one. Actually, many of them were nicer looking than this one.
The
road along the coast is pretty hilly - you can see the elevation gain
here. There were plenty of cyclists on the route, as it has a
decent shoulder for a lot of the way and is marked as a cycling route,
with signs telling people to share the road. The hills would be a
challenge on a loaded touring bike, but more formidable in my opinion
would be the relentless wind!
A view from one of the higher points.
There
were several state and national campgrounds all along the coast.
This is right by the turnoff for one we camped at (Rock Creek
campground in Siuslaw National Forest).
This
was our first time camping in a US national forest park. They are
very similar to the provincial and national parks we've got back home -
great scenery! Some of the sites weren't too private, but we
found a really nice one.
Our site was right on Rock Creek, so once again we had the noise of a running creek to sleep to!
As you can tell, we were pretty stoked by the campground and scenery.
Right
across the highway from the campground, a short, steep trail led to the
windy beach. Fortunately there was a rope available to help with
the descent.
We
found a bit of shelter carved out of the rocks at one end of the beach
and watched all the activity. Waves, wind, birds - but no people!
There are so many miles of ocean beaches available that even
though there are plenty of people using the parks we never felt crowded.
Cheryl contemplates the waves. It would be a bit hard to surf that break!
Sometimes the camera just goes off.
Me contemplating flight, which was not far off with the wind we had!
A misty fog started to move in after a while, and right when we were leaving
the beach, a flock of pelicans flew up! I'm not sure how common
they are in Oregon, but we don't see them up in BC so it was quite a
site. We watched them fly out of the mist, stop for a while, then disappear up the beach into the mist again.
There
were a number of seagulls doing the same thing. This photo shows
how large the pelicans are as compared to the gulls. They are a
really weird looking bird!
The
next day we decided to head inland for a bit, to get a break from the
cool weather and try to make some time heading down the I5. Not
far from Elkton, we rounded a curve which warned that this was an
crossing. The animals did not fail to deliver - there were
several dozen in this field.
It
was a very pretty road which followed the Umpqua river. This
scenery reminded us more of southern BC. It was also much hotter
as soon as we got a few km's from the ocean.
We
came to a nice little pullout and decided that to explore a bit.
The road was being invaded by blackberry bushes. Unlike the
bushes in more populous areas back home, however, these had not been
picked over at all, and so within a few minutes we had picked a great
selection of juicy fruits.
Driving along beside the river had made us want to swim. Fortunately our little pullout led to a boat ramp...
...and the water was just the perfect temperature for a refreshing dip!
There is a time lapse between here and the next photo. To follow in sequence click here.
This is now back on the coast heading north. This was
taken at Humbug Mountain State Park, taken steps from our campsite.
The path from our site led under a cool bridge right onto yet
another stunning beach. Once again, our campsite backed right on
to the creek that ran under this bridge, so we heard running water all
night.
It was too chilly to dip in the water here, although after the unbelievable heat we hit on the I5 we did not mind at all.
We took this picture to commemorate the fact that I actually had a fully formed thought in my head.
I was yelling at a crow right when Cheryl happened to be
taking this picture of me, and by shear coincidence it looks like I am
eating a giant rock. Weird.
With a digital camera's lag between button press and image capture, it
is surprisingly hard to get a picture of a wave breaking.
Even when the air and water are cold, it is hard to resist wading your toes into surf on a nice beach.
The next day we continued north and stayed in yet another park - Carl
G. Washburne State Park. It is hard to pick a favourite
campground, but this one was really spectacular. Our site was
along a stream, and the sites were large and private.
There was a really fantastic hobbit-like trail that ran for
a few km's from the campground, through the forest, and down to the
beach.
The trail was well maintained and was sponsored by the colours red and green.
There was a blind here near a little pond where you could
do some birding. We're not certain what kind this was but he
seemed to be at ease and had a heavy french accent.
When the trail reached the beach, it actually tunneled down into the
sand and dipped below some thick bushes. Very cool!
Aside from the footprints in the sand, you would never guess there was a trailhead here.
Of course, the beach was spectacular...and devoid of people!
We hiked back the few km's along the beach and saw 2 people the whole time.
It started to rain just as we were getting back from the
hike. But that was not a problem at all with the van. In
fact, this campground had electrical service, so we had a little light
and a space heater. Even though it got kind of miserable out we were
toasty!
The next day we stopped at this restaurant in Yachats.
A seagull was sitting right outside the window the whole time -
he's still there in this picture.
The wind was really starting to pick up here.
Another large storm with gusts up to 100kph was forecast to
be coming through, so we decided to head inland. The wind made
for some great wave watching though!
To follow in time sequence, click here.
To see the California segment, click here.
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