Oregon Coast

Bandon By The Sea

Rocks and spires rising from the shore to reach high over our heads. A receding tide revealing pebbles and stones strewn across the glistening sand. Fog shrouding the sunset. Beachcombers searching for treasures, enjoying the last light of the foggy afternoon. Sounds of the rolling waves breaking on the sand.

All of this is what makes the Oregon Coast so different from our beaches in Southern California. As we walked among the jutting outcroppings of rock towering above us, shrouded in the foggy dusk, we felt we had been transported to another world!

Face Rock from the viewpoint

On a sunnier late afternoon we visited a different part of Bandon beach, that also had great rocky formations rising from the seashore. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beach was littered with logs and driftwood cast high up the sand at the high tide line. Jumbled together they seemed as though a giant had picked them up and tossed them aside. Smooth flat sand stretched before us while gulls flew just above us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bandon Wayside Motel and RV Park

While driving the highways past so many abandoned roadside motels, during our travels, I have often thought that the “motor court concept,” the “motel” needs to be updated to more modern methods of road trips, such as RVs, and we found a business doing just that! It was not like any place we have parked our trailer before! Definitely glamping!

What a cool vibe to this recently refreshed motel just off Highway 101. All the rooms and exterior were redone and refreshed, and the back area has been made into an RV park, with space for 8 RV’s and a couple of tents or pop ups between towering trees. Strings of lights hanging in the trees and potted plants and garden furniture added a cozy feel to this spot that is a great wayside destination for those traveling by auto, tent or RV, located in a small yet vibrant beach side tourist destination.

Washed Ashore

 

Along the southern coast of Oregon we discovered this organization that’s working out a creative way to bring awareness to the problem of ocean pollution in a community involved model. So great to see what they are doing! Here is some info from their website at washedashore.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ART TO SAVE THE SEA

Our elaborate sculptures represent the marine life affected by plastic pollution. They are made entirely of debris found washed up on our 

beaches.

 

 

CLEAN OUR OCEANS

Washed Ashore's volunteers have gathered over 60,000 pounds of debris. Beach clean ups and the sculptures created from the debris are designed to inspire change.

 

Shore Acres State Park

 

Formerly the summer home of lumberman and shipbuilder Louis J. Simpson, Shore Acres is now a public park in Oregon. The home, which is no longer there, originally sat at the edge of the bluffs overlooking the rocky coast. At that viewpoint the cliffs gave way to rocky outcroppings that were so surrealistic. On this very cloudy late afternoon, my photos couldn’t capture the various and diverse shapes and colors of the landscape, as the waves crashed and washed over the rocks. Pelicans lined the ridge of the outcropping, resting between their forays over the ocean in search of food. 

After pausing to enjoy this stunning sight we made our way to the formal garden and rose garden. Flowering shrubs and exotic trees line the symmetrical pathways through this botanical garden on the edge

of Oregon. 

 

 

This state park was a very pleasant place for an afternoon cliff-side and botanical stroll, filled with lots of surprises.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redwoods

Leaving Oregon we headed to a short stay in Northern California and a visit to Redwood National and State Parks…yes more big trees and beautiful hiking!

When western expansion met the redwoods in the 1800s, the trees began to fall under saw and axe. The massive redwoods offered early settlers a seemingly inexhaustible lumber supply. However, within a hundred year span the vast forests were reduced to a fraction of their former range. By the early 1900s, it was apparent that the future of the old-growth redwood forest was in doubt.

 

Thanks to the visionary actions of the Save-the-Redwoods League, the redwoods received the protection they needed. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park were created by the State of California in the 1920s to protect some of the finest remaining examples of coast redwoods.

• history of Redwood National and State Parks from the NPS website

In the midst of our drive day, we left the south bound 101 Interstate, to travel along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Byway, through this towering old-growth temperate rain forests. There are plenty of places to park along the roadside and hike. We chose to traverse a trail that ran alongside a creek and also had a side spur to a viewing of the Corkscrew Tree. That's Steve, above, looking up into this twisting spire of trees!

After being refreshed by our time in the forest, we continued south to our campground. After setting up camp and enjoying a quiet night we headed out the next day to explore the area more.

 

While driving through town we spotted a herd of Roosevelt Elk. We parked where we could overlook the herd that was enjoying the sports field of an elementary school in town. Lots of cows and babies, and a few males, were enjoying a rest before the whole herd slowly started getting up to move on. It was fun to watch the babies staying near their mamas and wanting to nurse before leaving. One by one each elk began to slowly rise and then reluctantly headed after that first elk, moving off to find different plants to graze on.

We packed up our picnic and continued on with our day, heading to the visitor center to get some recommendations on hiking in the southern area of the park.

 

 

Trillium Falls

A half mile hike through beautiful

shady trails lined with Redwood Trees towering above verdant green ferns and moss led us to a small but charming waterfall cascading through fallen logs and over rocks.

A bridge that crossed the stream offered views of the falls and the lush vegetation downstream where the gentle stream was obscured by the overgrowth of plants. Climbing down some rocks at the edge of the bridge we enjoyed close up views of the glade, listening to the sounds of the water and the birds calling from the treetops.

 

Fern Canyon

This is a favorite spot that we discovered when we visited the Redwood NP a few years ago. A couple we met in Oregon, advised us that a day permit is now required for entry to enjoy a hike into Fern Canyon. While most of these permits are obtained online months ahead of time, a block of permits is held to be released online the day before the permitted day. If Steve hadn’t talked to this couple, while I was taking photos at Bandon Beach, we would have missed out on our return visit to Fern Canyon! Steve was able to do his research and got online in time to get a permit. They sold out in minutes! Although permits can be a nuisance to obtain, the benefit of these restrictions is that crowds are smaller and the parking more available at this unique spot. It felt as though we were alone in this half mile canyon, where steep cliffs covered in ferns close you into a world of unique beauty. The only sounds we heard were from the stream tumbling over rocks, and water softly dripping down the cliffs. At least it was quiet until a family group entered the canyon. Their children were quite exuberant in their enjoyment of this canyon as they eagerly splashed their way though the creek! This is a location like no other, filling those who explore it with joy and awe!

 

 

Bakersfield

A final stopover before an evening drive through Los Angeles, gave us a chance to explore Bakersfield. We stayed one night at a very nice family owned resort called A Country RV Park. Shade trees at each pull through, cement paved site were a welcome feature for the very hot weather.

On this final day of our month and a half trip we did some housekeeping, including getting the truck washed. We hooked up the trailer one last time and headed to some local spots to enjoy the day.

Kern County Museum

The history of this Central Valley location on the edge of the Mojave Desert was well represented at this museum. The 16 acre outdoor complex, Pioneer Village, contains more than 50 buildings, including historic structures that represent different aspects of the County’s history, including dust bowl migrant housing, oil well rigging, log cabins, Victorian houses,  a shepherdess “cabin” on wheels, a church, stores, a gas station set amid a neon courtyard with signage from the historic businesses of the area.

While its easy to just think of Bakersfield in terms of agriculture it was interesting to learn about how rich the area is for oil drilling. Kern County produces 75% of California’s oil and 1/10th of America’s oil! An extensive “Black Gold” exhibit led through a simulated underground tunnel where different types of drill bits and pumps were explained.

 

Roots of the Bakersfield Sound

“Country music” means Nashville to

many fans, but the style of music developed all over the United States. California has a rich tradition of country music, and Bakersfield became known for a harder-edged sound rooted in rock 'n' roll, its cousin rockabilly, as well as traditional country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here at the Kern County Museum we enjoyed a restored barn filled with memorabilia, costumes and instruments from country recording artists. The only names familiar to me were Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Although I was never a follower of this “Bakersfield Sound” of country music I enjoyed the great collection of costumes, hats and boots, fiddles and guitars displayed along with record covers and news paper clippings. There was so much to learn about at this museum! 

Headed Home

Our May-June 4,500 miles of Adventures on the Road are too quickly coming to an end. In our six weeks we have crisscrossed the State of California, dipped into Coastal Oregon, and enjoyed a rodeo in Reno Nevada. Finally a couple of long drive days back down the length of California through the Central Valley will bring us back to our home!

 

 

Thanks for your faithful prayers! The Lord has protected us all along the way and we look forward to connecting with neighbors, family and church friends until our Fall Adventures on the Road take us to new territory to explore across the southern United States!

Oregon Coast and Roads South

 

We are back to our “Adventures on the Road" after being delayed in Central Oregon with our vehicle breakdown for almost a week!

Thanks so much for praying for us; the Lord is so faithful. After several days of trying to get our truck looked at and diagnosed we finally found a mechanic who worked us into his busy schedule. He determined that one cylinder was not getting power but could not tell why. He had a specialist who came in one night a week to work on any electrical issues that customers had, so we had to wait around for another two days till he would be in.  We took the truck in to the shop and left it overnight with this mechanic, who determined that there was corrosion on the “brain” of the computer, which had blown a fuse and burned out the coil on the cylinder, and also was tripping the check engine light as well as other warning lights.

We finally got all this fixed and were able to resume our travel, which was a good thing as we were experiencing extreme heat in Central Oregon. Our campground was all booked up and we had been moved to an overflow space at the campground which did not have electric hookups to our trailer, so no AC to cool us off! So as soon as we had the truck back we hooked up the trailer and headed out of Central Oregon.

 

We were very glad to be on the road again out to the coast of Oregon, where the temperatures were much better. One sight along the coastal drive was the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, in Port Orford, Oregon. Our walk out to the lonely high bluff made us appreciate the isolated life of those who manned the lighthouses along the coast. Normally there are tours of the lighthouse but those were cancelled due to covid.

 

Oregon Coastal Dunes provided a hike to break up our travels. The sand was so powdery and white and in some areas so deep that our feet sank into the sand. Although we were not far from the shore we could not see it over the high dunes. It would be very easy to get lost in the vast area of dunes, but there were many footprints and some trail markers to keep us oriented in the strange landscape. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In southern Oregon we discovered wild blackberry bushes along many of the roadways and in some of the campgrounds we stayed at, and we eagerly gathered the ripest berries, which are so sweet and delicious! One of these campgrounds was called Humbug Mountain State Park, near Port Orford, Oregon, where we enjoyed a couple of sunset hikes to the beach. Here the sand was a very dark gray and Humbug Mountain towered over the beach. A stream came down to empty into the ocean here and lots of families were enjoying time playing at this beach which was only accessed from the campground.

 

 

 

 

 Redwood National and State Parks

 

We worked our way down the coast of Southern Oregon into California, where we enjoyed visiting the Redwood National and State Parks. The immense size of the trees certainly makes one feel very small! These are definitely giant trees! We saw a herd of elk near a stream off the roadway. The buck was quite majestic with his towering antlers and there were a number of young elk frolicking along the bank of the stream. Here there were more blackberry bushes growing wild by the road way, so what could we do but gather more berries!

Fern Canyon was a very magical hike located in a remote coastal part of the Redwood NP. We drove 8 miles down a narrow unpaved road through dense forest on either side of the winding road, crossing over a couple of streams running over the roadway. Potholes and oncoming traffic made for a very rough long drive to arrive at the trailhead. The trail was basically through the floor of a narrow canyon over boards that were laid strategically to enable us to cross back and forth over the stream. Trees towered over the canyon and fern covered the dripping walls. This was perhaps the most delightful trail ever, and it made the difficult drive in and back out worth every minute in the canyon.

 

 

 

As our travels brought us out to the California coast we were unexpectedly greeted by very smoky skies! We had expected clear skies when we got to the coast. We continued south to the Fort Bragg and Mendocino areas. 

 

We toured the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens which encompass 47 acres of land near the rocky coastline. This delightful garden boasts a perennial garden which was in peak bloom rambling around a grand lawn, a greenhouse filled with begonias, a Dahlia garden in full bloom, a vegetable garden, as well as areas of natural coastal forest.  The rambling trails throughout provided for several hours of delightful exploration of unique and varied plants, insects, and birds.

 

 

We are nearing the end of our Adventures on the Road! We plan to be home by the end of August and look forward to reconnecting with family and friends soon.  There are a few more sights and places we hope to see along the final leg of our journey. After we get home I will try to post a final update to our blog.