Coastal Oregon (10/5/24)

 We FINALLY made it to the coastline, and the first thing I thought is that man, I miss the smell of the ocean. Being from Massachusetts, I grew up going to the beach, and also owned an ocean going boat for much of my adulthood.

When Paul and I got married, we both sold our boats and bought one comfortable enough for us and my two kids to spend weekends on, so they grew up boating as well.

The second thing I thought is that, man, the water out here is rough.

We never did see many boats, and of course the water is so cold, its not very inviting.

But I loved being back on the beach and hearing the waves.

The Oregon coast has a lot of "waysides" which are pulloffs along the ocean- some have picnic tables, and they all pretty much have a great view:

One of the first things we wanted to check out was something called Thor’s Well….its some kind of water phenomenon. We thought we were looking at it when we saw this spout, and watched it for a while. When a big wave came in, the water would spew high into the air.

Its a good thing we read the signs because just as we were leaving, we discovered the real “Thor’s Well”

You can see the well in the following pictures. The well is full in the first photo and empties over the next few photos:

                            

                           

I didn’t expect there to be much in the way of hiking trails along the coast but there actually are quite a few.

We started with a trail that began at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and ended at the scenic lookout. It was about 3.5 miles up 850 feet.  We saw this weird tree along the way.

You can actually drive up to the scenic lookout but that would be no fun. The structure at the top was built by the CCC in the 1930s.

We found out we have friends in the area and went about making plans to get together. Many years ago Paul did a jet boat tour up the Rogue River, and he wanted to do it again.

Our friends Liz and Randy were nearby and joined us. It was funny because at the last minute we found out our friends Steve and Susan are around as well. They tried to join us but they were moving to another RV park that day so they couldn’t. However, coincidently they were driving by the jet boat place just as we were getting ready to board, so we chatted for a bit and made plans for the next day.

The jet boat ride was a blast.

There were no rapids but we went about 45 minutes up the river, stopped at a restaurant where we had lunch and then headed back.

It was hot out so we were kinda glad we got soaked.

Our driver was very good at spinning the boat 360 degrees, and finding plenty of ways to throw spray up into the boat.

The following day we packed a lunch and met up with Randy and Liz and Susan and Steve. None of us had ever been to Trees of Mystery which is a kind of hokey tourist attraction but was fun nonetheless.

                                        

                                                    

There are old growth trees throughout the property and a tram that takes you up the side of the hill. There were actually all kinds of things to see and do here. It has displays about about lumberjacks- Paul Bunyon in particular.

My favorite part was the canopy trail.

                      

The Trail of Tall Tales had some huge wood carvings….

Once we had had enough, we found a gorgeous spot on the beach to have our picnic lunch before saying goodbye.

                                          

Our final hike in the area was a short two mile hike in Redwoods State Park called the Grove of Titans, which is a walk through an old growth redwood forest. Even the road to get there is through a dense forest.

                                            

Once again we got the maps out and changed our game plan. We were going to stay along the coast and head to see more redwood forests, but we decided we wanted to see Lava Beds National Monument, and that is inland. So, off we went. We had forgotten that we wanted to see the small botanical garden across the street from out rv park, so we stopped there with the camper on our way out of town.

This small park protects one plant- the Darlingtonia Californica. It resembles a cobra, and eats insects.

They are lured inside the bulb by the nectar and become confused because there are a lot of transparent areas on the bulb that look like exits. Eventually the insect tires, and falls into a small pool of liquid at the bottom, where it gets digested. Eew.