Scenes From Cape Blanco

 

So far we’ve experienced varying degrees of wind, fog, drizzle, clouds and sun here at Cape Blanco State Park.

We moved to a more open site yesterday, since only two days under the dense tree cover was already affecting our mental health. The cats were even becoming depressed!

But we definitely picked a great place to spend the holiday weekend. There are still vacant sites and it is eerily quiet. Yesterday Suzanne joined us here, and we all took a walk to the lighthouse after the sun came out in the afternoon.

Me, Suzanne, and Debbie.

We opted for the tour ($2 or free with a National Parks Pass), where we learned some of the history of the lighthouse and got to climb the spiral staircase for a close-up view of the enormous Fresnel lens.

Our postcard shot.

Good weather or bad, we’ve walked the beach every day. Unlike California, Oregon’s beaches are pet friendly, so Debbie has been letting Rupert and Elliot run to their heart’s content.

Watching them play makes me almost as happy as seeing the sun come out!

Cape Blanco State Park, Port Orford, OR

 

After another 65 scenic miles north on Hwy 101, we are happily tucked into a cozy wooded site at Cape Blanco State Park, the westernmost point in Oregon. This was the only place along the coast we could find that did not take reservations. The parks that did were completely booked over Memorial Day weekend. When I spoke with the ranger on the phone the other day, he assured me we would have no problem getting a site mid-week, although he thought the park would be full for the weekend.

This is a rather remote park, a 6 mile drive off 101, and 10 miles from Port Orford, which is probably why a lot of people pass it by. For us it is exactly what we were looking for. Those of you who read Wheelingit are familiar with this as being the place where Paul and Nina have been lighthouse hosts.

For $22/night you get a site with water and electric, much needed due to the heavy tree cover. Our solar panels would never get enough sun to charge the batteries here, so we are happy to be plugged in. And we’re taking advantage of the power by using our little electric heaters, as the highs here barely reach 60.

As an added bonus, our very private site also has a bit of an ocean view at the back.

There are just a couple of downsides to the park, one being that the dump station is closed and will probably be so permanently. Not a problem for us since we only plan to stay 5 or 6 nights. Also there are showers but the bathrooms are so cold inside there is no way we are using them.

The trails and the beach make up for any negatives, though. We’ve already done a little exploring and like what we’ve seen so far, in spite of nearly getting blown away by the crazy wind.

On another note, while we were driving here yesterday we talked about our time in California and wondered what we spent on camping fees, since we ended up finding more free places than we thought. We don’t normally bother to keep track of those things, but since we record everything in Microsoft Money it was easy to figure it out.

We spent 82 days in California, and our average cost per night came out to be $17.25. Not bad at all.

Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, OR

 

It was another scenic 45 mile drive north on 101 as we left California and made our way a short distance up the southern Oregon coast to Brookings. Since they have a Fred Meyer, a brewery and a state park, we decided to spend the night. How nice to be back in the land of under $4.00/gallon gas and no sales tax.

Harris Beach State Park is located on a bluff above the Pacific, and some of the prime campsites have great views of the ocean. Without a reservation it would take some really good luck to get one of those sites, but we are tucked in among the trees in a really nice private spot. Not inexpensive at $28/night for water and electric, but being less than 2 miles from Brookings is very convenient.

There are several trails, so after our shopping spree at Fred Meyer (quite a store, by the way) we walked one of the trails to the coast. It was very windy and we got a bit sandblasted down on the beach but it was worth it.

We can’t resist a brewery, so last night we went to dinner at Wild River Brewing and Pizza Company. We almost left as soon as we walked in the door, as the place has no atmosphere and was crowded with families and large groups. There is no wait service, so you just order at the counter and they call your number. We walked over to the bar to make sure they had some beers we thought we’d like, and the bartender gave us free samples of about five different beers. They were all really good, but we chose the IPA and Double Eagle Imperial Stout and decided to stay and get a pizza, which turned out to be excellent. A nice surprise.

Today we move on to try and find a place to spend the holiday weekend.

Coastal Trail, Redwood National and State Parks

 

The Redwood Park complex is made up of four separate units, Redwood National Park itself, and four California state parks. Besides the stands of giant redwoods, the park contains 40 miles of coastline in northern California. We just happened to be very close to the Klamath section of the park, and access to the Coastal Trail.

We began our hike at the mouth of the Klamath overlook, where we had the pleasure of seeing gray whales. The trail has a half mile spur that descends to another overlook where we got an even better look at the whales and sea lions. They like to hang around the mouth of the river since the salmon fishing is good there.

We saw at least four different whales.

We climbed back to the main trail and hiked another couple miles through the trees where we had occasional ocean views. We could hear sea lions barking, and finally found a way to get close enough to see where they were.

Scenes from the trail.

Jim found this guy on the trail. Guess he wanted to go for a hike, too.

Yesterday we went back to the park but on the south side of the river, where we were able to access the beach. There were lots of sea lions playing in the water and fishing, many birds, and crashing waves. We’re leaving California today, but are very happy we decided to stay along the coast. It’s been much better than we ever expected.

 

Moving Up the Coast

 

We enjoyed our two nights at the Cher-Ae Casino in Trinidad, CA, a cute little town with a population of 350 located on a picturesque harbor.

Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, a replica of the original Trinidad Head Lighthouse to honor those lost at sea.

We hiked the loop trail on Trinidad Head, the 360’ high promontory that’s the backdrop for the town.

Fellow hiker, Puffin. What part of “Dogs must be on leash” don’t people understand? Honestly, we don’t care, but she wasn’t real good about staying close to her owner.

Jim’s very sweet nurse at the ER the other night told us we must drive along the scenic road past the casino for some great views of the coast and access to the beach where she likes to surf. So we did.

We stopped at one of the overlooks and looked down to see this. Yikes!! He appeared to be the only person on this section of the beach.

It rained a little yesterday morning but it appeared to be clearing up, so we decided to move on another 44 miles north on 101 to Chinook RV Resort in Klamath, CA. It was another lovely drive along the coast, and we saw a herd of elk along the way.

They are charging a special off season rate of $15/night. Full hookups, cable, free but slow WiFi, and a laundry room.

With the added bonus of a riverside site.

We’re just two miles from the Klamath River Overlook, where we accessed the Coastal Trail yesterday afternoon for a great hike. But I’ll save that for later. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, Jim is feeling almost back to normal so I hid the rest of the Valium.