A Day at the Oregon Coast

Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Valley of the Rogue State Park — Gold Hill, Oregon
Temps: 75F (/56F)

The original plan Sue and Mo had made for today was to take us for a drive through the Applegate Valley.  Maybe taste some wine … have a picnic at one of the wineries … see a covered bridge or two along the way.  That changed with an email from Sue this morning.  The new proposal was to skip the Applegate Valley since none of us are big wine drinkers, and go to the Oregon Coast instead.  Yay … beach time!

We drove to Sunset House around 10:00a and switched over to their car since we’ve long since removed the back seat.  With Mo in the front and Mattie comfortably settled in her travel bed between Mui and me in the back, we set off for the coast … about two hours away.

The drive on US-199 — aka Redwood Highway or Smith River Scenic Byway — was a pleasant one that took us through California for a bit.  We wanted to spend most of our time at the coast, so we made only one stop on our way west, and that was to take a peek at the Smith River as it snakes its way alongside and well-below the road.  We would stop to see the amazing redwoods on the way back home.  One other stop was a quickie photo-op for a herd of elk we came across as we arrived in Brookings.  I had to push the camera to its zoom limit — never a good idea — so the resulting image is little more than a memory shot to remind us of the chance encounter.

Left: Smith River snaking along US-199.
Right: Brookings has a growing population of wild Roosevelt elk.

Driving into Brookings, we were all pleased to see that the fog that is common in these parts had cleared out … the sun was shining … the sky was blue … the temp felt warmer than the 60F (16C) I later learned was the high for the day.

First up … a picnic lunch at Macklyn Cove Beach.  As luck would have it, the only table here was available so we got to enjoy a sit-down meal this time ;-)  Setting out our snacks, we had a simple but delightful lunch with plenty of friendly chatter.

Afterwards, we went down to the beach where Mattie was given her head to run around to her heart’s content.  She might not like getting in the water, but she sure loves running on the hard-packed sand and exploring nooks and crannies around the rocks and driftwood.

From the beach, we drove over to the Chetco Point Trailhead.  An easy hike with panoramic views of Macklyn Cove in one direction and the ocean towards Tanbark Point, Walrus Rocks, and the town in the other direction.  Daisies — or maybe they were asters — and purple irises dotted the landscape and added more color to our hike.

The afternoon was getting away from us, and we still had more we wanted to see and do.  We debated going to Azalea Park, but skipped it in lieu of another beach walk.  Along the way, though, we came across a community that had colorful rhododendron plants … trained to grow as trees really!  Mouths agape, we drove around the cul-de-sac for a closer look and a couple of photos, charmed by the brilliant spots of color that stood in contrast to the simple homes.

Before heading off for our walk, we stopped at the Harris Beach State Park campground.  What a lovely place.  Construction is ongoing to upgrade the hook-ups and restore some of the trails, but that’s due to be completed by the end of the month.  We spotted a few sites that would fit us fine … for next time we visit.

Instead of going to the beach fronting the campground, we drove over to the section of Harris Beach that is accessed by the South Beach Trail … short, but with a grade.  Then we wandered along the water, checking out some of the tide pools as Mattie tried to improve her speed record!  That girl can sure fly when she puts her mind to it.  She was plumb worn out by the time we got back to the car for the drive home.

Though Mui and I have seen the giant Kauri trees of New Zealand, we had yet to see the giant redwoods of California.  Being spitting distance of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, we simply could not pass by without stopping.  Mo graciously drove us down to a grove, where we got out of the car and looked up, and up, and up to take in the the full length of the giant trees.  In New Zealand, we had laid down on the ground to take a selfie of ourselves with the Kauri trees.  Here we had a bit of space to try for a vertical panorama … that got only slightly skewed near the top.

Left and Center: California redwoods.
Right: New Zealand kauris.

It was well past 6:00p when we pulled into Sunset House … pleasantly tired, but delighted with the way our day had turned out.  We bid adieu to Sue and Mo, and headed home.  En route, we detoured to see the St Innocent Orthodox Church in Gold Hill. The new church, as the website describes it, is not yet open for visitation.  While the exterior looks to be finished, a note posted in December 2017 on the church’s Facebook page indicates that they still need funds to complete the interior.

The surprise find on the way home — a mural welcoming visitors to Rogue River.  Painted by Bob Eding, it’s on a long wall behind a gas station.  Luckily, by the time we came back around for a photo stop, most of the cars that were there earlier were gone.  I especially liked the 3-D effect on the front of the train engine.

Only way to get the entire mural is to do a panorama … sorry for the skew!

By the time we got home, we were as tired as Mattie after her romp on the beach.  Tomorrow’s our last day here … Sue has something special planned for me … and we have something special planned for Sue and Mo, and Mattie, of course.

P.S.  Thank you Sue for all the lovely candid photos from today … and for sharing them so generously.

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