A Pacific Coast Adventure

A road trip. . . . . . .an entire week long, dedicated to photography! We had been planning this little trip for quite some time, and were really looking forward to it. Both Ron and I spent days getting ready. . . . .putting all of the camera gear together, cooking food ahead of time, making reservations at both campgrounds and motels. Our plan was to camp two nights, then stay one night in a motel so we could shower and charge up our camera batteries as well as download our pictures. We knew that we were biting off a big chunk of exploring, but that is one of the things that we like to do the most....EXPLORE !!

We loaded up our Camry on Saturday, April 24th and left (right after I finished the Stake Music Workshop) and headed south on I-5. It was a beautiful drive with wonderful weather. . . . .and we got as far south as Grants Pass, Oregon before we decided to pull into a motel and crash for the night. We usually have a hard time with motel beds, but this time we came prepared!! We brought two memory foam bed toppers that we bought at Costco. . . . . .we had originally bought them for camping, but they came in handy for motel rooms with hard beds too!

We got up early and headed down across the Oregon-California border, through the Redwood National Forest. Our intent was to photograph the Redwoods, but we'd never pass an opportunity to check out something else that we came across of interest. Just south of Crescent City, California, we came across a beautiful beach with almost black sand, so that looked like a good place to stop.

I took this photo of Ron with a fairly slow shutter speed, but forgot to tell him that I was taking his photo, and he moved. . . . so he sort of looks like a ghost. I thought that it looked cool anyway.

The first thing we decided to do, was to find a camp spot. The map said that there was a campground called Gold's Bluff Beach, about 6 miles off Highway 101, and that sounded like a fun spot to camp . . . . . .right on the beach . . . . .so we headed out to the campground. I wish that I would have taken a picture of the road, because if you didn't see it, you really can't appreciate it. It was six miles of potholes. . . . and I'm not exaggerating! We drove 5-10 mph if we were lucky, (10 mph at tops) and our car scrapped bottom several times. Our Camry thought it was a 4-wheel drive again. Our first thought was " well, if the road is this bad, then there probably aren't very many people there." Boy were we wrong! The camp ground was almost full . . . . . .however, a good many of them were packing up to leave. We found a nice spot on the edge of the campground, without anyone too close, and decided to set up our tent. It was a nice day, with the usual light breeze on the ocean.

Below: Ron with our campground in the background.



After we got our campground nailed down, we drove back out the 6 miles of potholey road, and south again on Highway 101, to the Lady Birdy Johnson National Park, in the Redwoods. The sun was shining, so that made it difficult to get a good picture of the forest . . . . . .there's just too much contrast for the camera to pick up. But we took a hike around a small trail and found some good places to photograph in the future. We couldn't get over the size of the trees.. . . . .they are huge!

I tried to take a photo of the trees looking straight up, but it just doesn't do them justice at all.

I took this picture of Ron, just to show how small he is in comparison to the huge trees. Can you even see him?

It wasn't just the trees that were huge. . . . . look at the size of these ferns!

We kept seeing signs that said, "Wild Elk, do not approach on foot." We saw a large herd of them as we turned off of Highway 101 onto our 6 miles of pothole road. But as we got back to camp, there was an elk just grazing through our campground, paying absolutely no attention to the people. The photo below, is one I took when he decided to lay down and take a nap, just across the road from our tent.

This is what the beach looked like looking south. We had a pretty good breeze in the afternoon, so it never got super warm. . . . . .it was just a pleasant temperature in the sunshine. . . . as long as you had a jacket on.

The next morning we woke up to a pretty strong wind, and a completely gray cloudy sky. As we started to drive north to the Oregon border, we stopped in the Redwoods again, to try to take a few more pictures. Everything was beautiful with the Spring green. I thought the clover was pretty cool.

As the day wore on, the weather continued to get worse and more nasty. This is what it was like most of the time:

Inbetween downpours, we would stop the car and jump out and try to get a picture taken. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. We got pretty wet and windblown on occasion. The following photo of the bay at Port Orford, Oregon. . . . . . . .it actually looks like we had good weather, but this was just between the rain squalls.

I am a lighthouse nut . . . .so I wanted to take pictures of all the lighthouses that we came across. The lighthouse below is at Cape Arago . . . .we didn't drive out to it though. . . .because we just didn't have time to do everything.

We did drive out out to the Cape Blanco lighthouse though. It is located way out on the tip of a pennisula on the top of a large bluff. We didn't even get out of the car to take this shot, because the wind was blowing so hard.. . . . . I just rolled down the window.

We were planning on camping again, but the weather really had taken a turn for the worse, so we ended up finding a nice small motel in Gold Beach, Oregon. That night we had Gale force winds and had 5 inches of rain dumped in the area. The campgrounds for the next several days all had standing water in them. Hmmmmmm. . . . maybe April isn't the best month to go camping on the Oregon Coast.

The next day, we drove up to Bandon, which is one of the places that we really wanted to photograph. . . . .but again the weather didn't allow us to do much. The photo below is of Ron just outside our motel. . . .it looks like nice weather, but just look the other direction and you'd see black storm clouds.

The beach was beautiful and had huge rocks that would be wonderful to photograph if it wasn't pouring down rain. We actually went down to the beach that night in hopes of getting a hole in the clouds for a good sunset shot. The tide was coming in, so Ron told me to keep an eye on the water so we wouldn't get cut off with high tide. He hadn't gone 20 feet when he decided that we had better not chance it. . . . . .which was the right decision! Just as we turned around to head back to the stairs to the beach, I looked over and saw a HUGE wave coming in, and yelled "RUN!" Ron didn't even take time to look, but just ran. We barely made it to higher ground in time, before the surf came pounding in. After that, we decided to give up for the night.

The photo below, is what it looked like most of the time.

The beach in Bandon, looking north toward the "nicer" weather.

Bandon was a pretty cool place. . . . .there are huge rocks on the beach, plus this is where the Coquille River dumps into the Pacific. The two photos below are of some of the rocks, and also the Coquille River lighthouse. It is not a working lighthouse anymore, because they have built a long jetty out with an automated light and foghorn.

Oldtown Bandon had the cutest shops, boardwalk and marina. We were hoping to explore town a bit, but it was so rainy and wet, that we decided to forego that opportunity until another time. The two photos below are of the Coquille River lighthouse; one taken from Oldtown and one from Bullard State Park, where you can drive right up to the lighthouse.

One of the next places that we stopped at, was called Shore Acres. The rocky rugged shoreline is incredible here. There is also a formal English Garden and estate that was donated to the state of Oregon. It was pouring down rain as we walked through the gardens. . . . . Ron held an umbrella over me and my camera while I took this shot of the blooming rhodedendrons.

Below: the rocky shoreline at Shore Acres. The photo just doesn't do it justice.

Ron had climbed over the fence onto the ledge that you see in the photo above. The wind was blowing so hard, that I was worried he was going to get blown over the edge! He had to hang onto his tripod, just so it wouldn't tip over.


The photo below, is just looking the opposite direction at Shore Acres.....north.

I found a seagull that was being very cooperative in letting me take his picture. I was getting blown all over, but he looked as calm as could be sitting there on that ledge.. . . . . .I don't know why the wind doesn't blow the birds all over the place!

One of my favorite lighthouses, is the Umpqua River Lighthouse, near the Oregon Dunes National Park. It is a working lighthouse and has a full Coast Guard Contigent stationed right there on the premises. There is a viewing platform to watch whales as they migrate up and down the coast, as well. When we visited the park, we had a break in the clouds, so it was nice for a little while.

A closer shot of the Fresnel lens. When it is foggy, there is a pinkish glow to the fog. . . .very cool!

The photos below, are of Ron and I looking out to the mouth of the Umpqua River where you can see the jetty and the whale watching area.

One of the most photographed lighthouses on the Oregon Coast, is the Heceta Head Lighthouse, just north of Florence and the Sea Lion Caves. We were lucky again to get a quick break in the storm to get a quick shot of the lighthouse. We had hoped to get another angle, but there are too many trees in the way, so this is one of the only shots you can get.

Our next stop was Seal Rock, just a bit further north up the coast. We weren't so lucky with the storm this time. We hiked out the trail overlook, and Ron climbed the fence again.....(panic).....and we looked at the sky and thought, "Good, we should be able to get a shot or two in before the rain hits us." Ha! The wind was blowing so hard, that we had no more set up our tripods and taken a couple of shots, when a VERY heavey squall blew in, and we got dumped on. I ran back to the car, and I still got soaked. I spent the next half hour drying off my camera and lens. Ron tried to brave it out a bit longer with an umbrella, but he didn't have much luck. . . . .the wind was just TOO strong and the rain was just coming down TOO hard.

Below: Ron surveying the best angle for a picture. . . . what you can't see, is the cliff he is standing on. The dark rainclouds in the right of the photo had just passed over us, and we thought we'd have time to take some photos before the next round came over.

You can see where Ron climbed over the fence, but you still can't see how far down the cliff goes. The wind was really blowing him around too.

You can tell by Ron's stance, that he is bucking the wind.

Just a few minutes after we left Seal Rock, the traffic stopped on Highway 101 . . . . . . a Suburban pulling a 25 foot travel trailer had tipped over and was blocking the entire road. It took emergency crews about 45 minutes to get the Suburban off the road . . . . .as we passed, the trailer was still tipped over and blocking one lane.. . . . . . .that's how strong the wind was.

Our next stop was Devil's Punchbowl. You can actually see the round "punchbowl" in the photo below.

Devils's Punchbowl is just north of the Yaquina Lighthouse of Newport, Oregon, which is pictured below, just looking south, the opposite direction from Devil's Punchbowl. We have driven out to the Yaquina Lighthouse before, so we didn't take the time to do it this trip.

As you can see, Ron climbed over the fence again to get a shot of Devil's Punchbowl. The wind was pretty cold, so we had to keep our ears covered up.

Below: a closeup shot of some of waves, near Devil's Punchbowl.

Below: the view from the parking lot at Devil's Punchbowl, looking south toward the Yaquina Lighthouse and Newport.

Our next stop was at Boiler Bay. If you look at the photo below, you can see why it is called Boiler Bay. . . . . the surf really comes crashing (or boiling) in. You really can't tell from the photo, but these waves are HUGE.

While Ron was busy taking photos of the surf and rocks, I decided to follow the seagulls, and got this shot of the setting sun. We actually had a few minutes of a sunset . . . . . sort of.

We stayed in Lincoln City that night . . . .which was my birthday. We found a cute little motel called the "Captain Cook Inn", and ordered a pizza and brought it back to our motel room. The motel had old-fashioned steam heat . . . . wow! that kind of heat really works great! The next morning we drove north again, taking the loop around the Three Capes Scenic Drive, west of Tillamook. The first Cape, is Cape Kiwanda, where it is known for the beautiful big breakers.

Below: Ron and I, on a quick hike out to the beach . . . . .we were getting blown to shreds! But it was pretty, with the high seagrass and dunes.

We drove into town, and parked in the beach parking lot, and then walked out to the rocks and dunes, at Cape Kiwanda. This was a really beautiful place, and we'd love to come back another time when we don't feel like we are getting blown off the planet!

The rocks were really fascinating, and we climbed out on them a little ways. The color of the water here is incredible, to say the least.

Below: Ron eyeing up a possible photo angle, at Cape Kiwanda

The waves weren't the only interesting thing at Cape Kiwanda. The rocks were multi-colored and very "graphic" looking. The three photos below are close-up shots of the rocks.....pretty cool, huh?

After we finished climbing the rocks, we decided to climb the huge sand dune next to the rocks. I must say, that climbing sand is harder than climbing rocks! By the time we got to the top of the sand dune, the wind was practically blowing us away, but we trudged on.....and the view from the top was worth it. We had a big break in the clouds, (which were absolutely beautiful!) and we were able to see up the coast a bit and the see the beautiful color of the water and the huge waves. Coming back down the sand dune was a LOT easier than climbing up.

Close-up of a wave at Cape Kiwanda.

The puffy white clouds (next to the black storm clouds) were unbelievably beautiful that day.

Below: a view from the top of the sand dune, looking southwest over the rocks that Ron and I were climbing on.

After Cape Kiwanda, we drove throught the Campground at Cape Lookout, trying to find a camping spot. . . . .but the entire campground had standing water, so we gave up trying to camp that night. Our next stop was Cape Mears and the Lighthouse there. We had a nice picnic there before we walked down to the lighthouse. Much to our dismay, we found that in late December, two men had used the Cape Mears Lighthouse as target practice and had blown out many of the window panes, and ruined the priceless Fresnel lens. . . .which cannot be replaced. The people in Tillamook County were enraged by the incident, and are trying to raise the money to rebuilt the lighthouse. . . . .I don't think that the Fresnel lens can be replaced. It made Ron and I just sick to think that someone could be so destructive just "for the fun of it." In the photos below, you can see where they've boarded up the shot-out glass. (see link for article: http://www.beachconnection.net/news/cmear011210_323.php)

Closer view of the shot-out glass of the Cape Mears Lighthouse.

We had planned to stay another two days, near Cannon Beach, photographing Ecola State Park, but the weather was just a bit too wild to do what we would have liked. We drove through Ecola State Park, and the spring greenery had not grown up as lush as we were hoping. . . . . .we were just a month too early. So we decided that we would just end our trip a bit early and drive home. The clouds were incredible as we drove that evening. . . . . . . full of color. We got home around 10:00 April 29th. Ron is already looking at the calendar and trying to plan our next trip down the Oregon Coast. . . . . .we are hoping for a LOT less wind next time.