Cape Lookout

This post marks the beginning of our summer vacation. We have been living and working on the coast since early December and finished our assignments on June 25. We are not planning to work again until September. We spent our first week off camping and hiking on the coast. We didn’t have any reservations and no real itinerary. It should be no surprise that I had researched campgrounds and trails and had a list of potential locations. We headed north from Florence and decided to camp at Cape Lookout along the Three Capes Scenic Loop just south of Tillamook. The photos below are from the first section of this trip and include Cape Lookout, Cape Meares (Oregon’s shortest lighthouse), Netart’s Bay, and Garabaldi.

The Amanda Trail

The Amanda Trail connects with the Whispering Spruce Trail in The Cape Perpetua Scenic Area and the Oregon Coast Trail. Connecting to the OCT, you hike right into the town of Yachats. This trail is a good training trail as it can be made shorter or longer easily with the connecting trails. It also has some steep sections that are sure to get your heart pumping and thighs and calves burning. There was a mudslide in this area in December and the trail was closed from mid-December until June. There are a lot of downed trees and evidence of the slides is apparent from the trail.

The trail is named for Amanda, an elderly, blind Coos Indian woman, who hiked this trail barefoot with her tribe in the 1800’s. The tribe was forced off their land in the North Bend area and forced to move to a reservation in the Yachats area. Many died on the journey and many more died of starvation and disease once they arrived at the reservation. It is said that Amanda left a trail of blood behind her on the journey, and the trail is dedicated to her memory. There is an area on the trail with a statue in her honor.

Carl G. Washburne Memorial State Park

Washburne SP lies north of Florence and South of Yachats. It includes a day use area on the west side of 101 and camping to the east. There is a large RV camping area and then there is a tent only camping area that is a nice distance from the RV area. The tent sites are walk in only, however there is a parking area with wheelbarrows to assist you in getting your gear to the campsite. The sites are huge (there are 3 sites that are awesome, the others are still nice) and you can hear the ocean from camp. There is a little road noise from 101, but it dies down in the evening. It is a short walk to the beach from camp. There is a trail (The Valley Trail) that connects the park to other trails in the area, however it has been closed all winter. We received a lot of rain on the coast this winter, resulting in land slides which damaged some area trails. The campground is close to a number of trailheads making it a great base camp.

7th Anniversary

To celebrate our anniversary, we rented a house up the coast between Florence and Yachats for the weekend. It was a peaceful place set upon a cliff overlooking the ocean. We watched waves crash against rocks and seals swim along the shore until the sun set, painting the sky. We reminisced of places we have been, obstacles we’ve overcome, and experiences we have had over the past 7 years. We look forward to seeing where the next 7 years will take us, one experience at a time.

Kentucky Falls

Kentucky Falls is a beauty, tucked away high in the Coast Range in the Siuslaw National Forest. To get there, you must traverse gravel logging roads, which I would not advise during or following adverse weather. If you would like to see the falls in soft light, you need to head out early. The commute to the trailhead is at least 1 1/2 hours from Florence or Eugene. It took us longer than we anticipated and by the time we hiked to Lower Kentucky Falls and North Forks Falls, there was a harsh glare, making photography difficult. I have been trying to reel myself in from becoming so obsessed with my photography. I rarely use a tripod anymore, which was once my pride and joy. I find these days that more often than not, it becomes a burden, killing the spirit of the moment and taking away from the experience.

Logging is big business in Oregon, and with it comes much controversy. There are laws and regulations in place to “protect the forests” by replanting, however evidence shows that the clear-cutting method commonly used in Oregon has negative impacts on the environment, ranging from destruction of wildlife habitat to pollution of streams and drinking water. I bring this up because while driving these logging roads, you get a clear picture of recent clear cut. I will say that I have also observed groves of trees with signs posted stating the date they were re-planted. These planted forests were lush and beautiful, albeit the trees much smaller than the groves of protected old growth forests. Logging is a big part of the economy in Oregon. It has been a way of life for generations of Oregonians. Shipments of lumber to China date back to the 1800’s and over 1,500 lumber mills were running by the 1950’s. Only 10% of old growth forests remain uncut, protected on federal land.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

The Oregon Dunes NRA spans for almost 40 miles between Florence and Coos Bay. It is the largest expanse of coastal dunes in North America. The area boasts dunes that rise up to 500 feet, but there is much more here than sand. Lakes, streams, and forests add diversity to the landscape. We have only explored the northernmost section of this area and look forward to making our way farther south soon. The area is popular for ATV use, but there are sections designated for hikers only.

Sweet Creek Falls

This trail, in the Siuslaw National Forest of the Coast Range is east of Florence near the town of Mapleton. The day we were there, we did not see another human. I’d love to return here soon. I’m sure it is even more beautiful now with the lushness of spring!

Coastin’ Through the Winter

It has been a while since my last post. We have been living on the central Oregon Coast since December. December was a challenging month for us; we had just moved into the RV and were adjusting to the nuances of the RV lifestyle. There was an onslaught of Pacific storms that seemed never-ending. We received double the average rainfall in December, a whopping 24″. With all the rain and wind gusts of 20-30mph, we were finding leaks in the RV and were beginning to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into.

After December, the weather settled into a more normal pattern. It still rained a lot, but there were breaks from the rain. During the breaks we were often blessed with gorgeous, sunny days, and occasionally, these days aligned with our days off work! The length of days has been something to adjust to, being so much farther north. In the winter, the days are painfully short, but in the summer, the days seem to go on and on. We have adjusted well to small town coastal living and the RV lifestyle. We live in the big town of Florence, population 8,466. Within a 30 min drive we can be hiking along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Pacific coast, in the largest area of coastal dunes in the nation, or we can lose ourselves in the forests of the Coast Range. We are just 5 min away from Heceta beach, which is our go-to spot for a refreshing walk. The images below were all taken along the Oregon coast between Florence and Yachats, including the Heceta Head Lighthouse and the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area. They were taken over the winter months, with a few taken in the spring.