10/25 Cape Pertetua & Yachats, Oregon Coastal Highway

Cape Perpetua is a very scenic area along the the Oregon Coastal Highway, with cliffs and crashing waves on the ocean side of the highway and high mountains on the opposite side of the road.  It is just a couple of miles south of the small town of Yachats, Oregon, and not too far from Tillicum Beach.  (Yachats, by the way, is pronounced "yah-hahts.")  Cape Perpetua also refers to the very tall mountain where you can drive up a "day use" road to a parking area and overlook 800' above the ocean.  It is a don't miss site, so don't miss it.  The road is not as steep as you might think, so even I can drive my big motorhome up there comfortably.  Good brakes are helpful coming down, however!

Just south of the road to the day-use overlook is another road that goes up to the visitor center.  You can buy the usual souvenirs there, and also walk around to their large balcony overlook.  Today, when I was there, I saw several whales spouting not too far from shore.  Easy parking up there, as well. 

Other places you might want to stop at that I bypassed were some seal caves and a spouting rock, plus several scenic view overlooks.  And, at the base of the road to the day-use overlook, there is a place where you can walk out to some tide pools if you get there at low tide.  

The entire coastal highway from northern California through Oregon to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State is a fantastic drive, though you really need more than a couple of weeks to do it.  The northern part of the drive should really be done as one trip and the part from San Francisco to San Diego in another trip, but both are really worthwhile and should be on people's bucket list. 

A lot of the coastal highway, 101, looks like this with occasional bridges crossing the numerous streams that come out of the mountains and empty into the Pacific Ocean. 

  

Because of the traffic today, there was no way I could get photos of the entrance to the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center, but this map was at the top.  It shows a lot of the hiking trails and a few back roads through the Siuslaw National Forest.  

A few views from the visitor center terrace.  In the far distance, you can see a few rocks that contain some tide pools.

At about 11:00 o'clock in this photo, you can see the remnants of a whale's spouting.

You can also see a few people climbing over the rocks and looking in the pools in this closeup.

And a view slightly to the south.

 

 

A really big tree next to the visitor center.  Hard to get it all in, but it certainly was impressive. 

If you turn right on the highway, you can turn right again on the road to the day-use area.  A short drive takes you up to the 800' high overlook area.  This is the actual mountain that akes up Cape Perpetua.  

 

 

Another big pine tree!

And a view to the south.  It's a bit foggy, but you can see a long way down the coast.  The dot in the middle is the visitor center I had just left.

And a view to the east across the coastal mountain range. 

Back in the1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corps built the trails in the area and this study rock shelter at the tip of the peninsula. 

The next two photos are very quickly taken views at the little town of Yachats in the distance.

 

 

And the drive into and through Yachats.   There are several restaurants, a small bread bakery, a lot of souvenir shops, and some restaurants.   Can you imagine the view from those two high homes? 

 

 

And back to my campground!  

10/24 Tillicum Beach, Yachats, OR

I've spent the last few days here at Tillicum Beach on the Pacific Ocean.  I have been here several times before, but this is the chilliest weather yet.  We had cold and drizzle the first couple of days, followed by cold and windy, followed by one fabulous day that was cold, but sunny with no wind, so it was comfortable to walk on the beach or be outside.  Today, we reverted to really cold and really windy, though it was sunny.  Almost no one ventured onto the beach because of the strong wind and cold.  

There is a big rainy area heading towards Oregon, so tomorrow is going to be the last halfway decent day for several days. I have to go out tomorrow to dump my tanks in the nearby town, so I take advantage of the weather by stopping at the visitor center south of Yachats for some pictures from one of the high cliffs.  After that, I will have to head back to the center of Oregon again to get some medical tests done.  

There are quite a few state parks near the beach along the Oregon Coast, but only one of them is directly on the ocean like this U.S. Forest Service Campground is.  At the others, the campground is located in the woods a substantial walk to the beach.  You can hear the waves, but not see them easily as you can here.  

My favorite site here is one of the larger sites that is more open to the south so I can get a good view of the satellites so I can can good TV service!  Most campers don't care about getting good television because they are on vacation, but I live in my motorhome year-round, and really enjoy getting the news stations and my favorite channels.  This site also has electric and water hookups, but I have to drive out for a dump station because almost no Forest Service campgrounds have such things.  Because I am alone, it is just a once every three or four days trip and costs $8, so it is well worth staying here with an ocean view!  

The other advantage to this campground is that the sites are a bit small and only about half of them have hookups.  Also, it does have several restrooms, but no showers unfortunately, which makes it a bit hard on tenters and RVers whose units are not self-contained.  

Here are some photos of this beautiful place.  My rig is on the right, and directly across from me are three non-hookup sites.  Usually these have tents in them, but they can also fit small RVs dry camping.  The little boy is rinsing his feet and getting some water from the water tap.

The sites across from me have terrific views from areas that they can use to set up tents or just use for campfires or picnics. 

 A view looking the other direction at some other small RVs parked along the ocean. 

 

 

 

Some of the hookup sites are tucked back into the woods, but it is dark and chilly back there, so I prefer being in the open with at least a small view of the ocean.

 

 

This is what happens when you leave stuff around your campsite while you go to the beach.  Luckily, there was no food left out for these crows, but they did check everything out thoroughly. 

I could not resist taking photos of these tiny little fungus things on this tree root back in the woods.  They look a lot like tiny mushrooms.  Note: I looked these up, and apparently they are called "Cat's Tongue" and are actually an edible fungus, though I would not eat them unless I verified this with an expert.  Here is web page about this fungus:  https://cascademyco.org/2018/02/the-cats-tongue-mushroom/

And some bigger mushrooms.  The large white one was about 6" i n diameter and the little pink ones were about an inch in diameter. 

This large mushroom was pushing itself up through the pine needles on the forest floor.  I would not even consider trying to eat any of these, but they were interesting!!!!

Almost directly across from my motorhome is one of the two stairways down to the beach.

 

 

It was the start of low tide.  I love to walk on beaches at this time because the beach is hard and there is always interesting stuff that has been washed up.  

 

 

 

There was a really bad storm several years ago that washed away part of the cliff, so the Forest Service added rocks to prevent losing any of the campsites above.   

 

 

There are always a few dead jellyfish on the beach.  Best not to touch, however. 

 

 

This log has been here a very long time. 

 

 

Down about half a mile, a small stream flows across the beach and enters the ocean.  You can see the highway bridge in the distance.  And, as you can see, the water is crystal clear. 

 

 

Even on a non-windy day, the ocean can have a lot of big waves.  

I thought it was interesting to look at the various types and colors of sand that is shown where the storm cut through the bank.  

 

 

 

This middle layer looks like rock, but it is just a different color and texture of hard sand.  Maybe from an ancient tsunami??

 

 

Back to the stairs up to the campground.  The first couple of steps are a little rough, so I try to get help here if I can.  I am very careful not to fall at my age.  

 I've enjoyed my week or so here, but hopefully I will come back next fall when it is a little earlier and warmer. 

10/12 LePage Campground, Columbia River, OR

I've spent the last two weeks at this campground along the John Day River where it empties into the Columbia River.  I cannot directly see the Columbia River unless I walk to the entrance, but this is a scenic place I have been to several times before.  I enjoy the fact that it is out of the way and is very quiet this time of year--its been filled from 20% to 50% the entire time I have been here, so not a lot of people, but I like the smallness of the campsite and the views.  

Tomorrow I head to a more central city in the Willamette Valley, and have appointments to get my water tank fixed or replaced.  I also am pretty sure I need brakes and have not been able to get anyone near here to look at them, let along fix them, but I have an appointment next week to get them looked at, so it will be a very busy week.  

Driving west on I-84, it is pretty hard to miss Mount Hood, a good 50 miles in the distance.

LePage Park can be easily found because of the bridge over the John Day River.  John Day, after whom two cities, river, fossil beds, and a dam were named, was a fur trader in 1810.   The area closest to the bridge is a day-use area that is also used by local native Americans as a fishing staging area.  

The John Day River empties into the Columbia River just east of the John Day Dam.  When the dam was completed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and closed, I was told the widened river here filled within hours, making a nice lake for boaters when winds were too strong for boating or fishing on the Columbia.  

Because this campground was built and is managed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, there is a 50% discount in cost by any seniors having a federal National Park Pass.  The pass costs $20 annually or $80 for the lifetime of any citizen of the U.S. who is at least 62 years old.  Not only do we seniors get the discount on camping, but we also get free admission at any national park, which is a real bargain since places like Yellowstone have raised their entrance prices over the last few years.  

In the next photo, you can see my motorhome at the northern end of this small campground, along with two other rigs.  I had a good view, but would have preferred to be father back from the highway, as vehicles going over the bridge made a thumping sound as they hit cracks in the pavement. There is also a very busy trail track just behind the bridge, but trains do not bother me.   Unfortunately, they had to move me from my reserved space because there were electrical problems in some sites. 

This campground will close on Monday, and it has not been very busy because of the time of year and the chilly weather.  However, there were lots of people fishing and many of the campers brought boats along with them.

The western end of the Columbia River is full of big trees, but as you head west, you get into a drier and less-treed plains area.  This view is looking up the river. Small boats with motors can go up the river about 6-7 miles, but then it becomes narrower and more shallow.  A few more miles up the river was a crossing for the Oregon Trail, though the river was a lot narrower before the John Day Dam was built. 

Nice that the campground planners set up campsites so that the ones along the John Day River had their side doors facing the river.  Each site has water and electric, with a dump station near the entrance. 

One sunny day, I decided to go for a walk to the day use area.

It was impossible to take a clear photo of this sign because it was so close to the chain-link fence, but this sign explains why the native tribes have permanent access to this site to store their nets and fishing equipment.  They also can camp here as needed. 

Most of these trash bags are filled with fishing nets, not trash, although I did see a couple of bags with recyclables. 

No one is around, but this is a pile of fishing nets that were dry.

And these nets are drying after being used.  The tribes fish in the Columbia River, by the way, not the John Day River, but this area has a boat ramp and makes it easy to keep their nets here since they have a private area. 

A sign noting that Lewis and Clark passed through this area, and named the river after one of their men.  Of course, while the park retains the name "LePage," the river does not. 

Just the kind of campground I like--almost empty!

More views of the campground.

A view of my motorhome from a roadway above the campground. 

Most campgrounds these days offer free use of life vests in various child sizes.