Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

Between Reedsport and Florence, OR is the largest, most extensive oceanfront dunes in the world:  The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.  On the advice of Jim's brother, Rick, we stopped to see about renting a dune buggy.  We thought twice about it once we saw them (most like OHV bikes) and wondered about our survival - especially Boo's, since, of course, he would come with us!  We also didn't want to rent for two hours at a couple hundred dollars.  Luckily, we met Robert, who said he'd take us out on a "quad" for an hour for $50.  We lucked out!  He was one of the more experienced guides there, knew the area extremely well, was one hell of driver and we had confidence in him.  We discovered that the most extreme and terrifying roller coaster we'd ever been on was nothing to compare to the roller coaster ride he gave us.

Our "Quad",  Jim in the back with Boo, Robert and I up front

Constantly changing, the shifting sands have
engulfed ancient forests.

Over the past 12,000 years the sand and sediment transported
by the ocean and 3 nearby rivers are deposited on the beaches.
Some of the dunes are as high as 500 feet - and we hit most of them!

-

Jim was holding onto Boo for dear life, as I screamed (didn't
cry, I'm happy to say) when hurtling down a hill.  Actually, the smile
was a ruse, he was scared to death, too!

Can you see the sense of humor in this man?
He loved Boo and is a gentle giant who teaches
at-risk kids in the winter.  But on the dunes, he is
a Mario Andretti with a lead foot who got a real
kick out of scaring the pants off of us.

A little worried about poor Boo.......I don't think this numbered
among his top 100 things to do before he dies.

From some of the high dunes, you could see the
ocean.  I wish my eyes had been open and my
hands able to take a shot of Robert going up
a 45 degree dune at top speed, stopping at the
top, giving us a minute to gaze downward at
an even steeper descent, and then gunning it
while laughing hysterically!

Over thousands of years, the sand moved in
and buried the forests.  We could see the tops
of trees that were over 300 feet tall.

Here you can see the stumps of ancient trees
which have been cut down.  In the early years
when the tree tops were revealing themselves,
they used to cut them off.  They later decided
that was not conducive to a naturally healthy
dune environment.

Alive and well!!!!

Bullards Beach

You literally could take thousands of pictures of this coastline and still not capture the beauty.  We have stopped going to every overlook to take a picture.  There are just too many beautiful scenes.  Even our conversations are getting repetitive with the superlatives, ie.  "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?",  "Holy Cow!", "I didn't think it could get any better", etc.

One of many

When we arrived, we followed the signs,
"to the beach" through a lush, green sandy
trail.....

Through open meadows and dunes.....

To ANOTHER private beach!

Driftwood litters the sand...

Jonathan Livingston and many of his friends were there to
enjoy the remainder of the day.....

The light was just right.....

And....

we were......

three happy campers!

Harris Beach State Park

The lagoons in upper California were speaking to us from their description, but it was very foggy and cold in that area so we kept going into Oregon.  We thought the state parks in California were fabulous but hadn't seen anything until we hit Oregon's state parks.  Our first experience was at Harris Beach State Park which is a little north of Brookings.  It knocked our socks off to get a fabulous camp site with a wonderful ocean view, several nice hiking and biking trails (yes, we found someone with bolt cutters to get rid of the lost key lock and bought a new lock with two keys), a laundromat and showers.  We even had electricity!  Most of the time, we are not plugged in (and we really don't need to be) but it is nice to feel so free about lights at night and to use the microwave and coffee maker when we want to.

The view out our bedroom window

It was a great morning for a fire.

Boo making sure we were safe from predators!

It was a great (though steep) descent to the beach.

The hike down was certainly worth the effort.

Great tide pools here

We found a wonderful spot to get out of the wind, though
our wine still had alot of sand in it.
But, then - WHO CARES!?

Kids in wet suits having a blast with their boogie boards

We do manage to find these pretty private beaches!  

Don't know how I came up with this outfit but I am a happy camper!

One other note about Oregon state parks:  They aren't cheap (around $25-30/night) but they are wonderfully well managed, clean and safe.  As soon as one camper left, there was a clean up crew at the site, hosing down the pavement, cleaning out fire pits and cutting grass.  The camping equivalent of staying in a pretty nice hotel!

The Redwoods

MAXINE DOES THE REDWOODS

 - can't wait to one day get rid of "Minnie" - not her name at all!

There are so many places in the northernmost parts of California where you can see the Redwoods.  We decided to do most of them:  Avenue of the Giants of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Redwood State and National Parks, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  All were spectacular.  We avoided all of the tourist traps (drive through trees, etc.) and concentrated on feeling the Redwood vibe!

Unless you've been here, it's hard to explain the feeling that you
get just being in the trees here - without being too "Boulder" about it,
it really was a mystical, spiritual experience!

The ground here is soft; the air is moist, everything
is lush and green and enveloping.

The Roosevelt Elk love it here-can't blame them.

The ferns!!!!!

The fog!!!!!

The wild rhodedendrans!!!!!

It is hard to imagine that the ancient old growth redwoods covered about 2 million acres before logging began in this area in the mid 1800s.  Today, just about 5% remains!

Six Rivers National Forest

We escaped to the Boise Creek Campground in Six Rivers National Forest for Memorial Day weekend.  It was quiet and restful but had alot of poison oak so we couldn't do much hiking.  We did relax, however.....

We kept Boo in his bed on the picnic table
so he couldn't get into the poison oak.  We
don't know if he can actually get it, but do
know he could give it to us when we snuggle,
which is pretty darned often.

A lovely shady spot for a weekend of reading and writing.

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Ranger Don Scott who is the Campground Host at Boise.  A passionate biographer and former NASA educational advisor, he introduced us to one of the greatest 20th century authors you never heard of, George R. Stewart (look him up).  His work, however, has influenced most of the major literary authors with whom you are familiar:  William Least Heat Moon, Steven King, Wallace Stegner, Robert Frost and the list truly is legendary.  We can't wait to find a bookstore and discover him for ourselves.  It was great fun waxing philosophical with Don, a true "on the road" experience.

Monday morning, we woke up bright and early and got a good start on the day.  Another campground experience was the Head Ranger, known as "the boss lady" who gave us many ideas of places to see on the road.  One that we especially took to was breakfast at The Eatery in Trinidad, a darling artsy community on the ocean.  Every now and then, it feels like a real treat to eat out and, often, it isn't convenient to do so.  We lucked out finding this, just as the hunger pains began.

This is the Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse dedicated to
those who were lost at sea.

The park and the entire coastline here is just beautiful.

We shared a "spud boat", big enough for us
and several more.

As we entered Trinidad, the fog started to roll in and followed us through the Redwoods up the coast.

Some day, we would love to do The Lost Coast which runs from Shelter Cove to Mattole.  Considering that there are no highways, no facilities and very little connection to GPS and the like, we decided not to take our chances and continued on up 101 to Oregon.

MacKerricher State Park

The drive up the coast towards Ft. Bragg, CA was again breathtakingly beautiful-more ocean views and "scare-the-pants-off-of-you" roads.  I can hardly imagine how they made this road, as they are shoring up sides of cliffs in order to keep the western part of the 2 lane highway viable.  It is astonishing how even the houses are built into cliffs that hang over the ocean. How fun it must have been (several years ago) for my friend, Lynne Milot, to ride on the back of a motorcycle on this road!

We stopped in Gualala (a cute little town with a great local market) for groceries, ice and air in the tires.  We are astounded that with all the food we have with us, we need to replenish the basics every few days.  (And of course, get some local beers and wines!)  No time for pictures.

We stopped at Point Arena lighthouse and stood on the cliffs there, admiring the view

and then had lunch in Mendocino - very quaint, flowers growing everywhere, cute little cafes and boutiques.  We ate linner (lunch and dinner) at the Mendocino Cafe which overlooks the ocean and advertised being dog-friendly-our favorite, especially if the food is great, which this was.

Where is that smile, Linda?

Great little cafe

Flowers everywhere

It seemed like everyone
in town had a green thumb

My favorite:  poppies line the roads

We got to our site at MacKerricher State Park by 4 and set up our camp (we are getting good and quick at this-basically, making sure we are level, bringing out the two slides, and putting things back in place.)

We lucked out on the site - got one of only two with a view of
the ocean.  We are beginning to get addicted to going to sleep
with the sound of the waves crashing on shore.

We took a walk to see the area, and settled in for the next three days.

Lots of horse, dog and people trails here

The invasive ice (or fig) plant which is everywhere on the
coast and creates the most fabulous colors in the sand.

Exploring the many tide pools.

We could bike for miles from here along the ocean (although we have lost the key to the bike and can't unload her from the back!), hike the Haul Rd. (a gravity-fed railway that was built here in the late 1800s and used to carry lumber to a mill in Ft. Bragg-remnants of the road still survive) or the boardwalk, the coastal trails, or the Lake Cleone trail.  They have flush toilets (which we use during the day so we don't have to dump as often) and showers!  With people around, I think it probably wouldn't go over well to use our outside shower and we really don't want to unpack our indoor shower/storage area-maybe one day.

Vultures are everywhere!

Harbor seals are breeding right now.  They
are so playful and fun to watch.  We visit them
every day we're here.  They sure know how
to have fun!

One of the viewing stations on the boardwalk

The flora and fauna here are to die for.  Boo and I saw a bald eagle on an early morning hike one day;  we've seen seals every day we've been here;  watched the vultures do their thing;  had deer in the campground and been overwhelmed by the beautiful wildflowers and 90 species of birds that are everywhere.  We've even spotted whales!

A rainforest-like experience at Lake Cleone

Can you see the bald eagle on top of the knoll?

Love these misty, moisty mornings

A little breezy this morning....

Iris

Foxglove grows wild everywhere! 

We really could stay here for a week or more, BUT it is Memorial Day weekend coming up (I forgot it was early this year!) and they are booked-SO, we move north and inland to escape the crowds.  We are not loving the lack of spontaneity in reserving sites ahead of time but, we also don't want to be wandering around in our 29 ft. home looking for a place to be.  We are also learning fast that we don't really enjoy long days of traveling.  By long days, I mean anything over 4 hours.....

I saved the best for last!  How cute is he?!!!!