When we woke up, the "tip-tapping of rain on Otto's roof" that I claimed to love so much in yesterday's episode had turned into a jackhammering noisefest. Apparently, this was the Smith River area's monsoon season. We stayed bundled up in Otto, making some coffee and doing some work while waiting for the storm to pass. It never really did, so after a couple hours, we packed it all up and headed back down to the coast for the trek north to the Florence/Reedsport area of the Oregon coast.
The Oregon coast is an amazing place. If you've never done the trip up this coastline, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Sure, a lot of the towns are full of cheesy tourist stuff, but that's not why you're there. No one makes you go into those places. No, you're there for the sand, the sea, the sights. Oregon has done a fairly fantastic job of making their coast welcoming to travellers. There are tons of parks, campgrounds, recreation areas, and scenic overlooks. You can stop as often or as infrequently as you like, taking in the stunning Pacific vistas, and soaking up that invigorating salt air. I've been up and down this coastline more times than I can remember, starting with a memorable family car trip we took when I was just a wee pup, and it never gets old. It's always good to get back here. And, yes, I do shill for the Oregon Tourism Board as a side job.
Coming out of Gold Beach, we stopped at the Harris Beach State Park Picnic Area to do some work with a view. We scored a great ocean-front parking spot (as you can see in the photo at the top of this page), popped the top, and set to working. Good thing we popped the top, too -- Otto's canvas tent sides were pretty much soaking wet from the earlier typhoon and could use the sun-drying. Hey, that's even the view from the van down there, showing up as Today's Scenic Shot.
After three hours of work and a nice walk on the beach, we headed out, ready to camp for the night. We were north of Reedsport, but south of Florence, smack dab in the middle of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. This is a neat area -- the dunes are absolutely amazing in their scope and beauty. It's like a giant mountainous desert right next to the sea. Naturally enough, this is pretty much mecca for anyone with a dirt bike, dune buggy, or ATV. It's a full-on blast to go motoring up and down these dunes, tearing the heck outa everything. I know -- I've done it. However, it's also full-on loud. So, you probably don't want to camp in one of the two or three campgrounds that feature dune access, since they're typically full of folks revving up their ATVs at all hours of the night. Much better to hit one of the more sedate places and actually sleep.
That's what we found at Tahkenitch Lake. This campground was sort of amazing -- the sites were like rooms with their walls made out of these ten-foot high natural hedges. Total privacy. It was sort of weird, but we dug it. We whipped up a batch of spaghetti (hey, help us remember that we're out of pasta) and went to bed without doing the dishes. Oh, we live the wild life sometimes, I tell you!
Join us tomorrow as we hit Depoe Bay and give ourselves a major treat-- a night at the Channel House Bed and Breakfast! Hooooo-wheeeeeee! See you then.
Total Miles for 8/26 = 241