Central and Southern Oregon Coast

The last blog I posted was about Northern Oregon and where we traveled south to the town of North Bend for three nights at the Mill Casino RV Park near Coos Bay. This area is another coastal community known for its' seaport and fishing harbor in Charleston and is where Crickett and I got our first taste of Dungeness Crab. We found a waterfront restaurant there that specialized in Dungeness Crab but were unfortunately out for the day. The nice lady brought us out a couple of legs as a sampler since we told her we had never tasted any and were looking forward to it. The meat is much sweeter than we had expected and was actually very good. We're hoping to find some before we leave the west coast. There's a lot of douglas fir and western hemlock timber brought into the area by truck and rail that is processed at lumber yards and is then loaded aboard ships to be sent all over the globe. The area is especially well known for it's rugged and scenic coast line and is home to many state parks along Highway 101.

After three nights and two packed sightseeing days, we moved 107 miles on down the coast to another seaport community known as Brookings, or Brookings Harbor, which is about five miles north of the California/Oregon state line. The area  is  locally known as "the banana belt" with temperaures rarely reaching 90 in the summer and warmer in the winter than west coast average  due to winds compressing and warming the air at the foot of the nearby Klamath Mountains. We stayed at the Driftwood RV Park which is near the harbor. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative during our stay which made sight seeing a challenge. The weather was cloudy and  foggy while there and was pretty much the same as when we were last there two years ago. This section of Oregon probably has the most scenic coast line, and we've yet to catch it under sunny skies.  Oh well, I guess that gives us reason to return again! We explored the coast line north up to Cape Blanco State Park and Crescent City, Ca. to the south while here. Our next stop was 147 miles further south down 101 to Redcrest, Ca to explore the Giant Redwoods.

Our Site #37 with full hookups. Not bad for $37/night. We weren't too impressed with the casino.

Fisherman checking his crab pots in Winchester Bay. Notice the surf at the top of the picture. Where the surf meets inland water is called a ocean bar and can reach heights up to a 30 foot differential and can be treacherous for small craft entering the ocean.

Another fisherman checking his crab pots. There is a north and south jetty here to assist boats entering Winchester Bay which is a large fishing harbor.

Sign showing layout of Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area which is very large and very popular with folks operating off road vehicles.

These dunes are huge and go for miles.

We saw more 4 wheelers than any other type ATV's but did see some motorcycles and even sand rails.

I would think it would be a good idea to have a flag on the back of your ATV so others could easily see you. They did have a fatality there during Labor Day weekend.

This gentleman was from Vancouver, Canada and had his whole family with him. Both he and his wife and 4 kids all had ATV's. He said they come every year to enjoy riding the dunes.

All lower elevations along the coast are in a Tsunami risk area and have warning systems like this one at the dunes.

Umpqua Lighthouse near Winchester Bay.

Oyster farm on back side of the jetty. The objects in the water are barrels with lines going to the bottom of the bay. The oysters attach themselves to the lines and form a better oyster because they are out of the sediment on the bottom.

Whale watching facility at Shore Acres State Park

Beautiful and treacherous shore line at Shore Acres State Park.

There is an island and reefs near the shore line of Cape Arago State Park that attracts hundreds, if not thousands, of mostly seals and sea lions annually. They can be heard for miles up and down the coast.

The surf crashing into rocks creating an explosion of water!

Cape Arago Light House

Port of Orford which is most unusual because the harbor is not deep enough for the fishing boats at low tide. They actually remove the boats with the large cranes in the background and load them onto trailers at the pier. They reverse the process when going back out.  We ate at a small restaurant on the dock there that was pretty good.

Local Fish N' Chips restaurant. We had black snapper which was a first for all of us.

Trailer used to load boats onto.

we spotted a whale in the harbor there.

Near  Gold Beach

We spotted this deer at one of the overlooks.

You can see the fog rolling in.

Wider shot of Cape Arago