The sounds of the sea put us to sleep pretty quickly last night, with the waves breaking, the occasional seal barking, and the relentless sound of the fog horn which operates all day and night, could be heard in the distance.
It is a shorter drive today, so we have leisurely breakfast , and head off at around 9 am.
After leaving Crescent City, we appear to have entered a relatively flat area of coastline, without a lot of natural beauty, and we begin to think that we have seen the best of what is to offer on this coastline. The low dunes continue for about 20km, and we reach the next major town, Brookings, which as we enter looks functional, but not exceptional. We had also crossed the border and had now left California and were now in Oregon. A few kms North of Brookings it all changed, and we pulled into the first vista point at Harris Beach State Park.
There was a trail where you could walk down to the beach from the cliff above, and we welcomed the chance to get a bit of exercise. There was a helicopter hovering behind the headland and we are not sure if it was a rescue or training.
As we have seen with most of the beaches on this coast, the size and quantity of driftwood is astounding.
The locals have put it to good use building a rustic, but practical beach shelter
View looking South of the same beach
Now convinced that we had some more great scenery ahead, we headed back onto Highway 101, and enjoyed some great views around every corner. Our next stop was at Pistol River, for a totally different view of sand dunes and a river flood plain.
Pistol River ( bridge across the river can be seen below)
The next highlight we were looking for was Gold Beach, well written up in the tourist brochures as something special. We felt a bit let down when entering town from the South, as it was not particularly special. As we reached the river we quickly changed our mind and pulled over as soon as we crossed the bridge. We could see lots of fining boats on the water and very attractive scenery, so ended up driving down to a boat launching ramp to get a good view of the river and the bridge .
Fishing boats on the Rogue River
We spoke to one of the fisherman who was washing down his boat, having just got in from a days fishing. He told us it has been one of the best seasons for salmon they have experienced in many years.
Back on the road our next stop was at another fishing town, Port Orford. However, this one is very different. We drove down to the harbour expecting to sees nice little sheltered harbour full of trawlers and fishing boats. What we did see astounded us, there was a huge hardstand and 2 x 25 tonne cranes, and all vessels were sitting up on the hardstand on trailers !
The beach alongside the wharf looked so benign we had to find out what was going on. One of the fisherman climbed down the ladder off his boat and was heading toward us, so I asked him why all of the boats were up out of the water. He proceeded to explain that conditions here are often treacherous , with very rough conditions, so getting them into and out of the water quick is the only way they can operate.
The beach and wharf side conditions today
Just as we were about to leave, we saw a small fishing vessel returning to port. We had to staying to watch the lift up onto the wharf.
Vessel approaching
He unloads his catch, sadly only 1 good sized wild salmon
He had 4 lifting lines permanently attached to the vessel which were quickly slipped over the crane hook
In no time, it was over dry land and being lowered onto its trailer
The fisherman told us that this is one of the few coastal fisheries left that line fish, both long line and rods.
Enough excitement for one day, we move on closer to our final destination of Coos Bay Oregon, but right now, we are interested in finding somewhere to have lunch.
Our next major town is Bandon, so lets hope it is good.
Like most of these towns, the action is at the waterfront, so when arriving it town, we follow the signs to the old harbour. It turns out to be a very popular spot, as one would expect on a Saturday when the temperature is in the high 20's C.
Yet another nice little harbour
We chose this place for lunch
We had a very nice lunch of crab sandwiches, washed down with an Alaskan Amber Ale ( one of the many great beers over here). There were people everywhere, obviously Bandon is a popular weekend retreat.
There was a vintage busker out the front trying to earn a $
Another of the great craft beers
We finally head off to Coos Bay, only a short distance from Bandon. Along the way we diverted to have a look at the Bandon Links Golf Course, which had a big write up in a newspaper article at out lunch stop.It was nice, but well out of the way.
Soon we were approaching Coos Bay. There is immediately no doubt that this is a timber town. There are sawmills along the riverside, piles of logs everywhere, huge heaps of sawdust, and railcars laden with sawn timber ready to head somewhere. Our motel is on the Southern side of town, located on a small river inlet, Coal Slough.
Looking out from our room across the inlet
Once settled in, we have time to drive around and look at the town and surrounds. Coos Bay is a good sized town with a population of over 16,000 and good facilities. it sits at the mouth of the Coos River, and has a wide and apparently safe entrance for shipping.
We drove down to the river where there were some old dilapidated wharves and still signs of some boatbuilding activity.
We drove across the river to the town on the Southern side, Charlestown which is clearly a fishing village. There are roadside signs up everywhere advertising fresh tuna.
We drove out to the entrance to the river bar tom have a look and saw a trawler coming in, without any problems at all, on an outgoing tide.
It has been a long day, and we really don't feel like going out to dinner, so we wander over to a Safeway nearby, and bought a few craft beers, and a bottle of red. When we got back to the room we ordered a pizza, the best service (and price) appeared to be from Dominos (a good old Aussie company). The ordering process was seamless, done over the net, and delivery to our room in about 30 mins, and the pizza was good. I might buy some shares, I think these guys are onto something.
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