Brookings, OR: Coastal Beauty and the Northernmost Redwoods

The combination of coast and redwood forest in Brookings, OR had us contemplating spending a month here earlier this year, but life had other things in mind for us and now we've managed to spend a week exploring all this small, most south western Oregon town has to offer.

We lucked out with the weather for this second week of October, no rain and mostly sunny for the entire week...and my foot is feeling better, the stars aligned for some hiking! Our first afternoon was a short walk at Chetco Point Park followed by some delicious beers at Chetco Brewing.

Hans is standing on the bridge on the ridge at Chetco Point.

Rugged Chetco Point.

Excellent blueberry ale and imperial coconut porter at Chetco Brewing!

Subtle sunset beauty through the clouds on our first night.

We took a good long hike on the Oregon Coast Trail; currently about 200 miles of beach and 155 miles of completed trails and road sections. When completed, the route will be about 400 miles long, stretching from the Columbia River to the California border.

We parked at Whaleshead Beach and hiked to Thomas Creek Bridge for a total of about six rugged miles (out and back). This portion of the Oregon Coast Trail lies entirely in the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor and includes steep ups and downs through dense coastal forest with brief, peekaboo views of the coastline, and the fascinating combination of hillside sand dunes and jagged coastline of Indian Sands.

Coastal view from the Oregon Coast Trail.

An arch at Indian Sand Dunes.

Dramatic shoreline from Indian Sand Dunes.

These dunes do not go all the way to the water.

Peekaboo views along the heavily forested Oregon Coast Trail.

Oregon Coast Trail.

Lone Ranch Beach is another beautiful place to walk within the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

Fabulous driftwood at Lone Ranch State Beach.

Lone Ranch State Beach.

We're staying at Driftwood RV Park, a simple, clean full hookup park next to Brookings Harbor. We were surprised one afternoon to look out our door and see a cat sitting at the top of the stairs...Rosie was not impressed!

Rosie had an unexpected visitor!

We hiked through two unique types of forest beginning at Alfred A. Loeb State Park. The Riverview Trail is a pretty and easy 3/4 mile trail that goes through an Oregon myrtle forest along the Chetco River. The trail ends at North Bank Chetco Rd, which we crossed to hike the 1.2 mile Redwood Nature Loop. This trail winds up and down through the northernmost grove of redwood trees, ranging in age from 300 to 800 years old.

Giant old myrtle trees along the Chetco Riverview Trail at Alfred Loeb State Park.
A myrtle forest smells unique, the scent of fresh bay leaves permeates the forest.

Idyllic scene on Redwood Nature Trail #1111

Chetco River.

We took nightly strolls along the harbor across the street from our RV park.

A beautiful evening stroll along the harbor.

Encroaching fog creates an enchanting sunset.

Most days we were able to do a forest hike and a beach hike...the best of both worlds! There are only two old growth redwood groves in Oregon and the trees are smaller than those found just a few miles south in California, but we managed to hike through both of these groves.

A very narrow, windy gravel road took us to our second redwood hike: Oregon Redwoods Trails #1106/1107. Short but steep, the whole loop was less than two miles, but very pretty and even on a Sunday morning we practically had the place to ourselves.

Morning sun breaks through the fog on the narrow dirt road to Oregon Redwoods Trail #1106/1107

These are some of the northernmost redwoods in the country.

After the redwoods hike we took a coastal route home with a stop at McVay Rock State Recreation Site. Not only does this small park have beach access, but there's a dog park and brand new 9 hole disc golf course. It's a simple and fun disc golf course with mostly wide open grassy space plus some fabulous views.

A couple of the holes at McVay Rock have ocean views...gotta be careful when you throw!

There aren't too many hazards on this course, but this one was particularly dense!

The course is so new the tee pads have yet to be poured!
Hole 5 was unique...straight through dense shrubbery!

McVay Rock beach was different than most we'd visited so far, it was composed of tiny pebbles, and lots of driftwood, including an enormous tree stump.

McVay Rock beach held an enormous tree stump!

Otter lunch time!

Okay, that's enough for one post! Part 2 of our Brookings, OR stay coming soon...

Myrtle Creek and Cave Junction,OR

We spent a pleasant two nights in Myrtle Creek, OR allowing us to visit Chantal and James one last time in 2016. Millsite RV Park is a nice little city run RV park with easy access to interstate 5, and at $20/night for full hookups quite a bargain.

Fall colors at Millsite Park.

Clean and simple, Millsite Park is a nice place for a short stay.

An easy 86 mile drive got us to Mountain Man RV Park in Cave Junction, OR. Right off highway 199, Mountain Man has a pretty green setting on the Illinois River, full hookups with gravel roads and sites. Considering it was raining lightly during much of our two night stay, the highway noise was not an issue because we were usually inside the RV.

Kerby, OR is a small town just a few miles north of Cave Junction and is home to the unique It's a Burl Gallery. The large property is chock full of treehouses, galleries of burl furniture and carvings, and burls ready for transformation. Definitely worth a stop if passing through this area.

Hans looks down from one of several tree houses.

The main reason for our two night stay in Cave Junction was to visit Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve. Discovered in 1874 by a hunter looking for his dog, the cave is about 250 million years old and is predominantly composed of marble.

We took the basic tour ($10 each) which took us through about half a mile of the cave and up and down 500 stairs. Though this was not the most interesting cave we've toured over the years, it was an enjoyable experience.

The drive to the Monument is long and winding into the heart of the Siskyiou Mountains and the grounds of the Preserve are stunning. We really enjoyed hiking a couple of the shorter trails and visiting the Chateau built in 1924. It would be fun to spend a couple of nights in the historic Chateau and hike some of the longer trails.

Hans stands next to a wall of the marble that makes up this cave.

The Chateau has 23 rooms and a coffee shop and restaurant as well as a comfortable lobby with big picture windows overlooking the forest.

The walls of the Chateau are covered in bark.

The CCC created beautiful stone walls and ponds during the 1930's.

The No Name Trail took us into the dripping forest and along a couple of streams.

Hans stops to enjoy the view on one of several lovely stone benches built by the CCC.

Many of the trees were covered in thick mosses.

Short spur trails brought us to lovely sights.

Enduring CCC charm along the trail.

Cave Junction turned out to be a wonderful little stop, despite the on and off rain for two days. It is fall after all and the rainy season has begun. We're off to the coast today, looking forward to beaches and redwoods for a change of scenery!

Farewell Bend, We Will be Back!

September in Bend, OR is absolutely delightful; the summer tourists depart following Labor Day, the nights are cool and crisp and there are still many events going on every weekend. We've enjoyed Oktoberfest celebrations, the annual Roots Revival Festival, and some very good live music at the local McMenamins Old St Francis School.

The special visitor I alluded to in my last post was my daughter Chantal, who drove over from Roseburg to spend five nights with us. We loved showing her some of our favorite sights in the area.

It's impossible to drive through central Oregon on highway 97 without noticing the abundance of volcanic activity that shaped the current terrain. Newberry National Volcanic Monument, just south of Bend, is a great place to learn about the forces that created this unique landscape.

Chantal shows off a beautiful piece of obsidian on the Big Obsidian Flow, one of the highlights of a tour of
Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

Love the iridescent shine on a chunk of obsidian!

There's an excellent view of the Newberry Caldera from the top of Paulina Peak.
The 17 square mile caldera contains the Big Obsidian Flow seen here.

Mother and daughter framed by the fabulous Newberry Caldera.

Newberry volcano spreads some 1,200 square miles across central Oregon and is still seismically and geothermally active. Numerous cinder cones and vents dot the landscape, one of which is Lava Butte just south of Bend and home of the Lava Lands Visitor Center. You can drive to the top of the butte and take in expansive views of the area as well as hike an interpretive trail through the 7,000 year old lava flow.

A cloud mimics steam rising from Lava Butte.

Views of the Cascade Mountains from the lava trail.

Another favorite place to explore near Bend is Smith Rock State Park. (Here's a link to my post about Smith Rock from our visit in 2013.) The scenery is stunning, the hiking can be as easy or as hard as you desire, and it's great fun to watch the rock climbers too.

Even on a week day morning there were climbers on this rock face...

Fascinating to watch!

Words are not necessary...

Here we have completed the easy trail along Crooked River and are about to head up over Misery Ridge.
Notice the pillar of rock above Chantal's left shoulder, that's Monkey Face.

There happens to be a bunch of climbers on Monkey Face on this day!

As we hike around the back of Monkey Face we got to see a climber rappelling  down.

A group of climbers scale Monkey Face while we enjoy the amazing views atop Misery Ridge.

The trail down the other side of Misery Ridge.

One of many breweries we visited during our month in central Oregon, Wild Ride Brewing was an easy stop in Redmond on our way home from Smith Rock.

We bid Chantal good bye and spent our final week in Bend exploring new-to-us places. Bessie Butte and Boyd Cave are just two of many trails accessed from China Hat Rd, just a few miles south of Crown Villa RV Resort.

Boyd Cave is a lava tube cave.

View of Horse Butte and the Three Sisters from the high desert south of Bend.

We spent one day mountain biking along the Deschutes River from one of the many trails accessed off Century Drive.

Biking along the Deschutes River.

One cool day we headed east on highway 20 to the Oregon Badlands, high desert filled with ancient junipers and lava mounds. Our destination was Flatiron Rock, an easy hike to an interesting lava flow.

Magnificent old junipers dot the landscape.

Flatiron rock is actually a quarter mile long lava moat jutting out of the surrounding desert.

Though I have no photos, I want to mention a few really tasty meals and venues we've enjoyed in Bend.

The Sparrow Bakery located in the Old Iron Works Art District on Scott Street serves up delicious baked goods; the Ocean Roll is highly recommended. Also worth a look are the unique art shops in this plaza.

Jackson's Corner restaurant was recommended to us by locals and did not disappoint. Fresh and inventive pizza, pasta and salad's are served up in a sweet rustic country-style setting. It's popular so there could be a line and a wait on busy days.

Thanks to a tip from locals we also visited the Broom Closet at McMenamin's Old St Francis School. This cool speakeasy is hidden away in the new Art House hotel building on the McMenamin's property, half the fun is finding this bar! We also discovered a secret room on the first floor of this building...

We've absolutely loved our time in Bend, September is just beautiful in central Oregon! But it's time to move on and we're currently spending a couple of days visiting Chantal and James for the last time in 2016 before pushing south for the winter.