OREGON BY RV

The view from Cape Perpetua

During the past few years I have had the privilege of seeing many national parks and other beautiful areas of the United States and Canada by motorhome. From the Bay of Fundy through Glacier National Park and on to the west coast, I loved them all. But, the coast of Oregon may have the most stunning sights anywhere. Though my blog usually is rather introspective, this post will be a more objective day-by-day account of our recent road trip that included the central Oregon coast, simply because it may be useful to other travelers. 

We travel on the maxi/min principle, seeing the maximum amount at the minimum cost. Though we occasionally spend a fair amount on a worthwhile experience, we never spend money on cable TV, and usually get Wi-Fi access at public libraries or other free sources. Every few nights we look for campground showers or electrical hookups, but with our self-contained Winnebago View, we can and do use primitive sites often. If you want information about super-expensive RV resorts and restaurants, you need to go elsewhere. (Note: All prices given here are what we actually paid. Having Golden Age passports and being members of AARP, we usually pay 50% of what younger people pay.)

June 16: Beginning near home in northern California, we drive north on I-5 as far as Willows, first stopping at Bremen’s Apricot Orchard north of Woodland for some delicious and inexpensive apricots. Stay in a Willows Walmart parking lot, knowing future nights will be more pricey. (In general we stay in Forest Service or other inexpensive parks most of the time, where fees with our Golden Age status are usually about $5 to $12 per day. Sometimes Walmarts allow overnight parking, sometimes they do not. It seems to depend more on local ordinances than on Walmart itself.)

June 17: We arrive at Ashland, Oregon. We made no reservations for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, because we didn’t know when we would be here. Taking a chance, we call today and learn that because of a cancellation, we can get two tickets for The Tempest tomorrow. I am very excited about this—I haven’t come to the festival for nearly 20 years, and want Thane to experience it. Ashland has many expensive bed-and-breakfasts and hotels; instead, we stay at the Glenyan RV campground a few miles out of town for $30. It is rather crowded but nice otherwise.

June 18: The tickets are $50 each for the Class C (least expensive) seats. The OSF isn’t cheap, and gives no senior discounts, but we want to splurge.  Back to Walmart, in Roseburg, via I-5.

June 19: Still on I-5, we drive to Portland and spend a couple of hours at the International Rose Garden. At this time of year it is a spectacular display of many rose varieties. Driving west on Highway 26 toward the coast, we stop at the “Stubs” Stewart State Park near Verona for the night. This is a convenient stop for anyone driving between Portland and the coast. The campground is nothing special, and costs $31 including hookups. (A note about the showers in Oregon state parks: They are clean and well maintained, but usually there is not a truly private dressing area with each shower. This doesn’t bother Thane, but it does me, so in many cases I use the RV shower instead.)

June 20: Arrive in Cannon Beach, where we plan to see the annual Sand Castle Contest tomorrow. Stay at the very nice Circle Creek private campground a few miles north of town on Highway 101. We are in a no-hookups site that costs only $10 including free showers.

June 21: The sand castles are impressive. I have an excellent Crab Louis ($21) for lunch at The Wayfarer restaurant, and have a good view of the beach from my table. (Thane is a vegetarian, and usually eats in the RV.) We return to Circle Creek rather than search for a new campground late in the day.

June 22: We start south on scenic Highway 101 after doing some shopping in Cannon Beach. At night we stay at the Jetty Fishery campground at the mouth of Nehalem Bay. This very basic campground caters to fishers, and sells crab for picnickers. The view of the bay and ocean from here is excellent, somewhat justifying the $38.50 price for a site with hookups.

June 23: Stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, we are very disappointed. (See my previous blog post for the details.) This is a waste of time!  On the other hand, Thane goes to the TillamookAir Museum ($8) and enjoys it greatly. At night we stay for $20 at the Tillamook River RV Park, which is on the road going west toward Cape Meares.

June 24: After catching up on laundry and other chores, we arrive at the Cape Meares State Park and (very short) lighthouse. We take an enjoyable walk through a Sitka spruce forest and tour the lighthouse, then go on to Cape Lookout State Park for the night ($21 -for a no-hookups site).

June 25: The day is rainy, and we want to stay in the general area because of a kite festival coming up in Lincoln City, so we stay a second night at Cape Lookout after walking the nature trail, reading, and sketching. This campground is simple, clean, and near the ocean.

June 26: Traveling toward Lincoln City on 101, we see no appealing campgrounds, but a local finally tells us about a small Forest Service campground to the east, on Mt. Hebo. Though the road up the mountain is a steep climb that looks unpromising, this turns out well. Our $6 primitive (not even water is provided) campsite looks out on a reservoir where fish are literally jumping out of the water. The site is so unlevel that we have to use every Leveler block, some wooden boards, and Thane’s old slippers to get a bubble in the level!  

June 27: Still killing time before the kite festival, we stay on Mt. Hebo again. It rains all day, and to keep from tracking mud into the RV, we stay inside reading and playing Scrabble for the entire time. We will be ready to leave tomorrow.

June 28: We leave early to arrive in Lincoln City for the kite festival.  The weather clears up just enough, and the kites are simply amazing. This is airborne artistry. Not knowing where to stay for a decent price, we ask another RVer, and he directs us to the ChinookWinds casino at the north end of town. Like many Native American casinos on tribal lands, this one encourages free overnight RV parking in the hope of luring people to the casino. Not only that, but people treat the parking lot like a campground—we even see campfires and tents! I also get an excellent, huge hamburger in the casino deli for $6, but we don’t do any gambling. This probably saves us some money.

June 29: We stay at Depoe Bay’s elaborate Sea and Sand RV Park  for $57, much more than what we are usually willing to pay. However, unlike most campgrounds, it is right on the beach, and we are determined to see the ocean from our RV for one night. First, we enjoy a day of relaxing in the sun.

June 30: On south to touristy Newport, where we wander around town and see the Yaquina Bay lighthouse, which was in operation for only three years in the late 1800s. I enjoy seeing the Itty Bitty Art Gallery, but manage to resist spending any money. That night we stay at Beverly Beach State Park ($21, no hookups). This park is filled with young families, many in tents. Though I usually can walk right in and take a shower at a campground, here I must wait a while for some young women washing their hair. Also, the shower floors are very sandy because some campers failed to rinse their feet before showering. This all is a letdown after the previous night. However, the park is at a convenient location for us at this stage of the trip, and there is nothing actually wrong with it.

July 1: This is the first of a series of wonderful Forest Service campgrounds along Highway 101. We stay at Tillicum Beach campground ($12 for no hookups, but water is available). A campsite overlooking the ocean opens up, so we grab it. We are lucky in meeting two other couples driving Winnebago Views similar to ours, and have a mini-rally.

July 2: Again, we find a Forest Service campground for $12, Rock Creek . Our site is on the beautiful, peaceful creek. The vault toilet is the most immaculate one I have ever seen!

July 3: The sightseeing today along Highway 101 is wonderful. After viewing a spectacular stretch of coast from high Cape Perpetua, we go on to tour the Heceta Lighthouse, “the most photographed lighthouse in the world.” It has been beautifully preserved, and the Fresnel lens is still functioning. Afterward we stop at the Sea Lion Caves. I fear that it is a tourist trap, but instead it is a fascinating Steller sea lion rookery where we see bulls and their harems hauled out on the rocks. Thane tours the caves as well ($13), and I am allowed to walk to a viewing area for $5, as I don’t care for caves. Some visitors have sighted whales today, but there are none around when I am. After leaving, we drive on to find still another Forest Service campground! This one is Alder Dunes, at the north edge of Florence. For some reason this one is only $11; it is in a pleasant, wooded area.

July 4: Independence Day is not a good time to look for a campground without having a reservation. However, we have a personal parking fairy named Lola who always comes through for us with a place to stay. (Why named Lola? Because “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets,” in the words of the song.) This night we go to another casino, Three Rivers on the east side of Florence, that allows free overnight parking. I have a satisfying, inexpensive fish dinner in the casino restaurant. As if that isn’t enough, we are able to watch the local fireworks show in comfort from our RV! We enjoy seeing it and taking a video of the display.

July 5: Driving south on 101 again, we visit several state and private campgrounds that are either full because of the holiday, or unappealing. One of these, Honeyman State Park, has more than 400 campsites! We prefer something a bit more, um, intimate. Eventually we find the very nice Umpqua Lighthouse StatePark campground, where Lola has saved us the one open site ($28 with full hookups). This campground even has yurts and cabins that are more expensive, and look like enjoyable possibilities for a return trip some day.

Before settling in we walk to the lighthouse, where Thane takes the $5 tour. I skip the tour, thinking it would offer no more than the one at Heceta Head. When Thane returns, he says this was actually better, because he was able to get inside the Fresnel lens of the light and take this photo.

If I had this to do over, I’d take this tour instead. On the other hand, the view from Heceta Head is better. In Oregon, it’s hard to go wrong.

July 6: We have been away from home for nearly three weeks, so we reluctantly leave this wonderful campground and head toward I-5 on Highways 38 and 138. I assume that driving to the east will be dull, but am happily surprised. In Old Reedsport we see a business featuring chain-sawed carvings, with the woman wielding the chain saw at work. Farther along is the O.H. Hinsdale InterpretiveCenter,  where we stand at a viewing platform and watch seven or eight Roosevelt elk in the nearby meadow. Highway 138 is a scenic byway along the Umpqua River, which is one of the most majestic waterways I have ever seen. Steep, forested hills rise on each side of it, and in places the river splashes over wide expanses of rock.  In order to use Wi-Fi, we stop in Elkton. There the library turns out to be part of a thriving community center that includes a butterfly garden, produce market, and other delights.

At Sutherlin we rejoin busy I-5. It takes us quickly to Roseburg, where we again stop at Walmart to print photos and buy ice cream. As the photos will not be ready until morning, we will stay in the parking lot until then. :-)

July 7: The temperature today will be more than 100 degrees in this area, so we plan few stops. The drive south on I-5 is mercifully uneventful. After entering California, we want to revisit Castle Crags, a scenic point where we stayed a few years ago. Because the private campground where we stayed then seems more expensive and more rundown than it did, we go on to the nearby Castle Crags State Park. Only a few spots are suitable for motorhomes, and the only vista points are either at the entrance or at the end of a long, steep trail; however, we are tired and a bit desperate to stop for the night, so we do ($23 for no hookups). We discover soon that freight trains run along the campground, and will wake us during the night.

Castle Crags

July 8: I have a good hot campground  shower, but when Thane is taking his, I try to do the dishes at the dishwashing station, and that diverts hot water from the showers. Thane is not happy with the result! We spend the day driving through the heat but feel comfortable in our a/c rig. We spend the night at a Walmart—hopefully, for the last time—in Roseville. We need to be near the Dodge dealer who will do an oil change in the morning, and Roseville is very urban. No campgrounds here.

July 9: After spending a couple of hours at the very busy (but good) Dodge dealer’s, we head for home. Stopping to pick up some food in Sacramento, we park carefully and legally. A young man hauling a huge tree-trimming trailer tries to squeeze in next to us and smashes into our rear end. I am still inside our rig and am knocked over but unhurt. Screaming like a banshee, I run out to demand what the *%#%$ he thought he was doing. We wait around for his boss to appear with insurance information. The boss is very cooperative, and almost as annoyed with his employee as I am. On the way home we stop at a local RV repair shop to get an estimate for the repair, which turns out to be for minimal damage. Then, home at last! This final day was more exciting than we expected.