Oregon & California Road Trip (with Pictures) - June 17-15th, 2016

[lupinsea]

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California & Oregon Road Trip
June 17 - 25th, 2016






Route Map*

After an extended weekend on the Oregon coast with my whole family (wife, son, dog, me), my son and I split off and headed south along the Oregon coast to start a week-long road trip down into northern California. We were going to see the Redwoods, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Crater Lake.


Seattle, WA to Cannon Beach / Tillamook, OR (June 17th - 19th)
245 miles
28.7 mpg average

We had motor pooled down to the Oregon coast with two cars to stay between Cannon Beach and Tillamook, centering on a town called Rockaway, OR. My family used to have a beach cabin and beach property there but it's no longer in the family. Yet we still enjoy the area and after many many trips still find Rockaway to be a great fit for us and a good mid-point for ranging up and down the coast in this area.

Most of a day was spent hanging around Cannon Beach toward the north. It's a "cute" beach town that has been dressed up nicely. Nice beach access, too, with the big haystack rock off the coast. This is where they filmed parts of Goonies. Tillamook was also a town we visited that is south of Rockaway. After a lunch at the newly opened (expanded) Pelican Brew Pub there we stopped in at Blue Heron Cheese (south of the Tillamook cheese factory) for some smoked bree, wine, and other yummy stuff before loading up on even more cheeses at the Tillamook factory. One morning we spent a couple hours on some "rail cycles" that are using some abandoned railroad tracks between Bay City and Tillamook. Definitely a different perspective and an interesting excursion.

Beyond the sightseeing, we spent our extra time at the beach. Some in Cannon Beach, some at Manzanita. But most of it in Rockaway where there aren't the crowds at Cannon Beach, or the ferocious winds at Manzanita. Zoe's ashes (our former family dog) were scattered in the low-tide sands in front of our old Beach cabin one evening. She loved playing there when she was younger.

Digging in the sand at Cannon Beach. In my experience, Oregon
beaches have The Best Sand . . . In The World!




U.S. 101 as it comes around Neahkanie Mountain.



Campfire on the beach in Rockaway, OR.




The rail cycles in Bay City, OR as we pedal down to Tillamook.




These things were cool. Here is a bunch of them at the turn-around
point ready for us to pedal back to base.




Found a beach fort in Rockaway, OR.




Baxter enjoying Rockaway's beach as much as Zoe did.

Drive to Brookings, OR (June 20th)
310 miles
29.1 mpg average

After morning breakfast and packing up at the hotel where we stayed, our family split off. My wife returned with Baxter to home so she wouldn't miss a week of work. Nathan and I piled in the Juke packed with camping gear and headed south with the day's goal to reach Brookings, OR on the southern border.

Progress was slow as we stopped first in Pacific City, about an hour south of Rockaway, as my son wanted to climb the big sand hill there. Then look at the tide pools along the rocky beach. Finally we got going south again only to pause for lunch in Lincoln City. Next stop was a few view points south of Yachats, OR including Devil's Churn, an overlook of the Haceta Head Light House, and a stop at the Sea Lion Caves. The caves were fascinating but stinky with sea lions. After that it was getting late in the day and we pressed on to Brookings.

The idea for the road trip was that we'd camp each night instead of staying in hotels.

In Brookings our site of choice was out of town along the Chetco river were we drove down onto the Miller sandbar. It's technically a "dispersed campground" run by the Forest Service. $10 for the night, make camp where ever you can find a spot on the sand bar. While generally my preferred type of camping, it was looking a bit shady when we were filling out the camping fee envelope and some neighboring campers were loading up one of their drunk friends into a taxi to send him back home. Dude couldn't even stand up on his own and was barely conscious. Nice. Ok, so we were going to be at the opposite end of the sandbar and keep to ourselves.

Camp was set up right as it got dark. My son started the campfire as I got our tents, sleeping bags, and sleep pads in order. In the dark around the campfire we fixed up some s'mores and tried to get some sleep after that sugar high.

Devil's Churn, one of the many chasms cut into the Oregon coast line.




Heceta Head light house on the Oregon coast.




U.S. 101 is cut into the cliff face high above the Pacific ocean.

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[lupinsea]

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The sea lion caves.




The sea lion caves.




First night's campsite set up on the Miller Bar "campground"
along the Chetco river in Brookings, OR.

The Redwoods (June 21st - 22nd)
273 miles
25.5 mpg average

Tuesday we awoke to a gorgeous, gentle river at the edge of the sandbar and flanked by evergreen trees under brilliant sunny blue skies. We didn't get much of a look the night before as the sun was setting but it was a great sunny morning. And our neighbor campers were sober and friendly, too. The camp was packed up and we set out.

Brookings wasn't far from the Oregon / California border which was why we made the push to get here the day before. We stocked up on a few camping supplies in town (we were traveling light with no stove and cooking gear) and set off to see the Redwoods. I had been through the redwoods before and while it was amazing to see such huge trees I didn't want to over hype it for my son. Which was probably good because when we stopped to check out the Trees of Mystery (a bit hokey and touristy) he was blown away by the scale of the redwoods! This is one of the things I like about the redwood forests of northern California is how the size of the trees messes with your sense of scale. It's not uncommon for some to reach 300 ft tall (about half the height of the Space Needle) and 15-20 ft in diameter at the base.

And of course we drove through one of the trees just down the road. Had to.

Then along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway where we stopped in at the Elk Prairie Campground to set up the tent and drop our stuff. It was still early afternoon at this point and we wanted to get over the hill to check out Fern Canyon (yet still claim our tent sight). The road over to the coast followed a VERY tight and narrow twisty dirt road that dumped us out along the base of the Gold Bluff Beach area. Fern Canyon was a short but stunning hike into an amazing area. We lingered so Nathan could climb on some fallen trees at one end of the canyon like a jungle gym. Back at camp he made some friends and after a dinner of hot dogs over the campfire he went off to play with the other kids in the campground. While not necessarily my cup of tea as a campsite (surrounded so close by other campers in improved campsites) it was certainly much tamer than the previous night.

The morning of the 22nd we set off on a wonderful 3 mile morning high along Elk Creek to see The Big Tree. Yes. Among all the giant redwoods they specifically named a particular tree "The Big Tree". Although when we got there it was slightly underwhelming after walking through the surrounding forest of other comically large redwoods. Just a stunning walk, though. Probably the highlight of that morning walk was discovering a tree we thus named "Richard" for obvious reason. This was then "a thing" we both laughed at for the rest of the trip. . . even though one of us was supposed to be the adult.

After getting back to the car and packing up camp, annoyance struck.

Dead battery.

Ungh.

Popped the hood to hook up some jumper cables from a friendly fellow camper and sure enough, low water level in the cell. Not to mention we were still on the original factory battery which was over 5 years old at this point and normally they don't last much beyond 4 years. With some extra water in the cells and the engine running we drove to Eureka, CA to get a replacement battery. Whatever.

Lunch at the Samoa Cookhouse was delicious comfort food even if my son didn't eat much. Then a drive toward the Lost Coast via the grass covered hilly roads out of Ferndale. Ferndale was beautiful to pass through with it's victorian architecture. But we didn't stop. This was going to be a fair amount of driving until we looped back to U.S. 101 and the Avenue of Giants. The drive over to the coast on Mattole Rd was gorgeous and the coast and countryside very desolate. The roads were incredibly twisty but they may as well have not been paved given how rough and beat up they were. Toward the southern end of the coastal section the road cut back inland where it was another 2 hrs of driving through all the (slow) rough twisty roads and "towns" of Petroila and Honeydew. The last of the loop exited through the Rockefeller Redwood Grove which was so much cooler than the Avenue of Giants we decided to ditch the drive along the Avenue and head to our campsite.

Again, we pulled in late to the campsite at Van Duzen County Park and didn't have much time to explore once camp was set up. We grabbed the last of the campsites in the middle of the circular drive which actually turned out pretty cool as most sites were along the river so there was nobody around us. And the camp was in another redwood grove so we had the tall trees towering over us. Again, dinner of hot dogs and chips over the campfire.

Then my son wanted me to teach him how to play 21 blackjack.

Miller Bar campground the next morning. What we had missed the night before.




Pretty bend on the Chetco river out of Brookings, OR. Some of our
neighbors from the night before. The drunks were further
away at the far end of the sand bar.




One of the giant redwood trees of northern California.




Fern Canyon was a definite highlight of the trip.




It had such an etherial feel about it, almost otherworldly.




Ferns and mosses of many specie and variety covered the canyon walls.




Sometimes the sun would catch the fern fronds
just right and make them glow.




Leaving Fern Canyon we encountered this guy about 30 ft from our car.

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[lupinsea]

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We stayed at the Elk Prairie Campground this night.




Our morning hike through the redwoods on our way to see Big Tree.




Lots of cool things to see on the way.




We named this tree "Richard."




Passing through Ferndale, CA.




Driving over the grassy hills along the Mattole Rd toward the Lost Coast.




Almost at the coast.




Mattole Rd finally reaches the coast. This was the only
house for miles and miles around.




Crossing the wooden bridge out of Honeydew and heading back to U.S. 101.




Not "the redwoods" but close by, heading back to U.S. 101 from Honeydew.




Our evening's lodging at Van Duzen County Park off of Hwy 36.

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[lupinsea]

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Eastward (June 23rd)
245 miles
24.9 mpg average

We woke "early" enough the next day that Nathan had some time to splash in the swimming hole. And, as I looked at the map, the day was mostly going to be spent driving eastward with a stop at Lake Shasta. I mean, it shouldn't take us that long to drive over to the I-5 corridor, right? We were on Hwy 36 and on the map it looked like a decent cross-mount route.

Ha!

Not far beyond Van Duzen County Park Hwy 36 starts getting somewhat twisty to the point you're questioning Cal-Trans’ wisdom in having a 55 mph posted speed limit. And then it got steep. And then it got really twisty. Wow. Spectacular scenery heading over the mountains but wow. For a good chunk of the road it was nothing but 25 mph hair pins and a 1.5 lane road with no painted center line. Both directions of traffic just sort of mushed together and we'd each head toward the shoulder to pass oncoming traffic. Which was tricky with the big dump trucks and logging rigs coming at you.

On the other side of the pass we headed north on Hwy 3. Again, insanity as the speed limit was posted at 55 mph but we were having a difficult time reaching 40 mph. Very cool. Very awesome roads for a sports car.

But it made travel slow. And then we hit the road construction on Hwy 299 east of Redding. A 45 minute wait. Which, grrrrr annoying under normal circumstances but I was trying to get to Lake Shasta for the caves. I hadn't told my son about it, only saying it was a surprise. Fortunately, we got there in time to get a boat over to the caverns. This was the first time I'd been in a limestone cave system with its many galleries and all the fantastic stalactites, stalagmite, flowstone, and other geologic formations. Definitely worth the hustle and time to get there.

The afternoon was heading toward evening when we passed back through Redding and stopped at a sporting goods store to pick up a new tent. My beloved pop-up broke. Again. Damn. We picked up a cheapie 2-person that'd work well enough for the rest of the trip and pressed on. Dinner in Red Bluff and a drive further eastward on a MUCH straighter Hwy 36. Not far out of Lassen Volcanic Park we left the highway, and eventually left the pavement to head deep into a ravine to camp for the night at the "South Antelope Campground". This night was free and there was nobody around. In fact, the last people we saw for the next 12 hrs were the driver's we passed on Hwy 36. Perfect. The campground was down an access spur off the gravel road and perched on the bank of a creek. I pulled the Juke down there and it made me a little nervous. A spur I wouldn't think twice about in the Jeep was more treacherous looking while driving a road-based CUV. Again, late arrival and set up in the dark. Nathan got the campfire going while I set up camp, this was a nice routine we worked out on the road trip. We didn't stay up too late this night.

The view from above Lake Shasta before we enter the cave system.




One of the galleries in the Lake Shasta Caves.




The original explorers wrote their names and date with soot from
their head lamps. It has been here since November 11th, 1878.




Very cool limestone formations.




This gallery is 135 ft tall. The guide brought us in to
this room in darkness before turning on the lights.




Cruising quickly along Hwy 36 across the interior of northern California
with the redwoods far behind us on the coast.




20 miles south of Hwy 36 at Paynes Creek we
dropped into this ravine to our campsite.

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[lupinsea]

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Lassen Volcanic National Park (June 24th)
134 miles
25.4 mpg average

Morning at the campsite was slightly chilly in the shadows of the ravine. I got up early and let Nathan snooze while I wandered along South Antelope Creek for a short ways. Then it was time to try to get the Juke back on the main road. The spur out of camp took some careful negotiation, a little tire spin, some tipping onto three wheels (not much suspension articulation) but we otherwise didn't have trouble getting out of camp. No scraping the undercarriage. 10 more miles of rough gravel roads before a lonely thread of pavement took us another 10 miles back to Hwy 36.

Lassen was a cool adventure for the day. It's like a mini-Yellowstone with a lot of hydrothermal features. Unfortunately it's still early in the season and the best things to see, such as Bumpass Hell, were either still buried under snow or would have required a substantial backtrack we didn't have time for. Instead we saw the Sulfur Works, drove through the National Park and saw the sights, hiked around the beautiful Manzanita Lake, and then made our way over to the Cinder Cone for a hike to the top.

The drive in to the Cinder Cone trail head was down a long, bumpy, washboarded road. Holy cow. Nothing but washboard for its entire length. With the road-tuned suspension and low profile tires I had to keep the speed down to 10-15 mph which felt like it took forever. It was almost 5pm by the time we reached the trailhead at Butte Lake Campground. A late start considering it was about 2 1/2+ miles to the top and back. Well, we set off anyways with the goal of reaching the bottom of the cinder cone crater.

The hike TO the cinder cone was easy. The hike up it was tough. We wore the wrong "shoes" (Teva sandals) and every few steps had to shake rocks out from under our fee. The going was somewhat painful. And tough as every step up slid back about half a step. It took 32 minutes of solid trudging to reach the top, but once we did, wow! We crested the cinder cone a little after 6pm and decided to drop into the crater at the top . . . just to say we did it. Well, we did it, then had to hike back up, and then descend from the cinder cone and retrace our steps to the car, and back to pavement.

At this point we'd been camping for about four nights, covered in dirt, and had a long drive ahead of us the next day to reach Crater Lake and Bend, OR. Through spotty cell reception we got in touch with my wife who found us some yurts at a nearby RV resort. Pricey, but it seemed a good move to be able to head out early the next day. Plus SHOWERS! Hopefully!

But it was not to be. We showed up 1/2 hour after the office closed and despite the dude sitting behind the desk inside, he didn't want to take our money for the yurt. Fair enough. So we headed up the road to Hat Creek Campground, a somewhat sad Forest Service improved site. Not bad. Certainly significantly cheaper at about 1/5th the cost of the yurts. We were around other people again. Another dinner of hot dogs but this time with crackers (gotta mix it up). The skies were more open here than in the ravine and I woke Nathan up around 11pm to look at all the stars in the sky. It was amazing what you can see without light pollution when there are no nearby cities.

Our "dispersed campsite" along the South Antelope Creek.




Exploring our campsite the next morning.




South Antelope Creek right below our tent site.




Fording one of the other creeks in the area on the
way back to Hwy 36 after packing up camp.




One of the bubbling mudpots at the Sulfur Works in Lassen Volcanic National Park.




Nathan checking out a fallen tree at Manzanita Lake in the Lassen Volcanic National Park.




Lassen Peak overlooking Manzanita Lake. The trout were
jumping but nobody was catching that day.




The big cinder cone at Lassen.




Hiking up was more challenging than one might
figure looking at it from the bottom.




We made it! Panoramic view of the cinder cone's crater
and Lassen Peak off in the distance.




Heading toward Hat Creek Campground we passed through
some gorgeous countryside late in the evening.

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[lupinsea]

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Crater Lake and Bend, OR (June 25th - 26th)
800 miles
27.5 mpg average

The drive to Crater Lake was fairly straight forward along Hwy 89 back to I-5, then up to Weed, CA and off on Hwy 97 into Oregon before we split off of that to head to Crater Lake. Things looked bad when we got through as there was a 30 minute line getting into the National Park. I was worried there would be bumper to bumper traffic all the way up to the lake. But it was only a back up getting through the gate house. Still, parking was tight at the top. We stopped at the Crater Lake lodge and did a short hike along the rim before returning to the lodge to lounge on their rocking chairs for a little while. Pictures don’t do the lake justice.

Coming off of Crater Lake we got in touch with my wife again who found us lodging at a Motel 6 in Redmond, OR, a short distance north of Bend. We checked in about 5:30pm and finally had our showers. It is awesome to be clean. I can handle roughing it for a few days in the woods but a week was a bit long. After getting cleaned up we put on our cleanest clothes and drove back down to Bend for dinner and then some wandering around time at their downtown Drake Park. Downtown Bend is wonderful. There is a nice downtown core abutting a beautiful riverfront park stretching along the Deschutes River. Nathan had a good time climbing on everything from the rock cliffs over the boardwalk to the back of the band stand, to the willow trees and then running along the waterfront and chucking stones and handfuls of gravel into the water.

The following day was Sunday and our last day on the road trip. We spent the morning south of Bend in the lava tubes. These lava tubes were quite mild compared to the Ape Cave tube we explored a few years ago. This tube was about a mile long and the floor was very smooth once you got past the first 800 ft. There were a surprising number of people and we never went more than 10 minutes without encountering another group.

After the caves we pressed on homeward to Seattle. It was a long drive but Nathan was determined to get home to see Mom so we didn’t stop for lunch and got our sustenance in the form of gas station mini-mart snacks. We were making good time until we hit Ellensburg, WA. There I-90 got severely choked up. We detoured up Hwy 97 some more to Leavenworth and back on Hwy 2 after a dinner of Brats and pretzels in town. But no dice. Hwy 2 was just as badly choked up coming into Monroe. What should have been about a 2 hr drive from Ellensburg ended up being close to 5 ½ - 6 hrs (including dinner). When we pulled into our driveway the clock was just reaching 11pm and we had been on the road for almost 12 hrs since leaving the lava tubes.

The majestic Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. The lake is always stunning.




Panoramic sweep over the edge of the crater at Crater Lake.




Coming out of the lava tube at Bend, OR.

* Yes, yes, it's not the exact route on the return north. Google stopped letting me custom adjust the route after a certain number of point.







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[Josh (PA)]

Page 1 of 6 rocks. Looking forward to the other 5 pages.

[ZBB]

Cool.

We're doing northbound on the 101 through northern CA and the OR coast later this month. We'll be staying a night in Eureka, a night in Yachats, and then 4 nights in Cannon Beach.

Already texted my wife about the rail cycle thing -- that looks pretty cool. How long is the ride (time wise)? Just trying to see if we fit it in on the way up, or if we head back to down to Tillamook/Bay City while we're staying in Cannon Beach...

[kognito]

Wow, what a difference in Shasta Lake! I wish I had taken a picture of how low it was when we went by it in December.

[kognito]

Been to a lot of those places, must have been a great trip with Nathan!

Is this the tree you drove through?