Em N Ru: Oregon Coast Camping

Way back in February I booked a yurt for camping this summer at Carl G. Washburne State Park just north of Florence. Its a beautiful location, with an excellent campground and phenomenal hiking.
Not wanting us to be lonely, Mom and Jeff were planning on meeting us there, and staying in their ultra cool camper nearby.

We made it out of our apartment right on schedule and arrived in Florence about 1pm. Ru was peckish so we scoped out a restaurant. the A&W beckoned and so we hurried into the lunch crowd. Upon entering the lot we discovered much to our delight that we would be dining with Mom and Jeff who were standing ahead of us in line scouring the menu for the best burger option. (I have been reading a lot lately, excuse the vocabulary) So we dined on burgers and root beer and proceeded north.

After a brief delay in road construction we passed the Heceta Head Lighthouse, the Hobbit Trail, and entered Carl G. Washburne Campground. Sadly I had not gotten the code for the lockbox on the yurt and seeing nobody about we rambled to the beach to pass the time till evening. Although the weather was cloudy, it was warm and the air was still. As we lay on the pebble strewn beach the clouds thinned and we slowly took off our layers of Oregon beach clothing until we had the maximum amount of skin allowed exposed to the sun's radiance.

We played rock jenga, and while Ruben dug holes and buried himself the adults napped in the sun or read. After a while I made a call on Mom's phone and got the code for the yurt, but it was still a few hours before we ambled back to camp.

Ruben got a fire going for us and we had a fine meal of Italian sausages and smores. (with melted Rolo candies)

There were many mushrooms on the trail to the beach.

Trail to the beach from the campground, about half a mile

Rock Jenga

The bird eating a dead bird.

After supper we sat around a while till we noticed the sun was going down fast. We all got in the car to save time and drove across the street to the beach. We got there just in time to watch the sun turn the sky to fire. As soon as the show was over Ru and I settled into the cozy yurt and slept hard.

Yurt D1 Our home for two nights. Heat and electricity!

Ruben is starting to love photography and took most of these wonderful pictures.

We woke and did our usual breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs with stuff in them. Then we packed for a hike I call "epic" but others call scenic. Ruben and I intended to take the trail from the campground to Heceta Head Lighthouse, then come back down the trail to the Hobbit Trail and take that to the beach, then walk the beach back to the campground. Mom and Jeff decided to do the same hike but skip the steep part to the lighthouse.

the breakfast nook

The comfy bed

The dishwasher

Blue skies

A sign on the trail

We embarked in good spirits and were enjoying the path, the day, and the company, until we were met on the trail by a ranger who told us that the trail was closed a half mile further and that we would be unable to continue. We were told we would have to turn around and go back because the bridge was out.

Being hearty adventurers, we were only slightly daunted and continued on only to find some caution tape, crawl under a board or two, and be merrily on our way.

The hike Ru and I took was strenuous, climbing the headlands (and a tree or two, because that's the kid's idea of fun).

We were tired when we reached the lighthouse and we dropped to the ground beside the lighthouse removing our burdens of backpacks and sweatshirts and lay on the grass feeling the breeze. We ate lunch laying on the grass near the lighthouse, spoiling the tourists pictures. Eventually we decided to leave before we had lost all our momentum and once again climbed the headland to drop down the other side and make it to the beach.

We hiked all the red lines on this map while we were here. Probably 7 or 8 miles

We were debating whether to walk the pleasant path or the beach back, but the beach won our hearts yesterday and we thought braving the breeze would be worth it to walk on the flat sand instead of going over one more hill. We were wrong.

It was a sunny day on the Oregon Coast and a very strong wind blew from the North. As we walked into the wind it was like we were climbing every step. the wind blew the sand into our legs and scoured our skin, our hats blew off our heads and had us running to pick them up, and the wind roared in our ears until we could barely hear. We walked for well over a mile until we came to the campground trail.

We saw two witches on this walk. Yes you read that right. One while we were in the dark forest climbing the headland, and another on the beach. The one on the beach was actually wearing a witch hat which seemed improbable considering the wind.

When we arrived back at camp we checked in with Mom and Jeff. They had made it back only minutes before us. They joked about the wind on the beach, struggling with it as much as we did but with better humor. Then we all took a nap. A long one.

A game of yahtzee, a dinner of pork chops and potatoes, an uneventful but beautiful sunset, and our bodies fell into bed.

Mom and Jeff left early Thursday morning, but Ru and I hoped to get one last hike in before we left. We packed up all our stuff, left it in the car and started walking. We had never taken the China Creek Loop trail. It was beautiful. So beautiful we walked it twice. Actually we walked it twice because my phone fell out of my pocket and we had to go find it. Fortunately bigfoot didn't take it, it was sitting on the ground beside a stream where we had stopped to rest.