<\/a>Fuck yeah! I’m living the camping life now! I’m on a gravel bar on the\u00a0Chetco River<\/strong>, 13 miles upriver from Brookings. Turn left after the bridge over the Chetco. Cruise a few miles\u00a0up the river, past the placid little Alfred Loeb State Park<\/strong> ($26\/night), past the dismayingly huge\u00a0gravel mine, which thankfully stops at the National Forest boundary. By now we’ve climbed pretty high, driving long the edge of a heavily forested bluff 400(?)’ above the river. A narrow, blacktopped road labeled “Miller Bar Boat Access” veers off at a pretty sharp angle towards the river. Since my destination\u00a0is\u00a0Miller Bar Dispersed Campground<\/strong>, that must be my turn. I angle straight down the slope\u00a0in the\u00a0upriver direction for 1\/2\u00a0mile, then one big switchback, so we\u00a0hit the large gravel bed that is Miller Bar pointing downriver, towards\u00a0Brookings and the Pacific. It’s mighty bumpy driving down here on the gravel bed, so I don’t explore too far, I pull off at the far end of the first open space, aim my door-view straight at the river, get out my lawn chair, and commence some high quality hanging out.<\/p>\n WHUFU page for: Miller Bar<\/a><\/b><\/p> \n 13 miles up the Chetco River from Brookings, then 1\/2 miles straight down a steep bluff to the long, wide stony gravel bed which is Miller Bar. The Chetco in front of my site is about 10 inches deep at it's deepest, but about 40' wide. The rocks are covered in bright green algae, but it's not too cold so I had a pleasant horizontal soak.\r<\/p>\n Just drive along the gravel, park wherever you want, and you're home free,\r<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p> <\/p>tonight<\/b>: \n 13 miles up the Chetco River from Brookings, then 1\/2 miles straight down a steep bluff to the long, wide stony gravel bed which is Miller Bar. The Chetco in front of my site is about 10 inches deep at it's deepest, but about 40' wide. The rocks are covered in bright green algae, but it's not too cold so I had a pleasant horizontal soak.\r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n Just drive along the gravel, park wherever you want, and you're home free. \r<\/p>\n The driving is VERY rough for a city vehicle.\r<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n I discovered on my little “swim” that the sound I hear is a small stream gurgling into the river right across from me, so in addition to all the other beauties of the place I have the restful sound of falling water piped into my luxury site!<\/p>\n [January 2016]\u00a0If you read the posts of the next couple of months – October-November – you will notice I seem to be thinking about pooping more than is quite normal – picking a site near the toilet etc. It turns out I got <\/em>giardia<\/strong>, and my favorite culprit for where I got it is the strangely bright green Chetco River. So, be forewarned! <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Also, new rule: the the water your’e gonna swim in has newts, maybe think again!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I am sharing Miller Bar with some retirees, some Humboldt drug lords (or so I choose to believe), and a very energetic legion\u00a0of participants\u00a0in\u00a0the Northwest Youth Corps. The first thing I heard\u00a0when I got down here was many lusty teenage voices in group cheering. Still dunno what it’s about, but they’re still doing it off and on, and whatever it is, I’ve so far actually only seen\u00a0one of them. I see tents and trucks, but what ever rituals of group bonding they are loudly doing, they are doing it in the woods, not out here on the gravel.<\/p>\n Driving out noon-ish, as the road goes up I can look down into the group camping area, and there’s still a bunch of them at some picnic tables. They are amazingly quiet and unobtrusive for a bunch of teenagers.<\/p>\n Another customer had the great intelligence that the Fred Meyer<\/strong> had a stack of Sunday SF Chronicles! \u00a0I so was pleased to hear\u00a0it\u00a0that I went straight there and got one! … and discovered that Fred Meyer is open to everyone, not a Costco-style members\u00a0only store as I had thought. A productive little trip.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Brookings restaurants I’ve been to have failed to impress, so I plan to drive to\u00a0the next town up, Gold Beach<\/strong>, at the mouth of the mighty Rogue River<\/strong>. Yelp shows\u00a0a couple of promising breakfast spots. But on closer reading, many are closed on Sunday, and the best of the rest had\u00a0closed at 2PM, 20 minutes before I got there. They recommend the Port\u00a0Hole<\/strong>, a harborside dive that was just about the way you picture it. And yes it is the “Port Hole”, not the “Porthole” – there must be a good story about that. They did have passable fish&chips and a view of the harbor, so I ate and read my Sunday paper and felt pretty good about life.<\/p>\n Onward and northward. Humbug Mountain<\/strong> – the campground looked quite inviting, as indeed it was when I stayed last time. Next\u00a0Port Orford<\/strong>, a kind of useless little town, all my experiences there have been distinctly average. Past the turnoff to Cape Blanco<\/strong>\u00a0($26) on the left and Edson CG<\/strong>\u00a0($5) inland on the right. I trying\u00a0a new experience tonight, priced in the middle at $15 for a tent site, Boice-Cope County Park<\/strong>.<\/p>\n WHUFU page for: Boice Floras Lake Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p> \n Real name is Boice Cope Campground, but that hides its coolest feature, that it's on a sweet little freshwater lake!\r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n Site T-2 also looks awesome. Turns out you can park on the grass. This place is crazy popular with kiteboarders and windsurfers, of which there are many in Oregon. Floras Lake is a pretty little jewel of a freshwater lake separated from the Pacific by just one little sand dune. Crowded though the place is, I am angled away from it all pointing at the lake so I can pretend I'm all by myself.<\/p>\n<\/p> <\/p>tonight<\/b>: \n Real name is Boice Cope Campground, but that hides its coolest feature, that it's on a sweet little freshwater lake!\r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n Site T-2 also looks awesome. Turns out you can park on the grass. This place is crazy popular with kiteboarders and windsurfers, of which there are many in Oregon. Floras Lake is a pretty little jewel of a freshwater lake separated from the Pacific by just one little sand dune. Crowded though the place is, I am angled away from it all pointing at the lake so I can pretend I'm all by myself.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n Really excellent little find.\u00a0It’s your basic oval layout. To localize the expense of laying out RV infrastructure, the fancy, expensive hookup sites are inside the oval, and the low tech, no tech tent sites (me) are around the outside of\u00a0the oval. Perfectly sensible, but\u00a0it means the\u00a0RVers\u00a0are paying top dollar to look at each other and some worn out grass, while we tenters get the tree-shaded private spots looking directly out over the lake.<\/p>\n For whatever reason (the lake not muffling the sound?), from my campsite I can hear the sound\u00a0of the surf very clearly, like I was standing on the beach\u00a0looking at it. But I’m not, I’m 1\/2 mile away looking at placid little Floras Lake<\/strong>, with the sunset reflecting off it’s calm\u00a0waters, while the sound of the Pacific surf is playing in the background. pretty cool.<\/p>\n Beautiful day here, the fog has burned off. I now see why this is a popular windsurfing place, because it’s quite windy! There’s a number of\u00a0tall, serious, Nordic looking white people seriously going about their high tech recreation. Looks like fun … for the alpha person, dominant paradigm set.<\/p>\n Very easy day today, cruise past Bandon<\/strong> to Coos Bay<\/strong>, hang out at the Toyota dealer\/restaurant – Smiling Dog Cafe<\/strong>\u00a0– for quite a while, then make it to Winchester Bay<\/strong> for the evening.<\/p>\n WHUFU page for: Windy Cove Campground<\/a><\/b><\/p> \n There are two separate campgrounds, Windy Cove A and B. A is the closer to civilization. B has two loops, one of those loops is no-hookups, my loop!\r<\/p>\n Very nice showers, well-mowed, easy walk to the marina, and such stores and restaurants as there are in Winchester Bay. I covered the town from one end to the other then ended up at the local bar for two beers.\r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n Checkout time is 11AM, which just isn't right! I have dawdled till nearly noon and no one has hassled me.<\/p>\n<\/p> <\/p>tonight<\/b>: \n Staying in B this time. Section A looked very full, as indeed did the hookup section of B. The "tent camping" section however was deserted, so I've got a sweet little quiet corner all to myself, with densely packed hillbilly ghettoes on either side of me. The excellent shower fit my needs perfectly, three days since Martha's, and three more days till Edgefield; so my minimal hygiene needs are met!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div> I take two longish walks. For sunset I take a left,\u00a0away from town around the bend of the point. I didn’t go\u00a0as far as I’d planned because of the damned OHVs. The good news is that the shoulder is very wide. The bad news is that it is so wide\u00a0to accommodate the OHVs that go roaring past all too frequently. Those stinky, noisy, dust-raising contraptions could not be more annoying to my sensibility. But there is a cute little park with a cute little pier at the point of the headland, which was a nice place to hang. Looking at a map\u00a0later I realize that\u00a0I am looking across the mouth of the mighty Umpqua River<\/strong>. I thought Reedsport was the port, but I guess both towns are. Lots of serious crab trapping\u00a0going on at the pier. Back to the van on the pink glow of sunset, then head out the other direction to find the little bar I went to last time – Double D On the Rocks<\/strong>, ha ha. It’s a longer walk than I remembered, but the place is\u00a0just as goofy as it was last time. I order fish & chips, my goto travel meal when I’m around water. It was not great, chips were waaay too salty. But it got me fed and I enjoyed the ambiance –\u00a0the woman who could not stop laughing insanely and loudly, the gloomy muttering old fisherman and his strange-eyed buddy. Finally, as the evening\u00a0rolled to a close, the only survivors were me and the cackling lady discussing the meaning of life with the muttering fisherman. Last Call indeed.<\/p>\n OOPS! \u00a0Checkout time 11:00, and I am waking up at\u00a011:39! I spring up and hop into\u00a0a speeded-up version of my morning preparations. I am ready to roll\u00a0by noonish, … but\u00a0nobody seemed to give a hoot either way. Really, 11am is a pretty f–ing early checkout time.<\/p>\n Drive-thru on\u00a0Reedsport<\/strong>, a big-ish town at the mouth of the mighty Umpqua River<\/strong> where I’ve eaten a few times. Things have never worked well for me here, so I’m glad to be passing through without needing to stop. Florence is only 25\u00a0minutes\u00a0away and and things always work much better\u00a0for me there!<\/p>\n North of the Umpqua\u00a0starts the sand dune portion of the Oregon Coast\u00a0… also the National Forest portion – a strategic fact for my overnight planning. Much of the day will be spent on Suislaw National Forest<\/strong> land. Before Florence<\/strong> I drive past\u00a0Eel Creek<\/strong> and Waxmyrtle<\/strong>, a couple of my fave\u00a0campgrounds from other trips. \u00a0Coffee and wifi at Suislaw Roasters<\/strong>, under the lee of the beautiful Florence Bridge<\/strong>. Thence\u00a0to Safeway<\/strong>\u00a0to restock.<\/p>\n Drive past more great campgrounds – Rock Creek<\/strong> and Perpetua<\/strong> (“FULL”!), through\u00a0Yachats<\/strong> to my hoped for destination Tillicum<\/strong>. It also is FULL, so I plod onward 3-4 miles to happy success at the pricier Beachside State Park<\/strong>.<\/p>\n WHUFU page for: Beachside<\/a><\/b><\/p> \n For me, this functions as a high end Tillicum overflow lot. Tillicum was full at 2:30 on a Tuesday, so for a $9 upgrade I get showers and that state park experience. Site 13 is at a busy corner. The trash and recycling are 30' away. It's nicely shielded, but still... \r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n My overall experience here was great!<\/p>\n<\/p> <\/p>tonight<\/b>: \n For me, this functions as a high end Tillicum overflow lot. Tillicum was full at 2:30 on a Tuesday, so for a $9 upgrade I get showers and that state park experience. Site 13 is at a busy corner. The trash and recycling are 30' away. It's nicely shielded, but still... \r<\/p>\n \r<\/p>\n My overall experience here was great!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div> I’m having a good party here. Arrive 2:30, eat a bagel, read the paper, reorganize my brochures (the endless job …), mosey down to the beach for a while, come back, eat, drink, nap, mosey back down to the beach for sunset, back to read and shower – pretty darned nice!<\/p>\n Foggy and quiet this morning. Checkout time is 1pm. Since I’ll be sleeping in a parking lot tonight, I will spend\u00a0all the time I can in this restful place. I dawdled for\u00a0most of it, but towards the end I cleaned out the passenger door pocket where I toss all random pieces of paper, mostly store and restaurant receipts. They have “everything” recycling here, a giant blue container for all paper\/plastic\/glass\/metal. Since that giant blue bin\u00a0was so close I was\u00a0inspired to do this cleanup, since I could recycle all those little scraps of paper (such is the way my mind works).<\/p>\n A very short drive to Waldport<\/strong>, where Yelp had identified a coffee+wifi place, One Street Down<\/strong>. \u00a0I liked it very much. but further Yelping showed that the breakfast place I enjoyed so much last time in south Newport closes at 3pm, and it’s 2:05 right now. So in the service of making it to a quality meal\u00a0I didn’t linger.<\/p>\n Another short drive to the south side of Newport Harbor<\/strong>, called South Beach<\/strong>, to Fishtails Restaurant<\/strong>. They made me a Hangtown Fry last time, but my rather\u00a0dim waiter wasn’t up to that, so I just had the straight up Yaquina Bay oyster breakfast, and am glad I did! I now wish I took a food pic of it, because it was magnificent! Oysters, eggs, perfect red potatoes, and a biscuit with a huge bowl of homemade jam for it. The meal would have been perfectly filling, but I had to clean up that biscuit and jam, and that finished me off.<\/p>\n I crossed the huge bridge and did a little driving tour of Newport<\/strong> proper, on the north side of the harbor. It’s got a real nice little tourist trappy waterfront drag that I had no idea existed. It has a Deco District that I couldn’t quite navigate to, but which I would like to see. I like Newport. It, Florence and Brrokings are on my internal list of places I could move to – along with Flagstaff, Prescott AZ, Missoula, and any number of other western college towns.<\/p>\n The late afternoon beaches looked beautiful as I was driving past, and I decided I should use the rest of my daylight to enjoy one before I settle in to the casino parking lot. One of my saved brochures (Bird Watching near Lincoln City<\/em>) FINALLY comes in handy, it points me to a beach access at the southern end of Lincoln City<\/strong>, that allows me to walk out to where the outflow of Stilitz Bay<\/strong> meets the Pacific. Cool spot, just what I was hoping for! I even saw a seal bobbing about in the choppy waters of the bay. He was really close the first time he popped his head up, then farther away later.<\/p>\n WHUFU page for: Chinook Winds Casino<\/a><\/b><\/p> \n a little blessing for us budget RVers, a casino right on the ocean with a parking lot dedicated to (free) RV parking. The lot is not close to level, which is annoying, but everything else is very user friendly. Can walk to the beach, or any kind of amenity you might want.<\/p>\n<\/p> <\/p>tonight<\/b>: \n pretty sweet on an August Wednesday night. Just shows that you never can tell!\r<\/p>\n My usual corner is quite full, but closer to the casino, on the edge of the little bluff that defines the RV area there are a lot of spaces, and I find one that is quiet and relatively dark and relatively level. woo!\r<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div> I like my parking\u00a0spot a lot, best I’ve had here. I have a panoramic view of the casino and it’s bright lights, I can watch people walk in an out. In the morning there’s the even bigger panorama of the mighty Pacific behind it. Only downside turned out to be that it’s right next to the doggie poop bag dispenser, so in the morning I had a few visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fuck yeah! I’m living the camping life now! I’m on a gravel bar on the\u00a0Chetco River, 13 miles upriver from Brookings. Turn left after the bridge over the Chetco. Cruise a few miles\u00a0up the river, past the placid little Alfred … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-august-2015-eureka-and-oregon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whufu.com\/wpwhu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sunday<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Monday<\/a><\/h3>
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<\/a>Tuesday<\/a><\/h3>\n
<\/a>Wednesday<\/a><\/h3>
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