September 20, Day 33
We drove to Gold Beach and have booked a day long jet boat ride up the Rogue River tomorrow. The short trip here was a mix of vistas. Some of the time we were deep into the wooded mountains and other times right on the coast which is rugged with the mountains extending right to the ocean. Before leaving the area of last night’s stay, we toured a fishing village named Charleston, just outside Coos Bay. They had a lot of sea food for sale in area stores or off he boats. One store cans its own product. They had smoked oysters and I thought of Dad, he loved them. The prices in the stores did not seem to be much of a bargain. They were, however, selling albatross (sp?) tuna off the boat (whole) for $2.00 a pound. A typical fish was 20 pounds. The guy we talked to indicated that he generally yields about 50% after cleaning. He must have had 100 pounds of steaks that he was going to be cooking for some group. He was throwing the scraps in the bay and the gulls and sea lions which were right there consuming every scrap as they hit the water. Tonight we are in a commercial RV park so we can be close to town for the 7:30 a.m. call for the boat ride.
September 21, Day 34
We took a day long jet boat ride up the Rogue River at Gold Beach, OR. The Rogue River is federally declared ‘Wild River’. With such designation, there can be no effort to control the flow of the designated portion of the river or development within a prescribed distance from the river. A portion of the river is open to recreation (ie: fishing & camping), however another portion is controlled and restricts the number who can access it each day. Half of that number goes to individuals on a permit basis and the other half is reserved for commercial firms such as the one that provided our jet boat ride. Individuals make application a year in advance to get a permit to kayak or raft down the controled portion of the river. The eight hour excursion took us 54 miles up the river to a point where the power boat could go no further because of the rocks. On the way, the boat took us through deep cut mountain valleys and rapids; the largest having a ‘class three’ designation. Kayakers start their journey 35 miles further upstream from the point where we stopped. They typically take 3-5 days to travel the controlled portion of the river. During our trip, we saw osprey, American eagle, and a lot of waterfowl. After the boat ride, we moved to the Quosatana campground which is in the Siskiyou National Forrest. It is a relatively new facility right on Rogue River about 15 miles from the mouth of the river. After setting up camp, we watched a doe with two fawns meandering through the campground.
September 22-23, Day 35-36
What a beautiful day at a fantastic campground. The day is cool, but sunny. A perfect start to autumn. The campground is less than a third occupied. We took an early morning walk on the gravel bank next to the river. We watched the same jet boats cruise by that we had traveled on the day before. They did not look as cold as we did thanks to the sun. Cutie waded in the water and got wet enough to get that ’wet dog’ smell. After breakfast, we picked blackberries getting enough to make a blackberry Brown Betty. It turned out great! Maybe it is something like having hot dogs at the ball park, the setting helps a lot. Mid-day a group of wild turkeys sauntered through the campground. (What is a group of turkeys called beside politicians?) At dinner time, a doe with three fauns came to beg. We gave them some apple. We decided to stay another day. When we leave here, we are going to link up with another camper in northern California, just about 50 miles down the road. We were advised to enter California with a full tank of gas as fuel there is about fifty cents a gallon higher.
September 24, Day 37
We left camp early and linked up with Nita in Smith River, CA. We made certain that we filled up in Oregon as the prices in California .40 per gallon higher. We continued on 101 which took us through the Redwood National Park. What a national treasure! We stopped for lunch at a pull-off and took a short walk to view a redwood tree that is 25feet in diameter at its base and estimated to be 1500 years old. Along the route, we say elk, but the pull-off opportunities were limited, so we could not get any pictures. We are spending the night in a county park near Eureka overlooking Humboldt Bay. It is a little tawdry as the scenery is a mix of industrial and natural. The place need some cleaning and maintenance. They could learn something from the folk in Oregon!
September 25, Day 38
Today was a difficult driving day, but much worth the effort. We took the scenic route from Eureka to Lucerne to visit with my sister Barbara. The route took us through old growth Redwood forests. The scenic segment off Rte 101 was along a 32 miles road called ‘Avenue of the Giants’. The road was winding with many steep hills and few flat valleys and took us through the Humboldt Redwood State Park. Most Impressive. The second beautiful secondary road we took was CA Route 1 The first portion was again through old growth Redwood and Douglas Fir forest. This road was even more mountainous with tighter turns. On the two roads we probably averaged less than 15 miles per hour having to take some of the turns at a crawl Easily this has been the most difficult roads we have traversed the entire trip. The portion of Rte 1 along the ocean was easier, but still beautiful. Our last difficult road segment was CA Rte. 20 from Fort Bragg back to Rte 10l. This was another mountain road through rugged country. In all we, we drove only 225 miles, but it took us 9 hours with a minimal of time lost due to stops.
We arrived at Barbara’s about 4:00. I am very impressed with what she has done to the place since I saw it back in 2004 (not certain of the year). I told her that she has a ‘compound’ with the two houses and separate office/studio. The thee of us are parked in her various driveways and she has given us access to the guest house facilities. This is more than a few steps above where we stayed last night. We did Tai carry-out for dinner. This was my first exposure to Tai food and I really liked it. As we were eating on the deck, we were watching a helicopter make trips back and forth from the lake picking up water to extinguish a brush fire in the hills behind Barb’s place.
Carole (Comment this)