No Cal and Oregon Coast Aug 07

LiveRust

Observer
I'm new to the site here but have really enjoyed reading the reports so far.

Last week I returned with my family from a nice trip and thought I'd post it up. Had such a great time maybe my report will give others some motivation to see this area.

Driving my 97 Lexus LX450 and pulling my old tent trailer we left Salt Lake Saturday morning and headed West.
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We had a blow out on the tent trailer before we got out of town. Luckily I had two spares. I used to make deliveries to some of the mines in Nevada so I was just interested in just getting across Nevada as quick as possible. We stayed on I80 all the way to Reno and then turned up 395 toward Susanville California. Scenery started to improve right away as we gained elavation and started to get into some trees. Stayed the night in a hotel in Susanville. We were lucky to find a dirt track race going on at the fairgrounds near the hotel. I'd never seen one of those and it was pretty cool.
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We found Susanville to be a beautiful small town surrounded by pine covered hills. Nice to see so many healthy forests, both in Susanville and throughout the trip up the coast. Utah has a growing problem with beetle infestation and so a large consentration of our pines are dead or dying. From Susanville we headed to Redding and took 299 to the coast on a road called the Trinity Highway which follows the Trinity river. I don't do a lot of fly fishing but this river made me wish I had brought my gear. Saw several fisherman and rafters which for some reason I found very relaxing as we drove this stretch. The road has lots of winding and elevation changes and made me wish I was on my old Transalp motorcycle instead of the heavy lexus pulling the trailer. I had read a book on the Trinity Highway and evidently it was a difficult road to make with the hard rock blasting required. We had filled up gas in Susanville and with the poor gas mileage from pulling the trailer we were running low on fuel. I figured we would be traveling through lots of towns on our trip and so I didn't bother to load an spare gas can. I wish I had. So many of the little towns we passed through either didn't have gas stations or they were closed for Sunday. We finally found gas and a roadside camp ground to pull into for the night. This was the first trip we made with this tent trailer and we got better at setting it up over the course of the week. We got it down to where in 15 minutes we could get it totally up and ready for the night. The evenings were cold enough that we lit the heater and used it most nights. Nice change from the low of 75 degrees we'd been having in Salt Lake.
We took 101 North once we hit the coast and pulled into the first beach access area we found. I was impressed they let us drive out onto the beach. First beach photos! Living in Utah we don't get the opportunity to swim with waves very often so we had to get in. This is the farthest North I've ever been on the coast and the water was very cold!
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We drove up through the giant Redwoods and got out and walked around in them for awhile. I guess Star Wars episode 5 was filmed somewhere around there with the speeders in the trees.
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We camped at Cape Blanco State Park. They say Cape Blanco is the fartest west you can get in the country without crossing Canada or the Pacific. Nice facilities, the warm shower was great. The next morning we toured the lighthouse and did a little more swimming at the beach. We saw a few whales and were back on the road.
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The next camp spot was near Tahkenitch Lake. It wasn't as nice a camp spot as Camp Blanco but it was getting late and we'd passed several campgrounds that were full. We left the trailer at this site the following day and made the drive up highway 38 to Crater Lake. I was very impressed with the countryside we traveled through going up 38. If I were moving to the Pacific NorthWest this is where I'd head. Very cosy and scenic and nice people along the way. It was a long drive to Crater Lake. It was impressive to see but maybe a little too far out of the way on this trip. I hate to cover my own tracks so heading back we took highway 126. It wasn't nearly as nice as 38.
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The next morning we packed up the trailer and continued on up the coast. We stopped to see the sea lions in the little roadside cave attraction. The coast of Oregon is much more dramatic with the large rocks and steep cliffs than the coast I've visited in So Cal. Can't take a bad picture. We ended up staying at Cape Lookout State Park. Campsite right next to the beach. More swimming that night and more warm showers. Mesquitos were very bad at this park. There was a lot of stagnant water just behind the park which probably facilitated the pesky mesquitos.
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A great night sitting on the beach watching the sunset.
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Next morning we left the coast behind and headed through Tillamook and highway 6 to Portland. We didn't bother stopping in Portland but headed up the Columbia River Gorge. We stopped to tour a dam and checked out the falls
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We ended up in Pendleton Oregon and a blowout in the lexus. If your ever in the area and think about checking out the Pendleton outlet store, don't bother. They are selling the stuff at their suggested retail prices. No bargains. I'm not dropping $100 for a shirt.

Last day, my family were getting tired of driving and so be didn't take any side roads, stayed on the main road through Idaho with a stop to see the falls at Idaho Falls
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and grabbed dinner then back on the rode. One more blowout on the trailer as we entered Utah and were back home by 9:30.

Nice Trip. If I did it again I'd cut out the trip to crater lake and spend the extra day at the beach relaxing. I'd also make reservations for campgrounds in advance. Many of them were full. I didn't really see too many opportunities for camping outside of campgrounds. I'm sure they are there if you know where to go look. I just saw lots of private land in between state parks.

Troy
 
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paulj

Expedition Leader
Along the Oregon coast, most of the land, other than state parks is private. However, large chunks of the the coastal mountains are national forest (or even BLM). Established forest campgrounds are generally more primitive than the state parks, and not quite as busy. There are also informal ('dispersed') camping options in the forests, though finding them is a bit hit-and-miss.

138 to Crater Lake has a number of forest service campgrounds, all the way up to Diamond Lake. Same for 58, particularly around the Crescent Lake area. I agree that the drive from the coast to Crater Lake and back makes for a long day. In June we had lunch in Bandon, and took 42 and 138 into the mountains, camping just before the pass. The next day we worked out way north to the Camp Sherman area.

Heading east along the Columbia Gorge is scenic, but still mostly a mix of private lands and state parks. A detour, say, south from Hood River, would have put you into the forests around Mt Hood. Just last week we took a leisurely drive in this area, poking our way along the north side of the Gorge from Vancouver to White Salmon, and then back to Seattle via the forest roads between Mt Adams and Mt St Helens. We had time to camp and hike at place like Beacon Rock State Park.

paulj
 

mk4

Observer
Looks like you have a great adventure.

I might have spotted you at Cypress Rd. in Redding.
 

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