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I started off driving west, and as soon as I turned the key in the ignition, the rain began ... headed for Florence, across the Coastal Range: nowhere near as high as the Cascades, and it's all about the trees and the rivers. The timber industry is one of the biggest employers around here. The cloud was so low that it was drifting between the trees, and in places right down to the road, so I was driving through it - it made me think of Debussy's La Cathédrale Engloutie.
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Florence is a sweet little old-fashioned seaside town, looking rather sad in this end-of-season rain, and because the cloud was so low, the ocean was all but invisible. Turned south on US101, back into the rainforest, with the ocean on my right - the road goes a little inland from time to time, and twists up and down the coastal hills, so there were only occasional glimpses of the ocean (or at least where the ocean should be - it was mostly indistinguishable from the sky). One of the local radio stations said "OK, OK, after 11 inches [about 280mm in European] of rain in 5 days, I think that's enough!"
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This area has many monuments and historical markers to Jedediah Smith; he was the first explorer to reach Oregon overland by travelling up the California coast, so I have been tracing his route in reverse.
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This stretch of road is also right next to the Oregon Dunes, which stretch for 40 miles from Florence to Coos Bay, but no photo opps today with the dreadful visibility. It's also a Tsunami Hazard Zone ... with quite a high risk, apparently.
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When I reached Bandon, the rain stopped and the sky brightened (no sun, however), so I managed to get a couple of photos. It was very windy high up above the beach, and the seagulls were taking full advantage, wheeling and diving.
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On to Port Orford, with the weather worsening again. And back into the rainforest, climbing into the clouds once more, listening to Allen Toussaint's Yes we can can - predates President-elect Obama's campaign but a great song!
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Just past the Oregon-California border (where you have to declare any fruit and vegetables) I came upon the Ship Ashore Motel - actually the gift shop and museum are in the ship, the motel is down the road a bit.
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Then the magical redwoods: the Redwood National State Forest is densely packed, dark, rather mysterious, and primeval. If I thought I was in the rainforest before, I was mistaken. THIS is the rainforest. I left US 101 for the 'coastal trail' just south of Klamath (not to be confused with Klamath Falls, Oregon), and true to form, the road got narrower, rougher, twistier and steeper, but the trees and occasional glimpses of the ocean were wonderful. Don't tell the car rental company, anyone!
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Finally made it to Eureka, a cute town with much history and a reasonably unspoilt old town area (and back to Motel 6 - the girls will remember last time we tried to stay there, in 1992: Motel 6 had mistakenly booked us in at Yreka, which is many miles away over the mountains!). I had wanted to drive that stretch of the Pacific coast road ever since and now I've done it!
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1 comment:
Hope you had a chance to stop at Southport Landing in Loleta. That's the B&B I was telling you about right on the ocean. Wish I was driving through the Redwoods again!
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