Kathleen's Window: The Bear Camp Coastal Trail and Cape Blanco

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Bear Camp Coastal Trail and Cape Blanco

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Getting an early start, we drove over the Rogue River Bridge and began the drive to the coast. There was morning fog along the river and a group of BLM and Forest Service trucks streamed up the road. At that point we thought there might be a fire in the area, with smoke mixing with smog. In that case we could be turned back. (Later we discovered the Onion Fire was south of the area.) Still not knowing what we were getting into, the first old, signboard we saw had the largest portion of the road marked as gravel. We were looking at a 70 mile twisting drive, so we decided that if it got too bad, we would turn around and go the long route. The next signboard was up to date, and gave detailed instructions for driving the route. It was paved, but one lane. The first snows close it down, and you were warned not to travel it without adequate fuel, food, and water. There is no cellphone coverage, and because it is one lane, you need to be aware of on-coming traffic. They also suggested you alert someone that you would be driving it. I had mentioned the route numbers on Facebook already, so we decided that family had been notified!

Rogue River Bridge

I asked Greg if he still wanted to do this, we have been some crazy places in the rig already, and he said yes. So we set off. The two lane paved road became one as we climbed up into the southern Cascades. The smog cleared out and we began to have beautiful views of the Cascades. Frankly the road was much better than we expected. We made a few stops to look at the view and to let the caravans go by. The Rogue is a great rafting river, and after the rafters are dropped off, the vehicles and trailers picking up the rafters and the boats have to travel this road to pick them up at the other end. A few places had gravel patches and there were a few tiny rockslides on the side of the road. Nothing to worry about. The pavement was well maintained. We were down the other side in three hours and cruising into Gold Beach.

Looking north along the Coast Range

Amazing view, no guardrails!

Frequent road damage due to landslides

Letting a caravan of 12 vehicles and trailers pass

Looking toward the ocean

Many small rockslides

Finally - Gold Beach and the mouth of the Rogue River!

Then we had a decision to make. We hadn't discussed where we were going, just how to get there! A quick decision was made to drive north to Cape Blanco State Park where we stayed in June. Frankly, I think Greg was mostly motivated by the chance to have fish and chips again at the Crazy Norwegian in Port Orford on the way there. We stopped for lunch and checked out the local free camping spot overlooking the harbor in case Cape Blanco was full. Then we made the final drive to Cape Blanco ad snagged the next to last campsite. Safe fun drive, and a site at a gorgeous coastal park makes for a great day!