Day 7: the Mist

We broke down camp this morning and began to weave our way through the mountains and towards the coast. Oregon is filled with scenic overlooks, byways, campgrounds, and more State and National Park areas than anyone knows what to do with.

Our first stop was at Sahalie Falls. The hike had been recommended to us by the desk clerk at the KOA. As we stepped from the parking lot into the forest, we could already feel the change in temperature and hear the roar of the water. The cool mist from the falls took us from 80 to 60 degrees almost instantaneously.

Everything was lush and green, and the mist from the falls was refreshing. It even danced and played in the light and created a rainbow across the pool of water beneath. The experience was surreal; it’s a wonder to think that you could find such a mountain oasis just a few yards from the highway.

Soon we began our descent and we knew that the water was getting close. In fact, we dropped from over 4.000 feet to sea level while following a turning mountain road that did nothing but go downhill for over 60 miles.

Finally the sea was in sight. Joining the sea at Florence, we turned northbound searching for the variety of wildlife, lighthouses, and scenic views promised to us. Highway 101 up the Oregon coast is very similar to the Big Sur Highway in California, just with more people.

Things began promising; at our very first stop, we looked over the craggy edge, watched the ocean crash against the rocks, and spotted a family of sea lions sun bathing just below us.

A few miles up the road we spotted the Heceta lighthouse. The lighthouses of Oregon are very different from those on the east coast. First, they are extremely short. Second, they are usually positioned up on high cliffs. Third, you hike through the woods to get to them.

We parked the truck, dug our toes into the pacific coast sand, and then began our hike up the hill to the lighthouse. The light is so small, that even though tours are given of the inside, only four guests can enter at a time. The line was already surprisingly long, so we just snapped some shots of the outside and walked about enjoying the view.

On our way back to the truck, we began to notice the fog rolling in. Our sunny day quickly began to vanish, replaced by mist and chill.

Still, we pressed on. After a stop in Yachats for lunch, we stopped at our second lighthouse. The Yachats lighthouse is more reminiscent of the original meaning of the term. The light is actually integrated into the light keeper’s home.

By this point the fog had rolled in thick. We decided the best thing to do would be to find a camp site and call it quits for the day. Little did we know how difficult this would be. Apparently finding a place to stay on the coast is a difficult task. Every hotel and campground we passed were already full. By a strange stroke of luck we did find a spot.

Of course, we ended up staying at what has to be the most unique KOA on the west coast. The grounds were fully illustrated with cartoon signs, and Mannequin Mel sat guard over the campfire circle.

Since we camped earlier in the day, we were able to kick back and relax a bit more. It was the first night we were able to set up a campfire. Carl tried fixing me some jiffy-pop, but smoked popcorn is not the best idea; however, we found that left over popcorn makes some great campfire fuel.