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SSWesty
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Joined: August 20, 2008
Posts: 732
Location: Bellevue
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 Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:49 pm Post subject: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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We hit the road the first week of April to go check out the Redwoods in northern California. It was about a 1,200 mile trip from our home in the Seattle area to the Redwoods then back up the Oregon coast. The plan was to break up the drive down I-5 into two days then meander our way back up the coast with mostly 75-120 mile days. Our goals was to spend some time in the Redwoods and find places to camp where we could see and hear the ocean.
First night was the Loves in Albany, OR no Redwoods or Ocean but was a convenient stop.
Two nights at Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park and we had a lovely spot along the river. It’s so nice to fall asleep to the sound of the river flowing over some gentle rapids.
This place was special.
Took a drive through the redwoods on Howland Road, it’s a dirt road but no problem for most cars.
There were multiple groves of mighty redwoods along the 5 mile road and a few hikes.
Also did a hike off Walker road. This was the area where a redwood fell across the highway and killed a husband and wife a couple weeks prior. I think the story was in the national news and I believe they had 4 kids. It was a bit eerie seeing the tree and divots in the highway where the tree smashed the car. It looked like the tree was partially rotten by the way it was broken up along the forest floor.
The scene was happier at the trailhead and note the clump of trees behind the van, giants.
Lunch stop
Gold Beach
Ocean Side RV park at Gold Beach, they had stuff but we mainly were there to be close to the ocean. We had a peek-a-boo view of the ocean over the dune and could easily hear it. Gold Beach uses their tsunami siren for the volunteer fire department. 3 blasts are for the fire department to come in for call and 4 blasts or steady is run for your life to high ground. We heard 2 calls for the fire department, it definitely gets your attention since you want to make sure you get the count right.
Whiskey Run Beach looked like you could camp there and nothing said no camping. However we had a hard time making out the high tide line and the beach was pretty flat. It sure looked like water came up very close to the dunes. Also high tide would was going to be at 10:55pm so that was the wrong time of day to play a guessing game with the tide. So between not understanding where high tide would be and soft sand we just enjoyed a little beach time then headed further north. Overall the sand on the beach was firm except about a mile or two south of the access road it got soft on us so we made a gentle u-turn and headed back north. It looked wet and firm but it was more like wet and soggy. Glad we had the peloquin for the u-turn as both wheels were spinning to get us back to firm sand.
The Whiskey Run Beach access road is no problem going down and you exit onto firm sand. You do need to be comfortable with brush rubbing the side of your van since the road is narrow.
Going up is another story. There are a couple buried logs in the road so you have to really hug the north or left side of the road. On our first attempt we just spun on the log and wet rocks. I used a little more speed on the second attempt and stayed further left to minimize how much of the log we had to go over. Saw a couple of 70+ aged gals in their older Subaru wagon cruise right up it. I loved seeing them out there living life and not letting a buried log get in their way. Their 4wd suby plus being narrow enough to avoid the log made it a cake walk for the Subaru. I would not attempt this in a standard 2wd van, we have a peloqiun and I doubt we would have made it without it.
Bastendorff county campground by Charleston, ended up being able to see the ocean out our windows and faintly hear the waves breaking. The campground is up on a bluff.
Rented a buzz bomb to explore the dunes north of Coos Bay. Sunbuggie had good rates and some peppy rides.
Our last campground was South Beach in Newport. No chance of seeing the ocean from that campground but you could hear the sea lions chatting throughout the night.
From there we headed to Portland to see family then home. We did a stop at a weight station along the way and we were 2,500 pounds on the front axle and 2,300 on the rear for 4,800 pounds total with us in the van. Mileage averaged out around 16.3mpg. I have an exhaust leak and I am not sure if that is impacting the mileage. For some of the trip I thought we’d be getting into the 17s but it didn’t happen. No issues other than the Dometic freezing some food, that propane fridge thrives in 50 degree temps. |
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djkeev
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Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32591
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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dabaron
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Joined: June 21, 2018
Posts: 2559
Location: Philly, mang
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:09 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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fantastic voyage! thanks for sharing.
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dobryan
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Joined: March 24, 2006
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Location: Brookeville, MD
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thatbaldwinlife
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Joined: August 01, 2011
Posts: 777
Location: Out exploring
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:26 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Been to many of those places, looks like you had a great time.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up.
nate
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GoEverywhere
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Joined: December 13, 2020
Posts: 516
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:02 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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What day were you at South Beach? We stayed there Saturday night (April 17th) and I saw a Westy in the area that looked like yours. Wonder if we were there at the same time?
Looks like you had a killer adventure!! |
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sanchius 
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Joined: May 03, 2007
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Location: IN
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SSWesty
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Joined: August 20, 2008
Posts: 732
Location: Bellevue
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:06 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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| GoEverywhere wrote: |
| What day were you at South Beach? We stayed there Saturday night (April 17th) and I saw a Westy in the area that looked like yours. Wonder if we were there at the same time? |
Not us, we were there on April 8th. When we got to the redwoods there were two other westies in our campground loop by the river. After chatting with one of them they gave us the recommendation to check out Howland road. Always nice to interact with the VW community when you're out and about. |
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SSWesty
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Joined: August 20, 2008
Posts: 732
Location: Bellevue
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:18 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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| dobryan wrote: |
Love it!
I really like Howland Road too.
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Nice picture Dave. It's an interesting road to drive because many folks have that "WOW that's a big tree" expression on their face. They should change the name to Wowland road. |
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fleetwood41
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Joined: April 06, 2012
Posts: 107
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:34 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Great trip report!
We're planning on getting out to that area in August for our 10th anniversary road trip. Hoping to also get access to some of the beaches up there.
Thanks for posting - the photos are awesome.
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mikemtnbike
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Joined: March 26, 2015
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Location: North Carolina
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:40 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Flying out to norcal in the fall for my rescheduled 50th birthday trip, plan was Scotland, but doubt that's going to be realistic this year still. Thanks for the pics, motivational.
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Blakesinclair
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Joined: January 22, 2021
Posts: 60
Location: Santa Ana, California
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:05 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Dang this is beautiful and inspiring. It's been decades since I've been up the Oregon coast, but looks exactly how I remember it. Blue skies at the beach in Oregon too! You must have done something so score such luck.
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joetiger
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Joined: January 27, 2005
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Location: denver
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:09 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Great report, thank you! We did the Oregon Coast a few summers back and I wish I could go back and do the same exact route again. Loved it.
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SSWesty
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Joined: August 20, 2008
Posts: 732
Location: Bellevue
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:41 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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One note for anyone targeting the redwoods in the near future you need to check on road conditions for Highway 101. There was road damage a couple months ago that impacts the flow of traffic south of Crescent City. This means it's not as easy to travel from the northern forest of redwoods by Crescent City to the forests around Eureka. Here is what Cal Tran is saying now and it could definitely through you a curveball if you didn't know about it.
US 101 WILL BE CLOSED INTERMITTENLTY FROM 12.4 MI SOUTH OF CRESCENT CITY /AT VISTA POINT/ TO 1.9 MI SOUTH OF CRESCENT CITY /AT HUMBOLDT RD/ (DEL NORTE CO) FROM 0900 HRS TO 1100 HRS, FROM 1200 HRS TO 1400 HRS & FROM 1500 HRS TO 1700 HRS MONDAY THRU FRIDAY - DUE TO A ROCKSLIDE - TRAFFIC WILL BE ALLOWED THRU FROM 1100 HRS TO 1200 HRS & FROM 1400 TO 1500 HRS - MOTORISTS ARE SUBJECT TO DELAYS OF UP TO 2 HOURS |
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Captain Pike
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Location: Talos IV, Piedmont Arizona
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:45 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Same trip___29 years ago. 2 weeks in the mountains(6 rivers) and coast.
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Igeo
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Joined: September 25, 2018
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:09 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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Great picture!
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thatbaldwinlife
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Joined: August 01, 2011
Posts: 777
Location: Out exploring
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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| SSWesty wrote: |
One note for anyone targeting the redwoods in the near future you need to check on road conditions for Highway 101. There was road damage a couple months ago that impacts the flow of traffic south of Crescent City. This means it's not as easy to travel from the northern forest of redwoods by Crescent City to the forests around Eureka. Here is what Cal Tran is saying now and it could definitely through you a curveball if you didn't know about it.
US 101 WILL BE CLOSED INTERMITTENLTY FROM 12.4 MI SOUTH OF CRESCENT CITY /AT VISTA POINT/ TO 1.9 MI SOUTH OF CRESCENT CITY /AT HUMBOLDT RD/ (DEL NORTE CO) FROM 0900 HRS TO 1100 HRS, FROM 1200 HRS TO 1400 HRS & FROM 1500 HRS TO 1700 HRS MONDAY THRU FRIDAY - DUE TO A ROCKSLIDE - TRAFFIC WILL BE ALLOWED THRU FROM 1100 HRS TO 1200 HRS & FROM 1400 TO 1500 HRS - MOTORISTS ARE SUBJECT TO DELAYS OF UP TO 2 HOURS |
Man we know all about that.......
nate
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erste
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| Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:44 pm Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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| SSWesty wrote: |
| Our goals was to spend some time in the Redwoods and find places to camp where we could see and hear the ocean. |
I really like this goal! Looks like it was a fun and exciting trip with the beach access. You found so many nice places.
The redwoods and dusty ferns remind me a lot of the road down to Gold Bluffs Beach near Orick. Looks like it's just about the same distance to the OR/CA border as Gold Beach is to the North. Probably a similar feeling and one that I won't forget. Driving through the cool, shaded redwood forest and then it just suddenly opens up and you're right on the beach looking out at the Pacific. |
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coqcitywesty
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Location: Coquitlam, BC
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| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 10:25 am Post subject: Re: Trip Report - Redwoods and Oregon Coast |
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We did this trip this past summer over two weeks, starting from the north at Fort Stevens, with stops at Beverly Beach, Sunset Bay and Harris Beach with a day trip in California to revisit Jedediah and the Redwoods. We missed Howland last time through so added it to this trip and it did not disappoint.
Much kudos to those environmentalists in the early part of the 20th century who recognized the value of these special places and ensured that they were preserved for future generations to come and marvel at their grandeur. While I am not a spiritual person per se, the peace and tranquility that radiates from being in the presence of these big beasts is something pretty special. Both the coastal and inland forests (i.e. High Sierras) should be on everyone's bucket list.
I am thinking that this image may be at the same spot as one from the OP.
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