BYE BANANA BELT.
Day 47 – Up at 7:40, the crows stomping on the RV roof, kitties all a-twitter. 48 degrees & foggy. Leaving what they call “the banana belt” today (also known around here as weather caused by the “Chetco Effect”). The weather is what brings lots of retirees here to live, mild and not too hot in the summer, not too cold in the winter with occasional light (if any) snow. It’s very beautiful & the weather has been ideal, even in late October. There’s also no sales tax in Oregon – that helps.
41 miles
Harris Beach State Recreation Area Campground, 1655 Highway 101 N, (U.S. 101, north side of Brookings), Brookings, OR 97415, (541) 469-2021, http://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=58. Check-in after 4 p.m. (but they don’t adhere to this rule) and check-out by 1 p.m. (they do follow this rule). 34 full hook-up sites (12 have ocean views); 56 electric & water hook-up sites (there is a dump station); 59 tent sites; 6 yurts. 4 loops. Open all year. (2 loops were closed until spring & we were unable to see those campsites; they were doing upgrades to the sites. They may have different hook-up stats in the future.) We had a decent internet & phone connection (for a change). Some of the sites we did see were small & close to each other; others were large & not too close to the neighboring sites. We had site #A23, full hook-ups, wonderful ocean view, large & private enough. It is difficult to get one of the ocean-view sites; they are first-come first-served & there aren’t that many of them. As soon as one of those sites empties, someone else moves in. People watch for them & wait in line for them. The campground was busy, full most nights even in the rain. It rained half the time we were here. It is kept clean by several campground hosts who occupy 2 to 3 of the ocean-view sites year around. There is a continual parade of cars & campers driving through hoping to claim a site. You have ocean access at the Day Use Area within walking distance. The road entering the campground and to the Day Use Area runs just below the campsites. There is Highway 101 nearby and a large logging company just a little north across the 101 which works around the clock most days. It can get pretty loud. So the review is mixed – great view & location but very busy & sometimes noisy. Would we stay there again? Maybe, but there are other, quieter alternatives……
We left Harris Beach at 12:45 p.m., got gas in Harbor & searched both towns for a place to get Propane, knowing that we’d have some camping ahead without electricity and would be relying on gas for heat at night & for keeping the refrigerator cold. Finally found a place and filled up, then drove to Crissy Field State Park near the OR/CA border. We hooked up the Honda to the RV there, crossed the border into CA, and said good-bye to the Shiny Happy People & the marijuana signs. Oregon was perfect!
Last chance! OR/CA border
Fog rolling in, US-101 at the OR/CA border
We headed south on Highway 101; it was very foggy, 56 degrees, and for miles there were green fields where the lily bulbs grow. Past the city of Smith River, a casino, liquor stores, and a tribal community, we soon got on Highway 199 & entered redwood country. At first there were huge trees of different kinds, some redwoods, some other fir trees, then as the road narrowed and became more winding, we followed the Smith River east away from the Ocean. Like we’d seen before, unbelievably huge trees hugged the road. As we got out of the fog, sun filtered through the trees. The forest floor was covered with ferns and the ground was red with the needles of the trees. Awesome!
Highway 199 winds through the redwoods for a bit, then along the Smith River with heavily forested canyons on either side. We passed through a couple of very small blink-and-you’ve-missed-them towns, and arrived at our campground, Panther Flat National Recreation Area Campground (in the future National Recreation Area will be “NRA” – NOT to be confused with the other NRA). This campground was one of five NRA campgrounds in the Smith River National Recreation Area/Six Rivers National Forest.
We drove through, picked our site (#8), paid $7.50 for one night, and unpacked & set up. It was 2:25 p.m., 68 degrees & sunny. We could hear the River but could not see it from our site; the Day Use Area was on the River at the bottom of the cliff below us. We were surrounded by trees, including some nice redwood trees, and there was plenty of space between campsites. Even though it was the beginning of the weekend, there were very few sites occupied, probably because there were no hook-ups and no dump station. That tends to discourage most campers with the larger RVs. You could hear Highway 199 from the campground but we found that the closer you were to the River, the quieter the highway was. We set up the screened tent, brought out the chairs, and read our books from 4 p.m. until the sun set. Wonderfully quiet & peaceful here; the kitties adapted instantly.
We are traveling with you. Enjoying your campground research. Love your pictures. Diane