TRAVEL DAY
From: Alfred A. Loeb State Park, near Brookings, OR.
To: Quosatana National Forest Service Campground, near Gold Beach, OR.
Day 169 – When we got up this morning around 8 a.m., it was cloudy and breezy, 54 degrees. We are headed north along the coast today to one of our favorite campgrounds from our last trip in 2017. The girls huddled together asking why we had to leave.
We departed at 10:50 a.m. Some of the clouds were disappearing and it was still 54 degrees. Once we got back down to Highway 101, it fogged up somewhat. We stopped at the rest area across from Harris Beach State Park to dump tanks.
The rest of our drive was on the 101 until we reached Gold Beach and turned off on Jerry’s Flat Road, heading east on a narrow, winding road into the hills along the Rogue River. Before leaving Highway 101, we drove through the very scenic area called the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, where the highway winds along the coast overlooking the Ocean studded with sea stacks (large rocks in the ocean). There are many pull-outs and from them, trails often lead to the Pacific Ocean. We thoroughly traveled this entire section and did some hiking in 2017. It was still gorgeous, even in the fog, in 2022.
After turning off onto Jerry’s Flat Road, our pace slowed down. Even though we didn’t pass any other cars on this part of our route, we had to slow way down because the road was so narrow and winding. It was ten miles in before the fog dissipated and we saw sunlight. Fifteen miles from Gold Beach we reached Quosatana Campground, a hidden gem off the beaten path we discovered previously.
We’d been looking forward to coming back here. No one else was camping here (except for the campground host). We drove through the Park, having our pick of campsites, and chose Site #43. We’d stayed in #40 last time, but it was closed due to a very large fallen tree. Our new campsite overlooked a meadow surrounded by huge trees; there were no campsites near us. We remembered this area from our previous trip because we had spent so much time photographing the deer, birds, turkeys, and other wildlife in this meadow before. We arrived at 12:25 p.m. It was sunny and 58 degrees, a little windy.
We had lunch in the RV and set up camp. By the time we arrived here, had lunch, and finished setting up, 3 Deer, 9 Quail, 1 Turkey, 1 Squirrel, 3 Stellar’s Jays, 1 Black Phoebe, 2 Turkey Vultures, and 1 loud Crow had appeared near our campsite. This is going to be fun! Grin.
We sat outside in the afternoon until it got too cold and windy. Being here at Quosatana feels like home to us. We discovered we have no signal here, so no blog posts, no e-mail, no phone. Out in the wilderness again. We don’t know what the weather will be like here nor how long we’ll stay. We had seen that heavy coastal winds would be here Wednesday through Friday, but this isn’t quite the coast, so we don’t know what to expect. Not too worried about it though – another grin.