THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD.
Day 31 – The second month of this trip was supposed to begin with a jet-boat ride on the Rogue River. It started raining during the night and it continued throughout the morning. We postponed our trip until Saturday since it shows rain ahead for several days. I wish it would pour down rain over these fires in the west.
It continued raining all morning. We decided to go north to Port Orford to the wonderful health food co-op we’d found previously. When we’d stopped by before, we were told that their fresh, locally-grown vegies & fruit would be fully stocked on Wednesday’s. We took some small country roads & leisurely made our way up the coast. As the rain came & went, then came back again, it was alternately sunny or foggy or misty, just gorgeous out. I think the high was about 53 degrees, so definitely cool & breezy, but the rain had brought out the smells from the forests & flowers. We could smell a minty odor & maybe something like eucalyptus, almost like Vick’s VapoRub, LOL. And then along the coast it was sweet and flowery. Nice. We saw a sign for “Old Coast Road” and took that – a one-lane gravel road up a mountain with tall, ancient trees & wonderful forested views. Very few people lived here, and when there was a driveway, it meandered off into the trees & you could not see a house or ranch. This road eventually came back to Highway 101. We’d had visions of it being an old stage coast road at one time, maybe before the current coastal highway was built.
We continued up the coast, saw a large Bald Eagle looking for fish to eat, and we checked out possible biking trails, and stopped for some pictures here and there. Did our shopping at the food co-op, a wonderful store, and stopped at a bakery across the street looking for some freshly baked bread. Quirky little place, we were greeted by Olivia, the cat, who was preening by the door in a box as we came in. The owner said she’d gotten her from a shelter at 15 years old, that her name was Olivia, and that she was the official greeter for the store. She was chatting with a couple of locals who were there having an expresso – there are lots of places offering expresso in these coastal towns – and she proceeded to question us as to where we were from, how long we’d be there, and wasn’t it terrible that Santa Rosa was on fire and Highway 101 was closed? We got a wonderful loaf of fresh italian bread (for making more garlic bread) and said good-bye to Olivia who was wearing a diamond collar and is quite a Princess. We expected the owner & the locals to shout out as we were leaving, “Y’all come back again sometime soon”. Very friendly.
Back to the campground and lunch at the RV, getting all the vegies into the refrigerator. We looked online to see if Highway 101 was indeed closed but didn’t see that. Also checked out the weather forecast for the next couple of days. Lots of rain, it said, so since this afternoon was to be either no rain or very light rain, we decided to take a drive along the Rogue River, beyond where we’d driven when we’d been scouting out campgrounds.
We headed inland for about an hour to the town of Agness where the road continues thru the rough countryside but is not maintained in the winter. Beyond the bridge where we’d crossed the River before, the road becomes more narrow and very winding; very little traffic and it was quite rare to see a home or driveway. Mountains on both sides of the Rogue River, you are driving along cliffs overlooking the winding waterway. You have to drive fairly slow, there are many places where they’ve repaired the cliff-side from previous rock or mud slides. There are three roads that go off into the hills, one is closed, the other two have big signs saying “Fire Equipment Entering Roads”. The current fire burning north & east of Brookings is in this forest that we are driving thru, the Rogue-Siskyou National Forest. We see no indication of it other than the signs; we are at the northern edge of the forest.
Rogue River, East of Gold Beach, OR
We stopped at the 2 campgrounds that we didn’t see the day we were scouting for campsites. They were located beyond where we took the bridge over the River:
Quosatana National Forest Service Campground. Very well-kept-up Park, almost empty, no hook-ups but there is a dump station & water is available. Two camping loops, we drove thru one, sites in the shade or with sunlight, on the field or by the River, not for big rigs but we would fit at some of them. $7.50 a night with the National Parks senior pass. (541) 247-3600.
Agness RV Park. Independent campground, this is where the sportsmen/sportswomen must come every year. On the Rogue River, surrounded by trees, lots of folks in flannel shirts & boots. There’s a lodge/restaurant/store. They have laundry facilities, restrooms, showers, and a row of fairly new cabins/park models are in a row on the River. The campsites are located just inland and there are several rows of sites, many of them full with trucks with camper units all camping together. We stopped at the Office; they were very friendly, offering us a map so we could drive through. The require reservations in June, July & August. We drove thru and found just a few sites that could handle big rigs. We could fit in many of them, and they wouldn’t be bad off-season, but it must be a zoo at other times. Something to keep in mind if we want to be really out in the wilderness. (541) 247-2813.
We turned around and drove back the way we’d come – lovely drive. Got back to the RV late afternoon, had wine & beer & big bowls of chili. 50 degrees. The girls were glad to see us, the ones that bothered to wake up & greet us. Cold & wet out, more rain to come. During the times we were here today, it wasn’t noisy at all. Maybe people kept the dogs inside out of the rain; ditto the equipment.
Love, love, love these photos! Great job, Rob.
Thanks, Carol! We finally got an internet connection again. More pictures coming.