7-13 August 2017
7 Aug, Mon – Brad and Maren already had relatively new
students to train on the weekend and continuing into Monday. At first they said
to meet at 0900 at Sunset Beach. But, later, the weather forecast was for fog,
so the meeting was changed to 1000 at their shop in nearby Warrenton. Therefore,
we could get up at 0430, instead of even earlier, and get out of the driveway
at 0600. We had already loaded the car, stocked the trailer and hooked up the
night before. It was foggy all the way down, through Longview and along Rte. 30
to Astoria and down 101 to Warrenton. Our new GPS showed us the right turn onto
104 but we missed the immediate left onto Deerfield. Fortunately, we were able
to turn around at the next intersection. After a very short distance on
Deerfield we turned onto Cheri which looked like a gravel driveway and followed
it to the end at the Discover Paragliding shop. Upstairs over the three-car
garage there was a large open room with tables and chairs set up for
instruction; there was also a washroom and a room full of paragliding equipment
for sale. We met Kate Eagle, Rebecca (or, rather re-met, since we had seen them
at the Rat Race) who are beginning the instructor certification course. The
students were Brent, Sam, Christina and Jamie. While the students and C.J. were
doing instructional kinds of stuff, I took the trailer over to Fort Stevens
State Park, about four miles away. It’s a huge place with over three hundred
campsites. I got to registration certainly before noon only to find that all
sites were reserved and nothing was available. That was quite a setback, but Brad
and Maren came through with permission to camp in their driveway and even left
the class bathroom unlocked for us. By noon classroom work had been completed
and we all drove our vehicles over to Sunset Beach. 
When Brad and Maren got there
after getting gas, we followed them through a gap in the dunes and through some
deep sand onto the firmer sand near the ebbing tide. We went at least a mile
south of the entrance road to a place that looked no different from the rest of
the wide beach with a low, sea-grass-covered dune behind. The students
practiced inflations and running, both into the wind and zig-zagging cross
wind. Later Brad set up his truck for towing with his payout (and pay-in!)
winch. Everybody got two or three tows right up to the base of the fog which
had risen to maybe 300 ft. Surprisingly, almost all of the tow launches,
flights and landings were good. It was probably 1700 or later when we quit as
the fog was thickening to almost a “mizzle”. We went back to the shop, cleaned
up the vehicles and rested for a while. Around 1900 we followed Brad, Maren and
Kate to Nisa Thai Restaurant in Warrenton for an excellent dinner. After we ate C.J. and I drove to Fred Meyer
to get gas, peaches, a cantaloupe and some tonic water. Back at Discover Paragliding the temperature was just right for
comfortable sleeping.
When Brad and Maren got there
after getting gas, we followed them through a gap in the dunes and through some
deep sand onto the firmer sand near the ebbing tide. We went at least a mile
south of the entrance road to a place that looked no different from the rest of
the wide beach with a low, sea-grass-covered dune behind. The students
practiced inflations and running, both into the wind and zig-zagging cross
wind. Later Brad set up his truck for towing with his payout (and pay-in!)
winch. Everybody got two or three tows right up to the base of the fog which
had risen to maybe 300 ft. Surprisingly, almost all of the tow launches,
flights and landings were good. It was probably 1700 or later when we quit as
the fog was thickening to almost a “mizzle”. We went back to the shop, cleaned
up the vehicles and rested for a while. Around 1900 we followed Brad, Maren and
Kate to Nisa Thai Restaurant in Warrenton for an excellent dinner. After we ate C.J. and I drove to Fred Meyer
to get gas, peaches, a cantaloupe and some tonic water. Back at Discover Paragliding the temperature was just right for
comfortable sleeping.
8 Aug, Tue – We slept until about 0730 and Brad didn’t get
C.J. up to the shop until 1015 since he and Maren had slept late. He had C.J.
working on improving her use of As and Cs to control the glider when preparing
to launch. Brad had a pretty neat simulator for that. About noon C.J. and I
were on our way south on 101. Not only were we concerned about where we would
find a place to camp but we kept running into slow traffic, especially as we
drove through the beach resorts of Seaside, Lincoln City and Newport. Every
State Park we passed had a bright yellow sign announcing “Camp Full”. Later the
few USFS CG we passed were also full. We did make a short stop in Tillamook at
the very busy Tillamook Cheese (and ice cream) factory for our traditional
3-scoop dish. We tried calling the number for the Cape Perpetua USFS CG but
the office had closed at 1600, 20 minutes before. We had hopes that a SP not
too far north of Florence would have space since it was one of the few
first-come-first-served camp grounds, but it was full, too. Finally, just five
miles before Florence (where we had planned to turn inland and find a rest area
or Walmart to park in overnight), Alder Dune USFS CG had a “Open” sign out and
several campsites that looked good to us. We chose a nice level, back-in site
and paid for two nights then we went for a hike through the tree-covered
dunes around the campground and small lake. Back around 1900 C.J. used the
leftovers from Nisa Thai to make another good meal. Tomorrow we are considering
going back north on 101 to the scenic area south of Yachats.
9 Aug, Wed – We slept in until quite late and didn’t get going until after 1030 when we drove into Florence. We found the Chamber of Commerce/TI and got some material that included the top ten short hikes on the Oregon Coast. There was only one hike to the north where we wanted to go, Hobbit Beach Trail, so named because the trees closed in over the trail making it seem like a tunnel. On the way out of Florence we drove through the Old Town along the Siuslaw River, lots of tourist-oriented businesses. The parking lot at Hobbit Trail, just a couple of miles north of the Heceta Head lighthouse appeared full so we drove past and turned around in the Carl G. Washburn State Park day use area. When we got back there were a couple of new parking spots so we grabbed
one and geared up for a short (0.5mi) hike down to the beach. The
trail was all downhill and matched the description. Once on the sandy beach, we
walked south to the headland where waves were crashing then back to the trail.
When we reached the trailhead again I grabbed my pack so that we could carry
our lunch then we started off on the trail over the headland to the Heceta Head
lighthouse. It was a roller coaster trail so, although we started at 250 ft and
reached only 500 ft, we had a cumulative elevation gain of 650 ft (according to
the trail sign). I used Backcountry Navigator to keep track of our progress
even though there was no cell coverage. The total distance was only 2.5 mi
round trip but it was a scenic short trip despite the fog that was blowing
through the trees. Approaching the lighthouse from above we had a great view of
the light with its 
Class One (largest) Fresnel Lens, the only one in a west
coast lighthouse made in England; the rest were made in France. We didn’t get a
tour of the oil house attached to the lighthouse because there was a large tour
group of lighthouse enthusiasts from all over the US taking up all the
available volunteers. It was pretty chilly out in the wind so we decided to do
lunch up the trail a short distance where we still had a good view of the
lighthouse and the sea stack just to the south covered with birds and bird
droppings. We skipped the lighthouse keepers house completely (I think it’s now
a B and B anyway so we probably could not go inside). Most of the visitors did
not take the roller coaster trail that we did; instead, they parked in a fee
lot down near the bridge and walked in on the old lighthouse supply road, about
0.5 mi. Just before we reached the car C.J. saw a car pull out of the parking
lot and a daypack roll off the roof onto the road. Although she waved and
yelled, the car occupants continued to drive away. There was no ID obvious and
no cell phone to help contact the losers so we dropped it off with a ranger who
had just arrived. Then we drove north to Cape Perpetua and visited the Visitor
Center. By that time we had decided that we had had enough hiking for the day.
The fifty-year-old visitor center was mildly interesting and had a great view
of the cove and crashing waves. If there had not been such thick fog we might
have seen farther out and spotted a whale, since a daily listing showed at
least one seen almost every day. We got out just before closing (4:30) with
lots of ideas for future explorations. On the way back to Florence we stopped
at Neptune State Park, a parking lot with some stair connecting to the beach
and rocky tidepools. We also stopped at the Muriel O. Ponser Wayside which had
an impressive entrance but no explanation. Since it was getting on towards
dinner time, we drove into Florence and bought some sausages, spaghetti sauce,
more peaches, salad mix and some cheese (all on sale, 12.45). I gassed up at
the lowest price so far this trip (2.389) which included a FM discount. C.J.
checked her email and found an urgent request from Nick to get the photographer
for her article to remove the watermark signature from all his photos. We hung
out in the FM parking lot while she called Nick and sent him the photographer’s
contact info. Back at camp around 1800
C.J. prepared another great meal, and then we caught up on our journals.
10 Aug, Thu – Up at nearly 0800 and out of camp around
9-something, still foggy (all the way down to Port Orford). We stopped at
Walmart in Coos Bay to get some whipped cream in a can; we also picked up some
Swiss Miss and some generic instant oatmeal (12.65). At Bandon we took the
scenic drive along the waterfront with views of sea stacks and needles. Along
the drive we stopped at a state park wayside for a view of Face Rock. At Cape
Blanco we detoured six miles to visit the farthest west lighthouse in Oregon. A
very nominal fee (2 ea) got us a tour
of the lighthouse including the lens room
where two 1000-watt bulbs (a main and a backup) shown through an eight-sided
Fresnel class two lens. The rotation (by electric motor) gave it a period of
two sec on and 18 sec off. It was after lunchtime by then but it was too chilly
in the wind and fog to eat outside at the lighthouse. We drove back to 101 and
south a few miles to Port Orford where we found a place in the sunshine with a
view of the strange port and the nearby sea stacks. Since there really was no
sheltered harbor, the fishing boats are hauled up each night onto a high
concrete wharf. Down the road we passed the first State Park CG with a
“vacancy” sign: Humbug Mountain SP. Down the road a ways, thinking there would
probably be a restroom, we pulled into the Geisel Memorial State Park. There
was nothing there but a tiny cemetery with the grave marker for Geisel and his
two young sons who were massacred by Indians. Just before Gold Beach we turned
off 101 and followed the Rogue River to the east intending to go over Bear Camp
Summit and drop down near Galice, not too far from Grants Pass. It wasn’t until
we were an hour up the road that there was a sign telling us that Bear Camp
Road (NF23) was closed and we would have to take a detour (NF 2308), a narrow,
winding road that became gravel after a few miles out of the 15 or so before
returning to NF23. Fortunately, the views of the steep canyons and sharp ridges
were great even if pretty smoky. The Sorento and the trailer handled the bad
road and steep grades very well without overheating; of course, the gas mileage
suffered, dropping to 18 mpg. The detour added something like 40 minutes to our
arrival time putting us at the yurt around 1830. [Because I was kind of rushing
to get there in time for dinner with Barbara, Debbie, Teri, Geoff and Megan, I
didn’t stop for gas in Grants Pass and arrived with 1/8 of a tank.] When we got
to Barbara’s driveway which had just been graded and graveled we decided to
walk in and see if we could find a place for the trailer. The parking looked
like a challenge so we went back down the driveway and up the road to Teri and
Geoff’s. They opened their gate for us and let us park in their pull-thru
driveway so we didn’t have to do any maneuvering at all. We set up and tied
down the roof because of what looked like an imminent thunderstorm. C.J. took
some food back to the yurt while I finished up with Geoff plugging into 120V.
Then I threw a bunch of stuff in the car that I knew we would need in the yurt
and drove back there. Dinner was ready and we ate the fish tacos in the yurt
although the rain and wind held off. We had peach pie for dessert on B’s deck
with some lightning but no rain. I had to go back over to the trailer to turn
on the fridge and get some more stuff to put in the yurt refrigerator. It was
pretty hot but the air temp cooled down later and the oscillating fan helped,
too.
of the lighthouse including the lens room
where two 1000-watt bulbs (a main and a backup) shown through an eight-sided
Fresnel class two lens. The rotation (by electric motor) gave it a period of
two sec on and 18 sec off. It was after lunchtime by then but it was too chilly
in the wind and fog to eat outside at the lighthouse. We drove back to 101 and
south a few miles to Port Orford where we found a place in the sunshine with a
view of the strange port and the nearby sea stacks. Since there really was no
sheltered harbor, the fishing boats are hauled up each night onto a high
concrete wharf. Down the road we passed the first State Park CG with a
“vacancy” sign: Humbug Mountain SP. Down the road a ways, thinking there would
probably be a restroom, we pulled into the Geisel Memorial State Park. There
was nothing there but a tiny cemetery with the grave marker for Geisel and his
two young sons who were massacred by Indians. Just before Gold Beach we turned
off 101 and followed the Rogue River to the east intending to go over Bear Camp
Summit and drop down near Galice, not too far from Grants Pass. It wasn’t until
we were an hour up the road that there was a sign telling us that Bear Camp
Road (NF23) was closed and we would have to take a detour (NF 2308), a narrow,
winding road that became gravel after a few miles out of the 15 or so before
returning to NF23. Fortunately, the views of the steep canyons and sharp ridges
were great even if pretty smoky. The Sorento and the trailer handled the bad
road and steep grades very well without overheating; of course, the gas mileage
suffered, dropping to 18 mpg. The detour added something like 40 minutes to our
arrival time putting us at the yurt around 1830. [Because I was kind of rushing
to get there in time for dinner with Barbara, Debbie, Teri, Geoff and Megan, I
didn’t stop for gas in Grants Pass and arrived with 1/8 of a tank.] When we got
to Barbara’s driveway which had just been graded and graveled we decided to
walk in and see if we could find a place for the trailer. The parking looked
like a challenge so we went back down the driveway and up the road to Teri and
Geoff’s. They opened their gate for us and let us park in their pull-thru
driveway so we didn’t have to do any maneuvering at all. We set up and tied
down the roof because of what looked like an imminent thunderstorm. C.J. took
some food back to the yurt while I finished up with Geoff plugging into 120V.
Then I threw a bunch of stuff in the car that I knew we would need in the yurt
and drove back there. Dinner was ready and we ate the fish tacos in the yurt
although the rain and wind held off. We had peach pie for dessert on B’s deck
with some lightning but no rain. I had to go back over to the trailer to turn
on the fridge and get some more stuff to put in the yurt refrigerator. It was
pretty hot but the air temp cooled down later and the oscillating fan helped,
too.
11 Aug, Fri – Up At about 0700 when C.J. went to take a
bath; I did the same thing around 0730 since B doesn’t usually get up until
eight. We had our usual breakfast, then got ready to do a float trip on the
Applegate River. Barb and Debbie had done a float from Cantrall-Buckley to the
Applegate Store, but this time Barbara wanted to do a stretch she had not done
before from somewhere upriver to C-B. C.J. and I were a little skeptical of the
plan because we had no idea what kind of rapids we might encounter. Debbie said
she had looked at the route on Google Earth and seen only one extended stretch
of whitewater just downstream of the bridge near where the Eastside Road takes
off. After getting a tank of expensive gas at the Applegate Store we drove there to eyeball said rapids and they looked “interesting” but
not beyond our skills we thought. The problem was that there was no public
river access nearby. Fortunately, Debbie was able to schmooze the owner, and he
let us park in his driveway and even got his pruning shears to help clear an
old path down to the river. Mary Beth had joined us at Cantrall-Buckley where
we left her car and Debbie’s for retrieve. I had already inflated our Sevylor
Tahiti K 79, Debbie had her sit-on-top kayak, and Mary Beth and B were using a
4-person inflatable raft that Barbara had just bought, used. We were into the
first rapids very quickly and made it through although we took on some
water. A
mile or so down the river one of the flimsy plastic paddles for the raft broke,
then the raft overturned while trying to avoid some overhanging blackberries.
In the excitement, one of the plugs was popped open and the main air
compartment deflated and Barb and MB had to beach the now unusable raft. They
decided to bushwhack to the nearby road and hitch back to the cars and meet us
at C-B. Debbie and we continued down the river which had several more exciting
bits. We had to line our boats under a bridge where we couldn’t see what was
beyond it. At another rapid we stopped to scout it and found the right had a
sharp drop at the bottom and the left side had a curving chute with a rock at
the bottom on the left. We had just about decided to portage around the worst
of it (no helmets and a kayak that was not terribly responsive), when some
tubers and a guy with an inflatable Solstice kayak came along. They said that
the left chute was “fun” and was the right way to go. We watched and they did
okay. Debbie went and we could hear some loud plastic clunks, but she made it
through. We were doing fine until the rock on the left near the bottom trapped
us. Fortunately one of the tubers was there and pushed us off so we made it
down, too. There were some more riffles where we bumped through in the low
water, but on one we missed a turn and fetched up against a rock. Both of us
were spilled out but managed to hang on to our paddles and the boat. C.J. was
tangled up in the strap that we used to secure her seat from sliding back and
crowding me out, so we had to get her untangled. Then we pulled the boat up on
the rock and drained it, got back in and continued down. From there it wasn’t
far at all to the take-out at Cantrall-Buckley. Mary Beth and Barbara were
already there and B gave me a ride back to where we put in so I could recover
my vehicle. C.J. picked a bunch of blackberries while she was waiting, then we
headed back to the yurt where we had a bit of late lunch. We all met again at
the newly-opened Wood-fired Pizza place across from the Applegate Store at 1730. Dan Wells
and Rick joined us. Good thin crust pizza but the banana pepper slices were too
spicy for C.J. The beet salad was good, though. After dinner we stopped at
the library where we could access the internet even though the library was
closed. I made a reservation for Ft. Stevens for Sunday night; no other
nights were available (16 sites out of 478 were available for Sun night!).
12 Aug, Sat – Up at 0715 so I could get a bath before
breakfast. We left early so C.J. could use the wifi at the Ruch library to
check for new edits. We met the rest of the group at the bailout LZ (Hunters)
at 1000; Rick Ray had volunteered to drive so that Debbie could get a sledder
in her new Delta 3. Rick was to meet three of Kevin’s almost P-2s to mentor
them for a flight off the upper launch. Barb, C.J. and Debbie flew, and I passed
on the chance for a flydown and then packup again before going to Upper.
Conditions were light on both launches but the west wind was picking up in the
valley. Barbara launched first and headed straight out to Longsword, her usual
plan. I followed and found lift worth circling in just north of Squires. There
was plenty of altitude to get to the next field beyond Longsword and then fly
back over the grapevines and land in somewhat gusty and strong conditions (13 min).
C.J. launched later and caught some lift and some bigger sink and ended up
having to land at Hunters, where Barbara picked her up. Even later Rick and
Debbie took off and got above launch but still came out to land at Longsword.
We ate some lunch while Barbara went back to the river and then home. We went
to the library again and C.J. worked hard on replacing the captions on her
article; I got the librarian to help me print out the supposedly time-saving
pre-registration for our reserved campsite at Ft. Stevens. After that
C.J. downloaded the Alpha2 to edit and we went through that together, almost
finishing by 1600 when the library closed. C.J. got the whole thing uploaded to
the server working outside the doors of the library. We returned to the yurt to
get cleaned up a little before heading to Dan and Mary Beth’s for a delicious
dinner and drinks. On the way home C.J. checked with Brad to see if Monday was
going to work for flying or at least training on the coast. It looks like we
are going to at least stay over on Sunday night and see what Monday brings.
13 Aug, Sun – Up at 0715 for a hairwash, breakfast and
packing. We were able to leave Barb’s (new) driveway at 0917. Then we had to
get the trailer from Teri and Geoff’s driveway, so it was going on 1000 before
we were on Rte 238 and heading for Grants Pass. It was cloudy but as we got
farther north the sky got more blue; thankfully, it was nowhere near as hot as
the previous few days. We stopped for gas at Costco in Eugene. As we
approached Albany, we ran into slow traffic and Google Maps sent a message that
the faster route would be along Rte 22 from Salem to Hebo where we’d get on US
101 (the original plan was to exit I-5 at Tigard and take Rte 26 to 101 at
Seaside). So we got off the freeway, drove through Salem and then it was smooth
going along OR 22, if a bit wind-y when it turned north through the Siuslaw
National Forest. We stopped to use the rest rooms at Ft Yamhill and saw what
must have been a pow-wow arena for the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde.
[All the local natives had been promised their local land in treaties but they
all ended up lumped together on a steadily shrinking reservation around Grande
Ronde. By 1959, it was down to five acres! It wasn’t until 1983 that they began
to press for the lands they had been promised.] C.J. called Brad and found out
that they were having classes on Monday and were looking forward to having her
take part again. We made another ice cream stop in Tillamoo and then drove
the rest of the way along the coast to Ft. Stevens State Park. There was hardly
any traffic, not what we had expected on a Sunday afternoon. I-5 is definitely
a route to avoid on Sundays, especially in the summer. We checked in at the
registration building and then drove the 
short distance to our site (055 on C
Loop). After setting up we drove to the parking lot on the beach nearest to the
wreck of the Peter Iredale and walked the short distance to it passing a couple
who had three flop-eared bunnies with them, two in what looked like a playpen,
and one on a leash – therapy bunnies! We tried climbing the compass-grass-
covered dune to reach the trail but there was no trail on top of the dune, at
least where we were. On the way out we noted that the trail seemed to run
farther inland, maybe in the woods behind the dune. Next, we went to Battery
Russel which looked a lot like Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, WA, but without
short distance to our site (055 on C
Loop). After setting up we drove to the parking lot on the beach nearest to the
wreck of the Peter Iredale and walked the short distance to it passing a couple
who had three flop-eared bunnies with them, two in what looked like a playpen,
and one on a leash – therapy bunnies! We tried climbing the compass-grass-
covered dune to reach the trail but there was no trail on top of the dune, at
least where we were. On the way out we noted that the trail seemed to run
farther inland, maybe in the woods behind the dune. Next, we went to Battery
Russel which looked a lot like Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, WA, but without
14 Aug, Mon – Up at 0700 so we could meet Brad and Maren at
0900. We ate breakfast, packed up the trailer and moved it to the Coffenbury
Lake parking lot where we left it with a taped-on note giving my Special Access
Pass number (in lieu of the required day use fee). We checked in with the
ranger at Registration just so they knew about the trailer. An exchange of
texts (no cell service) had us first heading right to the beach, then going to
the Discover Paragliding shop to wait until the fog burned off. It was probably
around 1030 when we went to the beach about four miles south of the Sunset beach
access. Four students, Sam and Brent (whom we had met last Monday), Dan, and
Dave (an almost new student) practiced reverses and forwards; Sam even climbed
up on the dune grass and made a couple of short hops. After a short break Brad
began towing. The tide was coming in and the wind was getting stronger so by
1500, everything was getting packed up. C.J. worked on pulling her wing up
without using her hands, and even kited, with Maren’s help, while lying on her
back (no hands!). She had one big tow with Brad, getting to 2200 ft according
to her Flymaster. When we left we drove south about a mile to the DelRey Beach
access and then went back to Ft Stevens State Park to retrieve our trailer. We
stopped for gas at Costco (2.439) in Warrenton and then drove through a little
slow traffic entering Astoria. We had had only a light lunch so we were looking
for a place to eat. We didn’t find anything until we reached I-5 at
Kelso-Longview. Although the GPS did not indicate a Five Guys on our route
until Tacoma, a sign on the freeway showed one in Longview. It was a bit of a
drive, especially since we had taken Industrial Way around Longview instead of
our usual route through the city. The regular bacon burger was huge with two
beef patties and we got the regular fries which filled a container and then
part of the meal bag. Much refreshed, but a bit stuffed, we got back on
I-5 after negotiating a poorly marked detour and headed north. We got home
around 2000 to temperatures in the 60s, a welcome change from the heat around
Woodrat.
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