Should I go inland? Or continue on the coast?

August 12, 2017

I’m at a critical decision point in my quest for sunshine!  When traveling on the Pacific coast, there are only a few good roads to take east over the mountains, especially with an RV.  Today I would be coming to Hwy 199, which goes inland to Grant’s Pass.  If I don’t take 199, then I am committed to traveling up the coast for a ways.  It is still hot inland, like high 90s, 100s.  I would like to go to Grant’s Pass and then on to Crater Lake National Park.  But there are two wildfires burning in the park. When I viewed the online webcam, you could barely see the lake and sections of the park roads are closed.  It is cooler along the coast and I had talked to some folks who were traveling south from Oregon who said it hadn’t been as foggy there as northern California. So after some deliberation, I decide to continue on the 101 up the Oregon coast.

Saturday morning I awake to another rainy day!  I hitch up and head north on the 101.  The are tons of state parks all along the Oregon Coast.  But they fill up fast with reservations needing to be made months in advance.  I checked with a couple and no vacancies.  So my plan is to drive north to Sixes, OR.  There I will drive inland a few miles to Edson Creek Campground operated by the BLM.  With my parks pass it will be $4 for one night.  Also, tonight is the peak of the Perseid Meteor shower, so I hope by going inland a few miles, the sky will be clear enough to see some of the meteors.

So off I go.  It is about 120 miles to the Oregon state line. At the state line, the highway jogs west to follow right along the ocean.  There is a large parking area on the west side of the highway.  I pull over and this is what I see…

Finally!  I see the Pacific Ocean!

Oh my gosh, it’s blue sky, sunshine and a gorgeous view of the ocean. This is the first time I have actually been able to see the ocean.  And it is so beautiful. I hope this portends good things ahead 🙂

After soaking in this amazing scenery for a bit, I continue north.  There were several more views like this along the way.  It was just amazing!

I arrive at Edson Creek Campground around 3pm.  I get the last site available – woohoo!  The site was level and long enough that I could back up far enough that the Beast was off the road.  So I didn’t need to unhitch which is great since I’m only here tonight.  It was comfortably warm when I arrived and….sunny!!!!  It was nice enough that I got out my grill to fix supper.

The clearing that the campground was in was a little smaller than I had expected and is surrounded by fairly tall trees.  When it got dark, the sky was mostly clear.  I walked out to the main road which was a little more open than the campground.  I saw quite a few meteors, and they were really bright!  Right now I am very happy that I choose to stay on the coast.