Day Trip to Agness—Population 100

At Huntley Park, Gold Beach Oregon

 

Agness Oregon (yes, spelled with an extra ‘S’) is 28 miles up the river from Gold Beach, about 20 miles from Hensley Park where we are staying, and has a general population of around 100 people.  It is known for essentially two things…good fishing/hunting, and a stop for the River Jetboat Tourist excursions.

Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go, and on that boat, there ain’t no where to go.  Ok, now don’t let the above image stop you from taking the tour boat…the $65-$100 price might stop you, but the boat does stop at a small resort area in Agness, and yes, they have flushing toilets.  The first four pictures “IS” Agness…the Country Store (just reopened after being closed for a few years), the Community Building, the Public LIbrary/City Park (in a old 2 room school house which shut its doors in 2010) and the Post Office (which is one of two Post Offices in the country that still get their mail delivered by river boat).

Lucas Resort is along the Rogue River just after the Illinois River dumps into the Rogue River.  Cougar Lane Lodge and Singing Springs Resort are the two stops that the Jet Boats use to allow people to get out, take care of business, and eat lunch if they desire. These resorts are next to each other, and if two or more boats are docked at the same time, you had better get to it (lunch and your business) because you only have an hour.

The views of the Rogue River are just spectacular.  Getting to Agness is a bit awkward…you travel up the road along the south side of the river, go past Agness by 3 miles, cross the river, and then travel back along the north side of the river where Agness is located.  The two middle pictures show views from the bridge over the Rogue River, with the left one looking up river, and the right one looking down river. (Yes, I just stopped on the bridge, got my pictures, and got back into the car…not any traffic whatsoever.)

This bridge above is the south side road, known as the Agness Road or Agness Highway, and it is crossing the Illinois River right before it empties into the Rogue River. 

The upper picture is a view of the Rogue River right after the Illinois River merges, and in the upper left by that building, you can see the spot where the bottom picture was taken from.  Yes, we went down that little steep dirt road, got to (not on) the sandy beach and decided that was not going to happen (although there are tracks from other vehicles, most likely 4 wheel drive vehicles)...I had to back up that dirt road until I could turn around because I did not want to get stuck in that hard sand.  I still have the fingernail marks on my right arm from Marcia who was either scared, or mad..I still don’t know which.  Bottom line, we made it out just fine…(and no, I really don’t have marks in my arm, that was a joke…but she really hates it when I go down these dirt roads.)

If one desires to bypass Agness, they can go up the Bear Camp route, with warning signs, all the way to Grants Pass, about 55 miles away.  It is a paved, mostly single lane road, which, in the winter, is not maintained and has been the demise of numerous people who, in late fall/early winter, traveled this route (mostly due to GPS commands), got stuck in snow, and froze to death.  If you were coming west along Bear Camp, you would see this directional sign as you merged onto the Agness Road...left to Gold Beach, right to Agness.

 

On the south side of the river (remember, Agness is on the north side of the river) is the Agness RV Park, with a Grocery Store, Dump Station, WiFi, and rates of $34 per day, $204 per week, $329 for two weeks, $440 for three weeks, and $475 for a month..but with metered electricity.  These are for full hookups, with WiFi and Cable TV.  Now, here is the kicker…there is NO VERIZON CELL PHONE SERVICE (there is AT&T) after you pass Huntley Park.  “IF” you have a smart phone, I am sure you can make calls hooking up to the WiFi which reviews say is spotty most of the time.  All of the reviews at campgroundreviews.com are positive with the only negative mentions is the “long, winding road for 28 miles from highway 101”.  Many people are calling this area "New Agness".  The RV Grocery Store stole so much of Agness' business, that the Grocery Store in "Old Agness" shut down for a few years...just reopening this year.

Halfway between Gold Beach and Agness is the Quosatana National Forest Campground. 

It is a lovely 43 sites campground, $20 per night, $10 with senior pass.  Like Huntley there is no electric hookups, and water stations to fill your tanks, BUT it does have a dump station, BUT no cell phone signal at all from any company outside of satellites.  During this very busy fishing season, it was about 3/4 full.  There are small and large campsites, and it is first come, first serve park.  The picture at bottom is the fish cleaning station, which stands away from all of the campsites not far from the boat launch, and has closing garage style doors to keep the bears out, and a garbage disposal to rid the remains of the fish.  BEARS?  Yes, there are bears…just a mile down the road from the campground we saw some Quail cross the road, then a fawn…and 1/10th of a mile later we saw a black bear…both of which ran quickly away before we could get a picture of them.  Later we saw a young buck as we got closer to Agness.  We struck out getting pictures of any of them.  It took us four hours to get to Agness and back...thank goodness for that potty station!