Jerry’s Flat Scenic Route

Gold Beach, Oregon

As I was doing laundry on Tuesday I noticed a “scenic route” map near the office and laundry area which I rapidly became familiar with.  We need to find a place to stay after this campground to help fill the gap before we go back to Alfred Loeb State Park down in Brookings.  I want to get to Loeb around the 23rd, so that we can stay there for two weeks, which takes us through Labor Day. 

About six miles up Jerry’s Flat is a county camp ground called Huntley Park.  What I did not know was if there was an adequate Internet connection at Huntley Park for us.  So today we took the scenic route up Jerry’s Flat Road to visit Huntley Park, and then continue along the scenic route over Lobster Creek Bridge and back down to Gold Beach on the other side of the Rogue River.

    

The four pictures above of the Rogue River were taken during our drive today.  The Rogue River is a beautiful river in the is area…lots of water right now, room for more water during times of high rains, and just some wonderful views when you can find the views through the dense brush and forest along the route.  Enough views that it is worth the 20 mile drive.  We did it in our motorhome, and had no problems, although there are two one lane bridges, and about a half of mile of no divider line showing both lanes.

Here is the route we took today, although we did go into Gold Beach to check out a few things…including the free dump station at the Gold Beach Public Works Department on 5th street.  When we stay at Huntley Park, there is no dump station…so we will need to drive to Gold Beach 4 days into our stay to empty our tanks.

We drove through Huntley Park and saw about 6 or 7 empty spots, and all the spots can easily fit our motorhome.  Took a picture of their information board…and it will cost us $77 for a week.  There are no hookups, but there is plenty of sun, so I think we can keep our batteries charges with small amount of generator time…or engine time if we feel the noise would bother others.  The park is 6 miles inland, so the temps will be cool.

Lobster Creek National Forest Campground is just 2 1/2 miles up Jerry’s Flat road, and was right on our path…so we pulled in.  The website I looked at said there were 7 camping spots, 3 or 4 for small RVs.  Well, we saw 2 site, besides the camp host site, which could fill the bill.  But the biggest thing was that Internet really was bad…1 bar 3G and it came in and out (without booster or antenna.)  One bar of 3G, compared to 2-3 bars of 3G at Huntley’s, or 1 bar of 4G at Huntley’s…easy choice.  Lobster Creek would only cost us $4 per day…but without Internet, it just won’t do.  There are other NF campgrounds up the river…but they won’t have Internet either, so we just crossed the single lane bridge going over the Rogue River and started our way back.

This area of the Rogue River is ‘ripe’ for boat tours, and there seems to be a few different outfits in Gold Beach who fill the bill for those who wish to cram into a boat and head up river for 15-25 miles.

It is also a paradise for  the canoe and kayak enthusiast.  This couple looked like they were really enjoying their outing.

      

Of course, this time of year the big thing is fishing.  Picture upper left I took on my walk the other day…picture right shows the boats out at the river where it meets the Pacific.  (If you click on the picture you will see there are many more boats out there closer to the Pacific).  The Salmon are just starting to run… in a few weeks they are having their annual Fishing Derby sponsored by the the Curry Sport Fishing and the Gold Beach Rotary Clubs.

We also were able to get a good picture of the Gold Beach Bridge, one of the numerous Conde McCullough bridges which are along US 101 in Oregon.  We first learned about McCullough back in 2012, and we enjoy seeing his bridges along the coast.  Back in 2013 we took a picture similar to this one above.  Many of his bridges have interesting Gothic spires.

We have really enjoyed our stay here at Indian Creek RV Park in Gold Beach.  We have four more nights, and then on Monday we will try and get into Huntley Park.  There are a few options if that fails, but I think we will be able to get into the park after the weekend.  I cannot see a time limit at Huntley Park, but I am sure you can stay at least a week because they have a weekly rate. 

To Tri-City Oregon

As we were getting ready to leave Coos Bay, 10:30 am, the skies were overcast with patches of blue showing through.

It remained that way for about 50 of the 90 miles we traveled from Coos Bay to Tri-City.

   

Marcia does a good job getting sites along the way.  My motto is, “If you don’t take the picture, then I can’t use it.”  She takes many pictures, and I pull out the best ones that I can.  In the upper left is a view of Cedar Point.  On the right is the Coquille River about 40 miles toward Tri-City from Coos Bay along state highway 42. 

By the time we get to the Tenmile Community, the sky is blue, the wind is light, and the temps are going up.

Our route takes us by the On the River Golf-RV Resort where we stayed back in late May of this year.  We could have stayed here again I suppose, but we are just looking for an overnighter with electricity because we are not use to the 85-90 degree temps after nearly three weeks of being away from such temps.

We pull off the freeway at 12:30 and I know the park office closes at 12 noon for lunch…I thought they reopened at 1 pm.  So I pull off at this pullout along old Highway 99 in front of this bridge.  Marcia sees these kids down under the bridge and wonders if they are skinny dipping.

At first I said no, but then I said, YEP…as I see the girl on the right put her grey top back on.  With her top on, I don’t mind taking a picture…before it just gawking…I mean, casual viewing with the naked eye (pun intended).  But what I am really wondering is….the bridge. 

(Later I take this picture of the bridge as I go out to the store…all nudity has left the beach.)  Anyway, as we were sitting there earlier gawking, I mean, admiring the bridge, I say, “I wonder if it is a Conde McCullough bridge?”  Marcia, seeing this plaque along the roadway, says, “Get a close up of that plaque”.

Yep, I was right. I have developed an eye for Conde’s bridges…we first admired them in 2012 and continue to admire them to this day.

We are at the Tri-City RV Park, a Passport America park…$14.14 per night.  I was wrong as to when they opened after lunch, it is really 3 pm.  (So we sat there admiring the naked bridge for nothing!)  They have a real nice “self check-in procedure” for when the office is closed, so we found us a site, and checked ourselves in. 

Those of us who have used Passport America enough know there are good parks, and bad parks, and everything in between.  This one has a dog run, self enclosed, only thing missing is grass.  Overall, this park is a good park, for $14 it is a great park.

When I was with the dogs in the Dog Run, without my camera, I saw two helicopters take off and head east over the mountain…it was easy to see, with the long cord hanging down with a water basket attached, that they were fighting a fire.  Since I needed to go to the store, and the small municipal airport was along the way, I went over to it and saw this helicopter landing.  Not a fire fighting helicopter in the sense of dropping water, but I think it has something to do with surveillance of the fire. 

   

This helicopter was part of the fire fighting for sure. 

It is part of the Coulson Group, a Canadian group and this helicopter is down in this area on contract to fight the fires east of Roseburg.  You can see the big orange bucket laying in the foreground.  Unfortunately, I never did get one of these taking off and headed back to the fire.

On my way to the store, after getting pictures of the naked bridge, there is this sign that says, “Covered Bridge”, and the arrow points both ways.  We had already seen the one which is right along Old Highway 99, so I took the detour to find the other one.  This is is…the Neal Lane Bridge, built in 1939 (which makes it 75 years old…don’t ask me why that did not take any math to figure out).  It is the shortest covered bridge in Oregon at only 42 feet.

Here it is from the other side…I was surprised that you could drive through it.  However, 3 ton limit, which is 6,000 pounds…so only cars and light trucks and SUVs.  It CREAKS when you drive over it!!!

But the wood work is something else….

The other bridge, which we saw on the way to the RV park, is called the Horse Creek Bridge, and is now a foot bridge. Although it is longer, I think the other bridge is in better condition.

Tri-City is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon. With a population of 3,900 in 2010, the community is named for the three cities among which it is centered: Myrtle Creek, Canyonville and Riddle. The Tri City School District probably originated the name, which was later adopted by the local sewer district.  Douglas County has a population of around 110,000, so these three communities and the area known as Tri-city make up a small portion of the counties population.

Coos Bay, Not Picturesque Day

  

We knew our luck could not hold out…the overcast along the coast did not go away all day along our route today.  Both of the above are Pacific Ocean shots, trust me…

   

We passed over a number of bridges…none of which were captured in the glory that Conde McCullough designed them in.  Many of the bridges along the Oregon Coast were designed by McCullough…he loved to incorporate architectural details such as Gothic spires, art deco obelisks, and Romanesque arches.

   

As we got closer to Coos Bay the route went a bit inland, and the sun did shine a bit.  Wish it shined along the ocean because that ocean view is very pretty.

We are at the Mill Casino in Coos Bay.  We have been here three times now, and each time it was with a different motorhome.  Only thing is, they charge $15 now…previously it was free.  The sun did shine a bit, but I didn’t get my picture of the place until the overcast came in.  Temps have been running anywhere from low 60s to low 70s.

Mom got her surgery date today, sometime in mid-September if I remember what my sister told me…but they are going to try and move it up “if” they can because mom really wants to get this over with.