The Big Escape

 

Heading into the Redwoods, Northern Cal

Yes, we have temporarily left the Sacramento area.  We are currently at Huntley Park, Gold Beach Oregon...one of our favorite places to just kickback and camp, enjoying the peacefulness and friendly atmosphere that we enjoy here.  Thursday we left the upcoming 100 degree weather, drove to Bear River Casino near Eureka where we stayed the night, and continued on to Huntley Park Friday.  We will be here until Monday when we continue up the coast.  

Ferndale is known as the "Victorian Village" because its entire downtown resides on the National Register of Historic Places.  

It has been a comfortable ride.  Drove through the Clear Lake area, through the Redwoods, and a side trip to Ferndale, a quaint little town near the Bear River Casino.  Got gas at the Casino gas station paying $5.65 a gallon, way less than the $6+ offered at regular stations.

Bear River Casino

The Bear River Casino Resort is owned and operated by the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria.The Bear River Band is a federally recognized Native American tribe composed primarily of Mattole, Bear River, and Wiyot people.

 

Friday we enjoyed a nice drive along the Newton B Drury - Redwood Scenic Parkway, in the Redwood National and State Parks.  Traffic along Highway 101 was not too bad, a few ongoing construction zones, but no long waits.  In Brookings Oregon we stopped at Fred Meyers for some gas, low $5 range, and groceries. 

Camp at Huntley Park

Arriving at Huntley Park around 2 pm, we were greeted by the park manager Shawn, who after 6 years still remembers us.  We have not moved the van since parking.  The only slight downside was needing the generator running to operate our AC yesterday for 3-4 hours due to the 90 degree weather.  FYI: when we first started coming to Huntley Park in 2017.  In 2019 we were going to be here for most of the summer...but Dad went into the hospital, then rehab.  He survived that scare, but not the one in November...we all sure miss him.  Then COVID hit, and as the years went by, we just never made it back to Huntley Park until this year.  Part of me wants to stay the remaining 3 weeks of our planned trip sitting right here...but there are other places we want to return to...and one new National Park to visit...so tomorrow we will continue up the coast.

One of my favorite Cooper Pics from Nancy's Blog

 Our hearts go out to our blogging friend Nancy who lost her BEST BUDDY Cooper to heart failure a couple days ago.  We know how hard it is to lose a dog, especially a great companion that Cooper was.  So sorry for your loss...and your hurting Nancy  Read her blog about Cooper HERE:   

 

We also heard a couple of weeks ago that Gerry, Marcia's oldest friends, passed away with Gerry's daughter Ruth holding her in bed.  A quick and peaceful passing, but it leaves a huge hole in Marcia's heart.  We just saw Gerry back on March 29th.  You can read about that visit HERE:    Above is one of my favorite pictures of Marcia and Gerry, taken back in January of 2016, Amelia Island, Florida.  YES, that is Skruffy on Marcia's lap.

 

An RV–Camping Wedding

Huntley Park, near Gold Beach Oregon

As we came back from Gold Beach yesterday there was a sign and arrow which said something about a wedding here in the park.  Apparently the wedding including a large campout in a group area of the park.  Above was the conclusion of the wedding ceremony…but they partied well into the early night.

    

On the left he is putting on her ring, on the right she is putting on his ring.

As you can see, I was very far away from the wedding, sitting on a park bench, hiding between the large tree on the right, and the brush on the left.

This is how close our motorhome was to where the wedding took place, which was essentially behind that group of trees there in the middle of the picture.

I got this picture about four hours before the wedding was to start…which was suppose to be 3 pm.  In the true “RV Flexibility” way of life…it started more like 4 pm.

Probably the only drawback to the weddings location is that it was right on the main entrance.  Here is a Porsche which I thought, as it pulled into the park, was here for the wedding…but instead it did a tour of the park and here it is exiting.  It had Florida plates on it, but something tells me that “if” they are RVers, they pull it in a trailer.

Due to the delay, someone got out a couple bottles of “bubbles”, and put a bunch of bubbles up into the air.  These two youngsters were trying to catch some…I think they would rather be the ones blowing the bubbles instead of the adults who were going around doing so.

These fellow campers had a front row seat right from their campsite…which made me feel better since even at the distance I was, I felt like I was intruding just a bit.

  

Above are just two pictures which show the wedding party.  In the one on the left, yes, that groomsman has short pants on.  In the picture on the right, yes, that groomsman has something on his head…as shown in the picture to the right.  Yes, a camouflage cap, worn backwards, of course.  The lady with the “see-through-dress” seemed to be the wedding coordinator.  She was giving the signal for each of the couples to start their walk, and she had a basket of flower petals for the flower girl which she was to hand to her as she walked by…probably didn’t want the young girl to drop the basket ahead of time…but that plan did not work because the coordinator dropped it, spilling many of the flower petals.  She picked up many of them, and handed the basket to the young girl who proceeded to walk up the right hand side, and not the center aisle way.  But the coordinator got her back on track, and the bride was ready for her entrance. 

Tried to get a picture of one of her occasional tossing out of petals, but to no avail.  Thank goodness the Bride’s Maid of Honor had scattered some petals on the ground before the wedding started.

With that, the bride makes her entrance….and that pretty much competes the wedding story since I covered the ceremony at the start of the post.

Took this picture above at noon, just could not believe these four prime river spots were open on a Saturday…three which are back-in (or head-in) towards the river, and the far one which is one of the few pull-through where you are parallel to the river.  Of course, less than 15 minutes after I took this, a fellow Floridian pulled in with his long Class C pulling a trailer with a “Trike” motorcycle in it.  He said that a guy in Clearwater built the Trike for him.  Later, the other sites filled up too…but it just shows that prime spots can be found here just about every day…the last of these four spots filled at 4:30.

We won’t be able to see the solar eclipse, unless it happens to be an unusual Oregon Coastal Morning on Monday the 21st.

Every morning the costal fog has not burned off until 11 am at the earliest. The eclipse is suppose to hit our area starting at 9:02, with maximum at 10:14 where it will be 94% coverage in this area of Oregon.

This is one of the first evenings that the fog had not rolled back in yet when the sun was eclipsed by the mountain to our west…that is the closest thing to a sunset we are going to get around here.

Up The River

Huntley Park, Gold Beach Area, Oregon

No, not in prison...just moved up the Rogue River by about 7 miles.  Our week at Indian Creek is up, and we moved to Huntley Park, just like we thought.  There are around a dozen or more sites open when we arrived, and three which were up against the river.  We took #6, which is close to the entrance, right across from the host, and lots of sun for the solar panel.

Walked across the road to the host station and paid up for a week, only $77.  There is water in the park to fill our tanks, no dump station, so we will be traveling down the 8 miles to the free dump station in Gold Beach on Thursday.  Our plans are to be here for two weeks, the maximum stay.  Since we “have” to pass by Indian Creek when we do leave, we have reservations for two nights starting two weeks from today so that we can do laundry, take massive showers (instead of these very quick showers we take with no sewer hookups), and get on their WiFi again.  Speaking of their WiFi…overall ‘most of the time’ it is pretty good.  Clocked speeds of up to 20 mbs while there.  However, every night around 6 or 7, and through 10 or 11, it really slowed down.  There were also times that we just got knocked off…not both of us, sometimes me, sometimes Marcia, sometimes the Kindle…to get back on again we typically had to restart our computer.  So outside of those “hick-ups”, I was pleased with it as RV Park WiFi’s go.

It is SO NICE to be out of the crowded park and back to a more ‘nature state’.  (No mom, I am not running around in the nude…that is a different son.)

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. 

Indian Creek and Rogue River, Best Picture I have ever taken of an Osprey

Gold Beach, Oregon

This is the bridge I have to cross a couple of times each day as I take the doggies on their walk.  The RV Park gives you three options as to “where to walk the dogs”, and this is the best option.  Tried the option across the street today, and it just is not good.  There is another option in the back of the park near the tents…but I still feel walking over Indian Creek is the best.

This is a shot of Indian Creek while on the bridge…not much of a creek right now, but during the “wet season” or a good rain storm, it does get pretty high.  Up stream about 1/3 of a mile is the Indian Creek Salmon Hatchery, which had its beginnings in 1906 by Robert Deniston Hume, and was completely operated and finance by the Hume family for many years.  In 1926 the State of Oregon ran the hatchery, but closed it in the mid-1930’s.  In 1983 the Knox family, (Bob, Charles and Scott), built a hatchery building, received approximately 200,000 “eyed” eggs from the Cole River Hatchery, which were hatched young fish were eventually released through a pipe into Indian Creek. When the salmon returned years later, some pairs were kept at the hatchery, some were transported further up Indian Creek, and others were transported to various creeks feeding the lower Rogue River.  Today the hatchery is a joint effort of the State of Oregon and the Curry Anadromous Fishermen who, with others, volunteer over 4,000 hours per year in the hatchery.

Took me a little walk towards the hatchery…and saw some signs in the distance.

    

Well, it looks like they don’t mind having visitors when the know the visitors are coming…otherwise, stay away…so I turned around and walked back to the RV Park.

Monday afternoon when I took the dogs for a walk, I saw this Osprey nest up in a tall tree…at the time the adult Osprey was in another tree.  Today, I caught it sitting near the nest.  On my way back from the road to the hatchery, I caught it in the nest.  There was a lot of noise coming from the nest, but I did not see any of the young ones…but I am certain they are there.

Despite having lots of Osprey in Florida where we live…this is the best picture I have ever taken of one.  It is a beauty.

    

Across the street from the RV Park entrance (picture upper left) is a turnout and parking area with access to the Rogue River for fisherman and hikers (picture upper right).  So before I went walking toward the fish hatchery, I decided to take a walk to Rogue River.  Glad to see the Rotary Sign at the entrance to forest infested trail down to the river, with blackberry vines all along the way.  

Fairly quickly came to a “Y” intersection…decided to take the left turn instead of the right turn.  After walking a long ways, and passing this Rotary Bench, which is turned facing a bunch of brush for some odd reason, I realized about halfway there that it was headed to the Rogue River Bridge in Gold Beach, .8 miles from the RV Park.  So I turned around, and when I got the bench, I took a little rest despite the board holding up the back of the bench.

Got back to the “Y” intersection and took the right path, which turned out to be the right path to take…soon I was at river’s edge.  The Rogue River is a river we are familiar with…just not here near the Pacific Ocean.  Back in 2012, we were camping in Prospect Oregon…and on a walk, Skruffy fell into the Rogue River.  Thank goodness she was on leash, and she swam back to shore and I was able to help her back up out of the water.  Cold and scared, she shook it off. 

It is Salmon season, and there are lots of fisherman around.  Heard a number of boats while walking along the river, but this is the only one I saw.

In the picture above, the water to the far right is Indian Creek, as it enter into the much larger Rogue River.  Found a log to sit on and just enjoyed the view for a bit.  Only problem was…the log was very close to the ground…not the easiest position to try and get one’s self up from, but since the only three people I saw down at the river walking had already left, I pretty much just made a fool of myself getting up to myself.  Of course, I wouldn’t have asked for help had anyone been around…just thankful they were gone.  Note to self:  “Next time you sit on a log, be sure it is a larger log about the height of a chair”