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”