Tuesday August 29th

In the morning I drove to the beach next to the camp. It was a pretty beach, with a stream going into it, and a large bridge spanning it, from the highway well above, which made for some good photos.

Seaside Creek Beach not far along the route had more huge chunks or rock in the water, and a house perched on a rocky cliff jutting into the water. It would be an interesting place to live, with amazing views, though I did wonder how long it would stay there!

Westport-Union Beach, a little further along, had a quiet campground, and I stopped and had a little walk around the cliffs next to the coast. The cliffs weren’t very tall, but here were great views in both directions. There was a fair bit to see that day, and I didn’t go down to the beach itself.

It was clear there had been a good deal of erosion of the cliffs over time. There was a road that at one stage had perhaps gone around the coast side of the campground, which was now not in use, part of it sticking out over the cliff!

From here the road went up away from the coast into the hills for quite a while. At this point Highway 1 disappeared, merging with Highway 101 for the rest of the trip up the coast. It was still just one lane each way mostly though. The part of coast the highway goes around is called the Lost Coast, a more wilderness-like section of coast, though there is a minor sealed road going through it. I didn’t have time to make that journey though, and stuck to the main highway.

Driving up into the hills, the road started getting into majestic redwood forest again. Near a town called Leggett is the famous Drive-Thru Tree or Chandelier Tree, a redwood that at one time had a hole cut in the trunk, big enough for cars to drive through. The trunk is so large that there is enough left for the tree to keep living. I visited there to have a look. My van was too large to go through, but I saw cars driving through it, and had a look at the forest around it. There was a souvenir shop there, where I got a reminder of the place.

A bit further along was Richardson Grove State Park, another large redwood forest. I read about how this area became popular in the 1910s and 1920s as first a railroad was established that went nearby, then Highway 101 was built, which I had used to get there. There was a historic lodge which I think may have been a museum now. I made some lunch there and ate it at a picnic area near a stream, then did a little bit of hiking.

Not far after this was the Avenue of the Giants, a road that came off the main highway and again wound through forests of these huge trees. The road went roughly parallel to the main highway, a slower scenic route. There was a road closure blocking off the start of this, but it connected with the main highway at a few points, and I followed a section of it, to get the feel of it. The Avenue is about 50km long, but time was getting on, so I just drove along part of it.

After a couple of hours the road returned to the coast, and went by a place called Trinidad, home to Trinidad Head, a high hill or bluff jutting into the ocean, with a good beach next to it. As with a lot of the coast along California and Oregon, it wasn’t particularly crowded – there were quite a few people around, but there was plenty of space for everyone. It was a lovely day, and I got my feet wet at the beach, then climbed the head. The views were lovely from the top, looking over forested bays and hills in the distance.

The road left the beach again for about 20km, for the famous Redwood National Park which I got to around five. I got some more close-up views of these amazing trees, and parked along the road near the entrance of one of the trails. The van looked tiny next to the trees. I went for a short hike along one of the trails, visiting the so-called Big Tree, which was 286 feet high, and estimated to be about 1,500 years old! Further along was a place called Trees of Mystery, apparently some kind of theme park. You had to pay to get in, and it sounded as though it was a place where you would spend the day, rather than having a quick look in, so I gave it a miss.

Toward the end of the day I entered Oregon, with my destination, Harris Beach State Park not far over the border, just out of the town of Brookings. I got there about 7pm. It had been another day of demanding winding roads, with a strong headwind, and sometimes also side winds pushing against the van. The campground was right next to the beach, with a rough trail down to it, and also to a lookout above it. There were a lot of trees and bushes through the campground, and the site I’d picked backed onto a good stand of trees again, giving some privacy. And the next few nights I had the convenience of powered sites, for the first time in a while.

It was while backing into this campsite I think that I noticed something dripping from the van as it had backed. I wondered if it was coolant, but there didn’t seem to be any way to see the level without opening the tank, which couldn’t be done while it was hot. I thought it was probably condensation from the air conditioner, since it had been pretty warm. But in retrospect, events that happened later suggested it quite likely was coolant leaking!

I walked down to the beach just on sunset, about five minutes from my campsite. Getting down required a bit of scrambling over rocks. A couple was sitting part way down enjoying the view, and I think eating dinner too. The beach had the usual large rocky outcrops in the sea, and I was blessed with seeing the sun and large rocks reflecting on the wet beach as the sun sank below the horizon. It was a lovely evening, and there weren’t a lot of people around. I made dinner in the last of the light.

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