San Diego or Bust, August 2017 Part 1

It’s finally here, VACATION! San Diego here we come! Wayne and I are on our way to San Diego to attend our niece’s wedding reception on August 19^th. When we told our travel group, they all volunteered to come along.  You know, to keep us out of trouble.

Monday Day 1

Destination: Hillsboro, OR

Word of the day:  SMOKEY  

Miles: 256

The fires are burning in British Columbia and flooding the area with smoke.  All the way south it was…smokey!

We kept to the foothills before going west at Snoqualmie, via SR 18 to Hobart.  Then it was south to Enumclaw, Eatonville and down Highway 7 to Morton. We went west on Highway 12, crossed under I-5 and ran parallel to the freeway to Longview.  Then once we crossed the Columbia we took 2 lane roads over the little mountains and into Forest Grove to gas up.  We ended our day at Lyon’s house in Hillsboro.  Bob and Cindy arrived in time for pizza, and Lyon’s cool new neighbors brought us cookies!!  Life is good.

Ready to go!!!

Tuesday-Day 2

Destination:  Whittaker Creek CG, OR

Word of the day:  FOG

Critter count:     Tiny buck (spike), Eagle, Turkeys, Coyote and the typical kamikaze chipmunks 

Miles: 260

On the road by 8am, it seems to still be the normal leave time.  We headed down to Carlton in the smoke, then out to the coast on little mountain roads; Meadow Lake, Camp Cooper, Bald Mountain and Nestucca River roads.  So fun, narrow little twisty, moss covered roads!

Cindy, Bob, Wayne and Lyon

Then on to US 101 where we headed south. The lower we got, the colder and foggier it was.

 Coastal fog on the 101

 South of Lincoln City

Fog

Then it was left on the Siletz Hwy. Wow!!! 25 miles of hoots and hollers, and Wayne’s favorite “Yeah, baby!” Then Hwy 180 down to Blodgett for lunch

Nice of them to put out a table for us 

After lunch we took Hwy’s 20 & 34 to Alsea where we took off on another Paved Mountain Trail. That is what the Butler Map folks call them. 1-1.5 lane roads, mostly paved, totally fun! Then down to Mapleton for gas and to pick up dinner before heading to Whittaker Creek Campground for the night.

Parked at camp

Tents ready to go

 Water front property 

Wednesday-Day 3

Destination:  Powers, OR

Words of the Day:  Road Closed Ahead

Miles:  232

We had a nice night, although a little humid. We were all up by 6:30 and on the road by 7:45. We headed off down the Siuslaw road, despite the Road Closed Ahead sign we had passed. Good thing we turned off on the Esmond road before the closure! Then it was down to the Smith River Road which we followed to Highway 101.

 Pit stop along the Smith River. Bob looks ready for Alaska

 Lyon and Wayne at the boat launch

Interesting place

We took a quick trip into Reedsport to the Ace Hardware. Then we went east on Highway 38 until we turned right on Loon Lake Road.  I had an alternate route planned but when we got 8 miles in we found another Road Closed Ahead sign. Oh brother! So, we turned around and headed back to the original route on Hwy 38. At Elkton we headed south on Hwy 138. Then we cut over to Umpqua for lunch. We pulled into a bakery cafe for lunch. The food was really good, even Lyon liked it even if it was a vegetarian restaurant.  We got gas in Melrose and headed to the Coos Bay Wagon road.  This turned into gravel and we had more on-coming traffic that we have seen on any of the little Paved Mountain Trails. 

 Falls along today's dirt section

Wayne, Lyon, Cindy and Bob

We went through Myrtle Point and on to Hwy 542 down to Powers County Park for the night. We got behind an RV and a pick-up and they were going sooo slow. Once the RV pulled over the truck took off like a rocket and Wayne swears the truck was begging him to give chase! So, it was a quick trip down into camp!!! Once we set up camp the rest of our group arrived. Dave with his very patient wife Loretta riding 2 up on his bike and their friend Darryl. So now the gang is all here!

Camp at Powers

Thursday--Day 4

Destination: Idlewild CG, California

Word of the day: Detour

Miles: 256

Critter Count: 3 deer, some turkeys

It rained last night! Two times! Well I must admit it was about 16 drops on our tent each time, but still, it was rain. As a group, we sure moved fast breaking camp.  We were on the road by 7:30. We thought we were going to have a gasoline issue as 5 of us expected to get gas in Powers, only to find the only station in town didn’t open until 9am.  Opps! We decided to go forward and try to find some along the way.  We headed south on the Rogue-Coquille Backcountry Scenic Byway. Nice twisty road that we knew was going to turn to gravel. Which it did and lasted about 12 miles.  It was paved again once we got to the Rogue River. We were planning on taking Forest Road 23, a skinny little paved road that the rafters use to ferry their trailers over to the take out to collect their rafts. When we got there, Road Closed.  Period. We pulled over and figured out a route that would take us down to Highway 101 to another Highway that would go west. So, off we go, only to find official Detour signs about 1 mile down the road. Yippee!! We took a left on the Agness Road which started as paved, but turned to gravel and changed its name to County Road 425. It was a 20 mile long, well signed Detour!  They even had “confidence arrows”, signs where there wasn’t an intersection. Just so you’d know you were still on the correct route. We then joined FR 23 for the run down to Bear Camp road and eventually to the Rogue River again.

We darted into Merlin to get gas.  Being 3 miles from I-5, it was too close so we turned back west and headed towards lunch in Cave Junction. Then it was a left turn onto the Caves Highway where we turned off on an assortment of county roads on our way to Happy Camp CA. Then down Hwy 96 to the Scott River to Greenview and on to the Brewery in Etna CA. Wayne had a Russian Imperial Stout, big thumbs up.  

Then we continued on to Idlewild Campground for the night. While in town we had really big thunder booms.  The storm followed us to camp and of course the sky opened up and we got rained on. Once the tents were set up the rain stopped and we had a pleasant night in camp, although we did 'tarp up'. 

 Ready for the rain!

Darryl, Loretta, Bob and Cindy

Next stop--Wyatt's house