Oregon Coast Sept 9

From our Foster Bar takeout we drove the long windy road out along the Rogue River to the southern Oregon coast, surprised by the sunny skies we had to assume were a rarity for the area. After a botched attempt at food truck fish & chips in Gold Beach, we regrouped at a pizza place and came up with a plan for our next several days. Driving south, we stopped at many of the pleasant roadside Oregon State park pullouts, overlooks, and trails. I stopped to fly a drone over the seastacks at Meyers Creek Beach while Heather contented herself with searching for sand dollars and other beach treasures.

Next we took a maze of trails through the coastal forest, eventually ending at a 40 foot handline rope down a muddy slope to the edge of a creek. A 100 foot stroll down the cascading creek spilled us out onto one of the most scenic beaches I have been to on the Pacific coast. Offshore a cluster of seastacks guarded this protected little beach and a spire created a gap that we had to time waves to cross through to the rest of the beach. There were a few other groups on the beach but all things considered this seemed to be a hidden gem that undoubtedly would be overrun if it was on say California's Big Sur coast. It was hard to resist panorama photos with the expansive scenery. There were also nice subtle details like cliff-hugging succulents and delicate flowers. We continued on to the north end of the beach where we spotted the "real" trail down and instead took it up to make a loop. 

After, we made a stop a short distance further to check out the overlook of the double archway that led to a cliff-walled beach (neat but terrible lighting for photos). Driving south, we found the campgrounds in and around Jedediah Smith Redwoods SP to be full. An 11 mile detour up the scenic Smith River valley brought us to Panther Flat, which I have to say is one of the very best established campsites I have stayed at so kudos to the local USFS. Reasonably priced, spread out spaces, nice river access, great trees, and hot showers to boot. Also quiet and laid back, the campground was nearly empty. We strolled down to the river and I enjoyed checking out some of the interesting ultramafic rocks. All in all a nice afternoon of playing tourist ending at a great place to spend the night.