Lost Coast....almost.

Driving the beach off Fort Stevens.  Wreck of the Peter Iredale.

One last opportunity to take off for a week or so before heading east in late February.  More on this trip later but it will consist of being on the road for about four months.  Tiffany had a business trip down to Arizona last week so Petey and I decided to head down to the Lost Coast in Northern California for some roaming about time.  Having been several times it is the highlight of the west coast area.  Always a gamble to go this time of the year due to the weather but we figured what the hell, how bad can it be.  As it turned out, pretty bad....towards the end of the trip.  As I'm typing this I just heard over the radio that the bay area has received more rain in January since they began tracking rainfall.   Since we had no itinerary or set destination it wasn't that big of a deal. First few days were good, last few not so much.  A good time was still had. One major benefit of traveling this area during the winter months is lack of people.  The Oregon/California coast during the summer is crawling with them.  Personally, I'll take the less than perfect weather and solitude.  We left Tacoma, dropped south to Olympia and then made a bee line for the coast.  From there we worked our way south over the next week stopping to explore, hike and check out some areas we hadn't been in before. 

Newport Oregon

Wreck of the Peter Iredale on the Oregon Coast.  It went down in 1906 and this is what remains.  With four-wheel drive, you can access this and drive up and down the coast for miles in either direction during low tide.   Broke camp inland and got out here about an hour before sunrise. Was glad to have the truck out here as it was well below freezing and windy.  Being able to sit in the truck and drink coffee awaiting the sunrise was a bonus. It was....take a few pics, back to the truck, warm up, suck down more coffee....back out, few more pics and repeat.   Went back for the sunset (below) that evening.  

For the next few days, we kept working south on the Oregon coast.  The vistas are never ending and when the weather cooperates it's tough to beat this area.

 Shores Acre State Park.  I had hoped that the storm sitting off the coast would bring some of the huge waves that this area is known for but I was a few days early and after spending a day and night here decided to move on.  Here is a video from the net worth watching of the area during such an event.  I need to get back here and witness this first hand.

Astoria, Oregon.

Cape Arago Lighthouse

Full moon setting when up early one morning.

During a short hike late one afternoon I watched this poor fella come out of the surf and work his way up the beach.  You could tell something wasn't right with him.  Pretty sure they don't come ashore like this alone.  Got to this point and didn't even acknowledge that I was in the area.  I could walk right up on him and no response at all. Still breathing but seemed to be laboring with each breath.  The following morning it wasn't that far to get back to this cove so I hiked back in to see if he was still there.  Still in the exact same spot and now evident that it was dying.  Felt sorry for the old guy.

Once I got towards the southern part of Oregon, the weather was looking bad. Heavy winds, as in 50-60 MPH, and rain were forecast along the Lost Coast area.  Plus, I had already encountered some slide areas that were being cleared along some of the back roads.  Where I was headed, I doubted the roads would even be passable.  Most of them are dirt and are not priority when closed due to slides or downed trees.  One area I had wanted to get back to was Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.  The road going in drops rapidly to the coast and is susceptible to being closed in severe weather.  I've heard of people being in there and not being able to get out for a few days due to a road closure. It's one way in and one way out so there are no alternate routes.  So, based on the forecast, the Lost Coast area was out.  I headed back inland, hiked and hung out in the Redwoods for a couple of days and then worked further inland to the Six Rivers National Forest area.  Weather wasn't anything to write home about as we had winds and rain but nothing like the coast was getting.  Explored some new areas I hadn't been in before so it wasn't a total bust.

California was getting hit hard with the heavy rains and this scene came up several times during the trip.

 Abandoned general store and post office in Zenia, Ca. (pop. 180)

 Back road in California

 Redwoods

 Roosevelt Elk

A roof that has seen a little rain over the years.  Back road in California.

Large old oak with a light dusting of snow and the fog early one morning from camp.

I'll wrap this post up with a couple of people I met.  I always seem to run into some interesting characters when out on the road and this trip didn't disappoint.  I never did get her name but I'll refer to her as the  Dachshund Lady.  She had four on leash, two in the stroller and two more back home.  The six she had with her were barking none stop and giving her nothing but trouble.  She had spotted Petey and stopped to talk but that was next to impossible.  They were a loud, rambunctious mass.  She's attempting to ask about Petey while screaming over the chaos of her herd, untangling the mess and tending to the two in the stroller.  It was quite a sight.  Petey just stood there looking up at me with that WTF look.  From what little bit I could get from her I was able to gather that she is a major, and I mean major, lover of Dachshunds.  You'd have to be to put up with that herd and sport that headgear in public.

I ran into Brant along the coast as well.  He was pulling the tarped trailer headed north with his dog and I struck up a conversation.  He had made his rig from  a couple of wagons, covered it in a tarp with some duct tape.  Had his sleeping bag, stove and was all set up to be out of the weather each night.  He'd  been in the Marines for four years and had currently been working as a helicopter mechanic when that job ended due to some cut backs.  Decided he needed an adventure so he made his home on wheels, rigged up a harness for him and his buddy, pointed it north and started walking.....to Alaska.  That's right, he was walking to Alaska.  Now that's an adventure.

Soon as Petey gets some rest we'll be back out on the road soon.