The Dunes

Since we've been to several beaches in Oregon, we thought it would be interesting to stay a night in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Oregon's sand dunes are beach sand which winds off the ocean have whipped into huge piles. There is a small amount of vegetation growing on some -- scrub brush and grass, but many are totally bare heaps of sand. Huge sand castles.

The campground however was lush forest, with six or seven different loops. On only one loop are allowed ATV's -- or dune buggies. The other six are for regular campers and very quiet.


There are access trails from one part of the campground to the sand dunes for the ATV's. Folks like me, on foot with Chorro, take a different trail which goes by two lakes.



Then, quite suddenly, there are dunes.


They are really quite beautiful, very sculptured and inviting.


We climbed to the top of the one nearest the lake and captured these views. The darker blue in the distance is the ocean, about two miles away. At first I intended to hike over to it, but when I discovered that there were MANY ups and downs between, I changed my mind.


Hiking over a sand dune is a bit like hiking in snow. Each step sinks into the sand and slips backwards. Climbing the dune is slow for me. Chorro does it differently, he leaps and bounds uphill or down.


The dunes look like snow, too, although not as white. Dirty snow perhaps? And the ATV's race and 'high mark' steep hillsides like snowmobiles. This reminded me of standing on top of Monument Peak in Montana, looking down on Blue Lake, except that my 'dune' was probably not even 1100 feet, while Monument is 11,000.

These dune buggies give a little perspective on the size of the dunes. If you look closely you can see the high marking up the very steep sides, which lose some of their dimensionality in snapshots.



Chorro and I had a great hike, but I will not be looking for my own dune buggy soon. I find too much enjoyment in silence and the simple sounds of the birds and the breeze and the distant ocean. But we're happy to have had this experience today.

And tomorrow is a new day.

Searching For a Better View

We were surprised to find this sign near our campground as we left on a hike. Malcolm Forbes (of Forbes magazine) was known for prioritizing fun. What could be more fun than a cross country balloon trip!







What makes this particularly interesting to me is that Malcolm Forbes later owned a huge chunk of land adjacent to Yellowstone Park which eventually was sold to a new age religious group that moved its headquarters from California to Montana and became instant neighbors to ten thousand good ol' Montana boys and girls, including me. Indirectly, Malcom Forbes affected the lives of every resident of Park County, Montana.



Well a different perspective is always a good measure, so today we hiked up on the rocks to see how things looked from up there.





We noticed large swampy meadows with huge, gorgeous yellow flowers in bloom. No, not water lilies, skunk cabbage! These beautiful blossoms have such a vulgar name for good reason.





Living my life on the Canadian prairies and the semi-arid Montana foothills, I had no experience with skunk cabbage until the year my sister and I took our Mom to Washington on a Mother's Day trip. It was a big event, since we had to coax Mom a lot to convince her that she would enjoy the trip (she liked the familiarity and known comfort of home sweet home). We drove along I-90 and made it to the top of Snoqualmie Pass where we checked into a motel for our first evening. Exploring the area before dinner, my sister and I saw, down a steep embankment, beautiful huge yellow flowers. Risking life and limb, we tumbled down the embankment and cut off a big bouquet of these wildflowers for Mom. Mom was thrilled, truly. We took them back to the motel and she put them in a vase on her dresser. Then we went out for dinner.




Skunk cabbage really does not live up to its name until you cut it. It is skunk cabbage because it smells somewhat like each of its namesakes. Skunk. Cabbage.



When we came back to the room, the smell was horrific! Our mother was a very sweet person who couldn't bring herself to tell her daughters, who had picked these gorgeous looking things for her, to get rid of them. But we had no trouble taking it upon ourselves to say goodbye to Mom's Birthday Bouquet.



If coral bells line the fairy's path, I wonder what kind of a path skunk cabbage lines?




I have tried to create a spot just like this one below in my back yard (remember semi-arid Montana? -- not an easy look to create). Here the ferns and hostas are growing wild.




Here's the view after the climb. Was it worth it?



The beauty and awesomeness of nature in views like these fill my soul and I know I am in the right spot at the right moment.

As we hiked on down the beach, we rounded a corner that brought this view. Here was a perspective that was definitely worth seeking!

Here's a closeup.

I do not know what lighthouse we are looking at. Perhaps it is the Umpqua Lighthouse, it's in the right direction, but seems closer than I would have expected the Umpqua Lighthouse to be from my map.

The only picture I could take after that was one more beautiful sunset that turned even the water orange.



Tomorrow is a new day.

R&R at Sunset Bay

We are journeying a little farther northward today, up the Oregon coast. Along the way, we crossed the Rogue River. The Rogue River has some sentimental meaning for me as the very first motion picture I ever saw was called, "Rogue River," and I think was based on a Zane Grey book. I don't remember much about it except that it starred Rory Calhoun and there were lots of scenes of fighting on rafts in the whitewater. Here it is in real life.



It looks placid in this picture but I have seen lots of ads for whitewater rafting adventures, so it must have some interesting stretches of water as it leaves those mountains in the background.



Our campground tonight is at Sunset Bay Beach, a beautiful little cove where pirates are rumored to have huddled through rainy storms here on the coast. I rather prefer the Johnny Depp pirating with white sand beaches and blue skies.



Hmm, Sunset Bay actually has white sands and blue skies!


We didn't camp on the beach though, the campground was a lovely green park.




This beach is also known as a place to sight sea mammals so Chorro and I are keeping our eyes peeled and studying every bit of driftwood for its potential as an sea lion and every wave a whale.



We saw many people playing on the beach today -- it was a sunny day, as you can see.



These kids were racing the waves to shore.





And what a good brother, he went to get the littlest sister to come in too.





But she's not going to have the wave catch her! Speedy little girl, she was.





Since whales don't come in yellow, we quickly concluded that this guy was riding a kayak. Not a very venturesome kayaker though, he stayed close to shore.





This gull does indeed bear a striking resemblance to Jonathan Livingston, don't you think? And when we first saw him, he was looking at his reflection in the water and chanting, "Who Am I?" so I know he was on a discovery path.



You know that I love watching and listening to the waves. I try to capture the spray at its highest point when it hits the rocks. Mountainman suggested that I simply take a movie of the action instead of trying to capture it in a single frame, but that is not as challenging. What would I do with all of the time I spend waiting for the perfect picture?





Knowing we were at Sunset Bay suggested a good sunset picture, and sure enough the bay frames the setting sun beautifully. Many people came out to the beach to watch the setting sun. Even Chorro settled down quietly for a while. Here it is as it slips out of sight.





And tomorrow is a new day.

A Rest Stop on our Oregon Trail

Our plan today was to hang out on the beach and spot exciting aquatic life. Hanging out on a beach is fabulous in and of itself, fortunately, so we weren't really disappointed when no gray whales or harbor seals appeared. And we made our own fun.

Chorro had a great time playing King of the Castle. Did he think being higher would make him the boss of me? I know that he dreams about sitting in that RV driver's seat!

We found this little stream, runoff from some of the snow we've been seeing on mountaintops, heading lickety-split for the ocean. Chorro was willing to cross this one, so we walked up the beach looking for adventure.



















Instead, we met some charming rock people. Those of you who have been with us all year might remember the root people we encountered in Louisiana. Rock people are quite different, not at all shy, but rather quiet in their own way. They are observant and slow to speak, but can offer great wisdom to those willing to patiently listen.





































These two were comfortable with us approaching them and sitting at their feet. The problem for me was that they both had their feet in the water, not a comfortable seat.


































Here we saw a group of rock children enjoying themselves in the splash and spray of the waves.



















And look at this incredible Grandpa watching over them as they played! I noticed that he attracted seagulls. I wondered if they understood each other's language.

I felt challenged to get in synch with the seagulls overhead. It was a matter of not snapping the shutter too early

or too late



















but like Goldilocks and the Three Bears finding the "just right" option.

Later, we came back to the sunset vista we took pictures from yesterday. Each sunset has its own beauty. Tonight's had softer colors, more violet and yellow.
































































And tomorrow is a new day.