Sunset Bay and South Beach

From Valley of the Rogue we headed for the coast. This is what we had really been waiting for. We drove up the 5 to Winston and cut over to highway 42 to take us towards Coos Bay. This was our first journey off the main highway which now would become our norm. Most of the roads have been very good, certainly better than California roads. After 42 we picked up 7 devils road. This was a small windy road through the forest which you keep wondering if you are on the right road. And with virtually no traffic it seems even more wrong. Still, driving at our own pace it was an enjoyable ride and we did reach Sunset Bay State Park.

Looking into Sunset Bay from the west, a nice point at the end of a beautiful little hike.

I have always marveled at the never ending diversity of the California coast. Somewhere in the vicinity of 700 plus miles long, it is ever changing and virtually never repeats its appearance. So could Oregon be even different again, was God’s architecture so creative that Oregon would be different and unique again? Resoundingly, YES!

And the Oregon coast was exactly as we expected, no disappointment, only amazement. Sunset Bay is about 10 to 15 miles south of Coos Bay and a couple of miles from a charming sea coast/fishing village called Charleston, or Charley town. Looks like a New England fishing village. Sunset Bay is a classical cove, almost crescent shaped, very rough looking, while at the same time very safe harbor looking. And the other thing about lots of the Oregon coast, the big pine trees come right to the shore, they grow until they can’t get soil. Or they jump out to these islands all along the coast and start growing there. Too much pretty, wow.

Also all along the coast are these wonderful and historic light houses. We visited probably 70% of them. The light house at Sunset Bay is Cape Arago (pronounced almost like ergo, sort of er-(ah)-go). It is one of the few that you can’t actually visit up close and personal, but we could get a pic anyway.

The Arago highway that takes you to Sunset Beach actually goes nowhere. It is a small road, only a few miles long and dead ends at a cape about 3 miles from Sunset Beach. But at the end you can hike down to a nice desolate stretch of beach, full of tide pools.
We let Roxy loose to enjoy a good beach run, here is a shot.

One of the tide pools near Cape Arago.

One of the tide pool critters, nice sea ananomoe.

Dogs are not officially allowed off leash but the rule seems to be very loosely enforced. At this beach we were actually given a tacit O.K. (because Roxy was deemed a good girl !).

I know this is getting verbose; I’ll make future post more concise, but one more story (omitting several) about Sunset Bay. Shell and I decided to get a dose of local fresh catch. We went to Chuck’s fish market in Charleston and bought three fresh caught and cooked Dungeness crabs, a pint of fresh oysters, and a pound of smoked ling cod. We spent 45 minutes on our picnic table cracking (and sampling) the crab, a fun chore. Then we split the oysters, serving half raw and half pan fried with butter/garlic/and spices (chef’s secret). We served half our “catch” for happy hour and saved half for our own picnic lunch the next day. Talk about living, ooh eey!

Next stop was South Beach State Park, another great camping ground. South Beach is right next to Newport, a very fun little town. The drive from Sunset Bay was very picturesque with parts of the trip reminding us of the Big Sur highway 1 area. Great restaurant on the bay is Brewers on the Bay. It is actually the brewery for Rogue beer (great local beer with many different types of beer) and you walk through the brewery to get to the upstairs restaurant right on the bay. Good food, great beer, fun experience.

Explored several light houses from here as well as several very nice beaches. The Yaquina head light house had an interesting beach made up of cobblestones. Very strange to walk on. Also a ton of wildlife here. Lots of harbor seals, tide pools, and more birds than I have ever seen in one place. Not to mention the beautiful light house and fantastic views.

Some of the harbort seals.

Yaquina head light house and cobblestone beach.
This pretty girl came into the campground on our first day, I discovered her while riding my bike.

Light house at the Bandon entrance. Bandon Beach area is definitely a must visit.


Roxy romping ar Bandon beach. Hard to tell who is having more fun on this trip!

Cape Blanco light. One of the more interesting tours and a great view from inside the light house tower. There also a a really great State camp near the light (no reservations but plenty of spaces when we toured the park - and had lunch finishing off our fresh crab and ling cod (-:)

Cape Blanco Fresnel lens and light. I was amazed at how small/weak this light appears yet it broadcast strongly for several miles (I think 20 or more). It's all about the lens's ability to focus and project that little light. Pretty cool stuff.

Nice shot at the Umpqua light.

Bridge over Newport Harbor, part of Highway 101.