Driving Journey: Day 4: The Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is in my Top 3 list of most beautiful places in North America. For the first time ever, I drove it from south to north. As you'll see in the photos below, the weather was great at the start, but as I headed north it got increasingly colder and foggier. This is why I turned off soon after Lincoln City. Still a wonderful place to be though!

Here's the Pacific Reef Motel in Gold Beach.

I almost stepped on this little guy but thankfully avoided him.
About 5 miles north of Gold Beach I came across this beautiful vista.


So much of the Oregon Coast drive is full of surprises. Around Highway Marker Mile 315 I came across a pull-off and captured this vista looking south.

Looking northwest from the same location.


I then walked around a little hill and captured this shot looking north.
Not a bad place to live, eh?! I would LOVE to meet with the people who live here!


Quite a bit further north, in Florence, I quickly captured this building. Being much taller than any other building along the Coast, I've always been fascinated by its origins.


I didn't go on the official Sea Lion Caves tour but did stop to see these curious creatures.


You can now see how foggy it had become.

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Driving Journey: Day 3: Oregon Caves

30 miles down Hwy 199 from Grants Pass is a small community called Cave Junction. 20 miles east of that, much of it on a winding mountainous road is the Oregon Caves National Monument. I had visited here 25 years ago and was eager to see it again.



About a mile off of Hwy 199 I came across the oddest sight, a series of small fires burning in the grass right beside the road.

The underground (U/G) tour itself started off with an introduction from our tour guide, Jonathan. He was a good fellow and added a lot to the tour by talking about the legends of the Native people in the area. Apparently they viewed the underground as the place inhabited by the spirits of those who have left the world that we inhabit topside.
Considering that I use to work 6600' U/G going just 200' below surface is nothing but these caves were much more interesting than the tunnels in a production mine!


Tripods were not allowed on the tour so one could only take photos by using a flash or by holding the camera super still. Either approach does not effectively replicate what it really looks like to the human eye during the tour. But hopefully these photos will give you an approximation.


Just a rock structure and not a big bug!




About a century ago a professor took a bunch of students U/G and they recorded their visit on one of the rocks. Then over time dripping water with minerals covered over top of it, leaving what you see here.




These structures were both beautiful and spooky. Ain't nature amazing?!




These bear bones were found exactly in this spot and preserved for eternity.
Over an hour later, we returned to the surface. Note: I was the only one who didn't think to wear a jacket so the warm air was especially welcomed by me!

Driving Journey: Day 3: Grants Pass

The drive from Crater Lake down to Grants Pass is about 100 miles but it's mostly on secondary 2-lane highways so it takes a few hours. Plus, much of the scenery is quite grand and one has no inclination to rush it.
In Grants Pass I only stopped to get an iced coffee at McDonald's and to gas up the car. It was appreciably warmer here than where I had been, probably because of the much lower elevation.



There's no major road heading right out to the Oregon Coast so I headed SW on Hwy 199, which actually dips into California.