So. Oregon to Lost coast....

[Tomas Tierra]

Heading for Grants Pass, Oregon for a few days I overnighted at Four Wheel Pop up factory in Woodland, Ca.
A very nostalgic night camped at the cnter of our universe.
Thanks for the stay Stan
Road note; the I-5 north from Bakersfield is horrible! Trying to save a little gas I had it at about 68 mph, in the right lane most of the time. It was incredibly rough, with huge fractures in the road way..

 

[Tomas Tierra]

on the way north

On the way N. I checked out Black Butte Lake campground. A little further off the road than I thought.The lake side camping would have been nice, if there were a lake to speak of.. The lake was very low, more like a pond. The campsites were nice with not a soul around. Big and spread out, with tons of space betwwen sites..

Must have seen 50 deer while touring through the campground

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Took care of my biz in Grants Pass then headed out to the coast via the 199 to crescent city.

Stopped by Cave Junction, OR on the way to check on some property..It's just beautiful country there even in winter..

 

[Tomas Tierra]

While in Cave Junction, I ran into an old friend who asked if I had been watching the meteor shower the past few nights. I was unaware of the event, but pretty excited to get to a secluded campsite on the coast somewhere to watch the peak that night...

While pouring over my map I came across Mattole Beach. I remembered reading some great things about the spot on this site, but couldn't remember details....A destination! I had just enough time to make the sunset, or so I thought. the road into Mattole, through Ferndale, was a tough one. Long windy and steep.I did not see another car after ferndale. When I finnally reached the coast at Cape Mendacino,I was truely in awe..

The Sun had set...just missed it.. the 5-7 miles of coast road south from there was stunning..the evening was perfect, but cccccccold

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Arrived at Mattole after dark

What a groovy little campgound! Nobody there. Two sites were taken by walk in campers who had left thier cars ( in the best two sites)
I settled in to a nice beach front campsite for the night. Took a nap early so I could get up after midnight for the meteor shower...It did not disappoint. I heard a report on the radio that said they were expecting 120 meteors per minute at the peak. I thought this must be a typo. Not sure about 120 per minute, but more than I can ever remember seeing. It seemed like there was always one flying across the sky. I saw three at once more than a few times..

My stay at Mottle was mystical! Even though I arrived after dark, and left before light, It is my new favorite campground in CA.

I went out to Windy Point the morning after Mattole. I wanted to check out a four wheel drive road, It was closed for the season.

The overlook shots are looking down over Mattole beach.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

The road out of Mattole to the South is nothing short of extraordinary...Through the Redwoods and back to the 101S. for Bodega Bay. Looking for another stellar campsite..

Poor photo quality, but WOW! what a drive..

 

[SunMan]

Sounds like a fun little adventure you had....sweet pics!!

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Heading south, i took the long way through Fort Bragg. Another tough road down to that stretch of caost, but well worth it.

Stopped just north of Bodega Bay at Gerstle Cove campground. The day use area was awesome! Down by the beach with big cliffs and cool trees, beautiful! The campground however was up the hill next to the Hwy, road noise..
As I was leaving the day use area and going up to the campground the ranger came by on his nightly sweep. I paid to camp and he said I could stay at the bottom of the hill in the overflow parking lot....not as nice as the day use area, but, down by the ocean away from the raod and level.

Day use area...

 

[Tomas Tierra]

long drive home...

Woke up and drove 10 hours home for my sons birthday..

This was a Monday through Saturday trip..2400 miles.



Thanks for reading along.

Tom


campsite overflow lot at Gerstle Cove

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Thanks Sunman,
I really did not plan to do this trip. I was going to Grants Pass hell bent on turning it around asap. last minute decided to take the coast home. Didn't even bring a board, of course waves every where I went..Point Arena was going nuts with six guys out..

 

[Brian]

trip

Thanks Tomas,
Great trip and parts of the coast I have never seen. The photos are sweet. When I lived in Oregon my friends on the coast shared the secret that there are some fantastic days in the winter...the trick is to be there when they happen.
Brian

 

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Brian, I want to misquote you just a little:
[In life]...the trick is to be there when [it] happens.
Thanks, Tomas, for affording us the next best thing with your pictures and words.

 

[HERR42]

Tom,
what is REALLY COOL is to take the Kings Range road south from Mattole to Shelter Cove and from there, Usal Road south to Hwy 1. Usal connects right as 101 hits the coast at Hwy 1.

 

[kcowyo]

Another excellent report Tomas.

I really regretted not having time to drive down to the Lost Coast last month. Even more now that I see your photos...

It sounds like we covered some of the same areas; Mendocino, Bodega Bay (how 'bout that foghorn that never sleeps? )the Redwoods and southern Oregon. And yeah, surprisingly cold.

Love the sunset photos!

 

[DirtyDog]

My stay at Mottle was mystical! Even though I arrived after dark, and left before light, It is my new favorite campground in CA.


Me too! I loved that place! I took another trip to the area in late fall (a non-camping significant other type of trip) and again had a wonderful time. Ran in the Redwoods and along the coast in the Kings Range. Almost makes me want to move down to the area......

 

[Marc]

Thomas,

Thanks for the write up and the great pics. I used to live in "Cleone" which is the first town past Fort Bragg when heading north on Hwy1. The Lost coast has many neat little spots for camping and the scenery is unbelievable. The drive from Fort Bragg South on Hwy.1 is one of the preatiest coastal routes their is IMHO. Glad you decided on the coast route.

Marc

 

[craig333]

Its definitely not hit the cruise control country, but somehow the extra time going that way is always worth it. No matter what time of year. Unless of course you're unlucky enough to encounter one of the not so infrequent mud slides.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

Herr,

I saw that Usal route on the map and,hmmmmm, looked dreamy....shoulda woulda coulda, at least to shelter cove. I -WILL- do that route some day with the Fam.

others, thanks, can't wait to get back!

A "W.T.W." Gathereing at Mattole would be saweet!

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

love those pictures you posted !


I have only made one quick trip up to the Lost Coast area with our old Grandby. We had a fun trip.

We made our trip in the summer, so the back roads were good.

We parked right on the beach (the river bed was dry so we could drive right accross it).

We must have ended up there on a high school graduation party caus' there we tons of teenagers with the 4x4 trucks racing around the beach. It was fun to see them towing each other on an old car hood turned upside down with a seat on it and a tow rope.

How fun to be young and dumb again drinking beers at the beach trying to kill each other. It did look like fun, I have to admit.





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[buzzman]

TT,
Thanks for the great pictures. Enjoyed reading about your trip and the various camp sites.