Our Nest on Wheels

As you probably have figured out by now, if you are an occasional or regular reader of this blog, this is not strictly a chronological account of our travels. We write more occasionally than regularly, and we don't necessarily summarize or review all the places where we have been. We try to find something interesting to write about, and if we skip a few places, well that doesn't really matter to us.

by Steve

We've never spent much time in Oregon. We had a night on the coast back in the 1980s when we lived in California, but that barely counts. I think we went from Vancouver to Los Angeles down the coast road, but we did it in about a week, so it's a bit of a blur. Plus it was 30 years ago. So we planned six weeks along the Oregon coast for this summer to see and experience as much as possible. We stayed in three different locations and took over 600 pictures, so selecting a dozen or so for this post will be a challenge.

We started with the first two weeks of May at Harris Beach State Park. This park is near Brookings, Oregon, which is just a bit north of the California border. It's in what's known as the "banana belt" of Oregon, where it tends to be sunnier earlier in the year. We had mostly sunny days, with just a couple days of rain. The picture above shows the beach at our park. Jane enjoyed countless hours of roaming the beach in search of interesting shells. We also got our best sunsets here.

In many areas, the rocks along the coast are shaped by the meeting of the earth's plates. As the Pacific Plate slides under the North American Plate, the rock layers get pushed up on a angle. In lots of places, the angle of these rocks is very visible and makes for dramatic cliffs.

And of course there are a lot of lighthouses, many of which are now open for touring. After we'd seen about a half dozen lighthouses, we decided that we didn't need to tour any more. They are all rather similar. Instead, we amused ourselves by reciting bits of what we knew would be on each tour: "This is a Fresnel lens, developed in France..."

Our next stop along the Oregon coast was near Coos Bay, where we stayed for two weeks at Sunset Bay State Park. Again, we had mostly sunny days, with only a little rain. Not bad for May. Next door to our park is another state park called Shore Acres. This is the former estate of Louis Simpson, who built a mansion on a bluff overlooking to ocean as a Christmas present to his wife. After 15 years or so, his wife died, and the mansion burned to the ground a few months later. Within 6 years, however, Louis had remarried and moved into a second mansion that he had built. Eventually he sold the estate to the state. The mansion was used as barracks briefly during World War II, and then razed in 1948 because it was in such bad shape. So now nothing really remains of the old mansions. But the state has restored the formal gardens, which are fairly extensive. Jane still misses her garden, so having these gardens right next door, with the freedom to visit as long and as often as she liked, was quite a treat.

Going north from Coos Bay are vast stretches of sand dunes known as the Oregon dunes. We had not expected to find extensive sand dunes along the coast. While not as tall as Michigan's Sleeping Bear dunes, these are probably longer, and a bit more wild. We hiked a bit in them, but hiking in dunes is slow going.

But the real action is along the shore, where lava has met the ocean, creating fissures and blow-holes. The following two pictures were taking at the same spot, just 23 seconds apart.

Our final two weeks on the Oregon coast were at Fort Stevens State Park, near Astoria, right where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. Here the coast is more beachlike, and people actually go swimming here. They don't swim long, as the water is cold, but the bottom is sandy and relatively free of obstructions, except for the occasion shipwreck.

Just a little south we find Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, which should have puffins nesting on it. Well, they might have been there, but we weren't able to see any. We'll have to write more on the search for the elusive puffin later, as this search has taken us from coast to coast.

As I (Steve) wrote in our last blog post, we're in the Pacific Northwest this summer. We started in northern California and are working our way north from there. This area is marked by volcanoes and evidence of past volcanic activity, some ancient, and some not so long ago. This activity has shaped the topography of the region in many ways, and we've found recurring themes in many different places that we've visited. In this post, we'll look at the water.

When you've spent a fair amount of time in the desert, as we did by spending this past winter in Tucson, you get a bit used to not seeing any rivers, lakes, waterfalls, or rain for a while. So when you get to a place with lots of water, it seems like a major change. Well, the Pacific Northwest has abundant water, and much of it has been shaped by the volcanic activity of the ring of fire.

We're in the Pacific Northwest this summer. We started in Northern California and are working our way north from there. This area is marked by volcanoes and evidence of past volcanic activity, some ancient, and some not so long ago. This activity has shaped the topography of the region in many ways, and we've found recurring themes in many different places that we've visited.

Our starting point for this journey is Mount Lassen, shown above. Mount Lassen tops out at around 10,500 feet, which means that early in the season, the road through the park isn't open yet. Lassen has bubbling mud pots, much like Yellowstone, which tells us that volcanic activity is still going on not too far below the surface. Mount Lassen last erupted in 1915. Lassen National Park is one of the few places on earth where you can see all four kinds of volcanoes: cinder cone, shield, composite, and lava dome.

One of the neat results of lava flow is "lava tubes." Lava tubes are formed by a very large flow of lava. As the lava begins to cool, the outer edges begin to harden, leaving the center still flowing, as in a tunnel. Picture a lava flow like a huge drinking straw, where the walls of the straw are the cooled and now hardened rock. Except that the straw is 20 or 50 or 100 feet in diameter. When the lava stops erupting, the hot lava in the middle of the lava tube flows out of the tunnel and leaves behind a cavelike structure, much like a subway tunnel. There's one of these near Lassen, and you can explore it on your own, as we did. Just remember that you are completely on your own, and need to bring your own flashlights (and backups), as it's pretty much pitch dark inside.

Here's the entrance to a lava-tube cave.

Here's Jane heading into the unknown. Note that the floor is pretty rough, and there's water to be avoided. Jane is wearing a headlamp, but most of the light for the picture is still from the entrance opening. Once deep into the tunnel, there's not enough light for any pictures.

Here's what it looks like when you come out the other end. It's literally the light at the end of the tunnel.

Heading north from Lassen, we meet Mount Shasta. At 14,180 feet in elevation, Shasta dominates the skyline for miles around.

Mount Shasta last erupted in 1786, and as it typically erupts every 600-800 years, we felt safe enough to camp near its base for a week. Unless you are a mountain climber, there's not a lot to do on Mt. Shasta itself. They say that May is actually a pretty good time to climb it, as the weather is often good. The mountain is always snow covered, so you're in for a long snow and ice climb any time of the year that you ascend it. We drove up to where the trail for the ascent begins, and there was still a lot of snow in the parking lot, and the trail was entirely under snow. There were also lots of cars, indicating that there were a lot of people on the mountain. It can be a dangerous climb, as the accident reports indicate. We didn't go much past the parking lot.

Going north from Shasta, we find Lava Beds National Monument. Remember the subway-like lava-tube cave that we explored near Lassen? Lava Beds has over 700 caves like that, and many are available for exploring on your own. Again, note the phrase "on your own," meaning bring your own lights and find your way out again, on your own.We explored a half dozen or more caves. 

Here I am ready to enter the Golden Dome cave. The bicycle helmet is to protect your head from bumps against the ceiling, and yes, it did prove useful. [Jane's note: I'm pretty sure I would have been both concussed and bleeding if I hadn't been wearing Marie's goofy, purple, childhood helmet. And, hey--which of you kids made off with my grownup bike helmet? Because I look even dorkier than usual in a Barney-purple one.] After entering each cave, we had to wait a few minutes for our transitions-glasses lenses to go clear before we could really see anything. Even then, our flashlights shone for only a limited distance, and we needed to keep our wits about us regarding the path back out, especially in caves with multiple pathways.

Golden Dome cave is named for the yellow/gold plant that grows on its domed ceiling.