Summer is off to a good start. Conboy Lake NWR in southern WA is nice. After winter in the Mojave Desert it's so green up here. Weather's pleasant. The refuge is small and quiet. Friendly staff. Few visitors. Mostly birders. That makes Loretta's job easy (if sometimes boring) to run the visitor center. Meanwhile, I'm busy with heavy equipment projects.
Schedule flexibility has been great. That's helped with blocks of days off to explore the area. We started with a couple of 3-day trips. First we went west to Panther Creek Campground in nearby Gifford Pinchot National Forest for 2 nights.
The lush, dense forest was so cool. The under story was carpeted with ferns. Branches were draped with "old man's beard" moss.
It's near the west side of Mt. Adams which we scouted the week before on a quick day trip after arriving and unloading Loretta's car.
But the road north to Rangle wasn't yet cleared. Road closures may deter us from exploring higher elevations toward Mt St Helens and Rainier until later this summer.
Meanwhile, from our "base camp" we followed the Columbia River Gorge down to Portland OR for some big city shopping. Big city traffic cured us of that nonsense for a while! Vancouver WA turned out to have plenty of shops for most needs.
Crossing the river to tax-free OR may seem like an incentive. But it involves annoying bridge tolls at Hood River and Cascade Locks. Why? I guess to mainly save travel time flying along I-84 on the south bank. Whereas WA-14 along the north bank is just as purdy. Yes, slower, but with more small town flavor. In other words, more interesting. LOL
The second short jaunt was east for 2 nights at Hood Park Campground. It's a US Army Corp of Engineers park on the Snake River just before it joins the Columbia. Beautiful. Trees seemed intentionally varied. Odd rules though. After parking then strolling around we returned to find a warning ticket on the truck for parking backwards in a pull-through site. A few unorthodox neighbors maybe explained some motivation for pesky rules. Anyway, it was a great base camp for exploring several other refuges in our complex. We found Columbia NWR the most interesting.
Pothole lakes are on distinguishing feature of the landscape. Albeit some potholes are much wider and deeper than others.
Columns of basalt everywhere were impressive.
The geological forces that shaped this landscape boggle the mind.
Our third exploit was more ambitious. We took 5 days to cover as much of the OR coast and see as many lighthouses as we could. Day 1 we started down the Willamette Valley to Corvallis on I-5. Then we followed the Alsea River Valley on US-34. That wound through charming towns like Little Switzerland. What better entrance to the Siuslaw (sigh-OO-slaw) National Forest which actually borders the ocean. We camped two nights at Cape Perpetua. The burbling creek just behind our site lulled us to sleep.
Day 2 we followed US-101 (aka, Pacific Coast Highway) south. Heceta Head was our first (and best) lighthouse of the day.
Whereas Umpqua River was imprisoned by a US Coast Guard compound.
Between foggy weather (befitting but befuddling), off shore location and privatized ownership of its island (double gr) we didn't even see Cape Arago!
As towns went, Florence was nice but we didn't think much of Coos Bay. Still, it was a good day. Returning north, up the coast we got a longer look at Heceta.
And were greeted by Sea Lions basking and barking on the rocks below.
Day 3 we broke camp early and started north on 101. After breakfast at Tillicum Beach that is. Somehow we missed Cleft of the Rocks. I blame Google Maps Offline for dumping all the pushpins I'd marked. The lighthouse at Yaquina (yah-QUIN-ah) Bay looked dormant and uninviting.
We liked Yaquina Head better.
So did the seals. They looked comfortable, lounging on the rocks.
Fortunately we found a sign to help us differentiate between seals and sea lions.
Whereas there's no mistaking these creatures. There was a whole passel of visitors scrounging the shore.
That night we camped at Sand Lake National Recreation Area. It's a hotspot for off-road vehicles. Sites were extra spacious.
But mid-week on that particular, mist-drizzly evening it was quite peaceful actually.
Day 4 we continued north on 101. Symons State Park offered a nice place to capture a rare "couple" selfie.
Cape Meares was surprisingly short. It was hidden behind trees, downhill from the parking area.
But it was nicely tended once we got there.
The grounds surrounding Meares Light are co-managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
We both looked forward to Tillamook Rock but getting there was more than expected. First we wasted a couple hours at the cheese factory.
Then we drove into Ecola State Park. Which was beautiful but the roads jostled lil' yeti quite a bit. Loretta didn't fancy the hike or trail up to the closest viewpoint.
The light's over a mile off shore.
So I steamed ahead for some long-lens pix of Tillamook Rock.
It was a big travel day. Ending at Cape Disappointment (of all names) State Park across the Columbia in the southwest corner of WA.
Day 5 we checked out Cape Disappointment light first.
That was a little more walking, which did in her sore foot. So I did the stroll out to North Head solo for a quick look.
The original theme was OR coast. So the WA lights were just a bonus. But we also got to follow the Columbia from the Pacific Ocean up river back home to Conboy.
After several great trips now we just need to rest up for the next one! LOL
