Oregon Coast

Honestly. I didn’t keep up with writing my blog in Oregon. The parts of the PCT I saw were so bad with mosquitos I got into my tent and went to sleep at night. I didn’t want to write.

So when I told my sister we should see the coast I was originally not going to blog about it all. The Oregon PCT was worse to me than NorCal for mosquitos. So exploring Oregon off of the PCT was a trip for me and her to just enjoy. So for this blog I’ll only hit the 4-5 things that stood out to me.

Like most normal people my sister has all of her adult life stuff at home going on and I thought this was a great escape for her to come out spend some time with her brother, do some hiking on the Oregon Coast Trail and ultimately relax from her kids potty training, her job, my parents, her husbands Iron Man training and from what I hear the miserable weather they’ve had all summer in New Hampshire.

She heads out west on a 7 AM flight leaving Logan airport, man it’s always nice flying west. You get there same morning, I pick her up at 10AM and we went to Portland for a day.

Portland…. Like a smaller Boston with more unhoused and very out in the open drug use. I think we saw 4 people smoking crack. I joke they’d get 29 miles done on trail in half the day. We spent the day walking around trying to find places to eat and heading to Powell’s bookstore. My sister is a huge reader, Powells was a treat for her to find a new book.

But other than that we found almost nothing really to do in Portland even restaurants just closed. It seems like the town is completely dead. the businesses were closed up and the police we saw had no idea how to or simply no desire to do any police work.

Done with Portland let’s roll.

We drive just west to Astoria where they filmed the Goonies movie and then south. That’s what everybody has told us so far that it’s famous for that and we both say to be honest with you. I hated the Goonies movie. Not sure why, just not for me. But that’s the start of the OCT, the Oregon Coast Trail. We are heading SOBO along the Oregon Coast following the coast trail and hitting all the best hiking spots and towns along the way. Our first major stop where we’ll spend a night is in Tilamook.

My buddy Dylan in Washington tells me the Tillamook cheese factory there is a must see haha. My sister says the reviews of the town say “it smells like cow shit and there’s nothing to do here.” Haha we both laugh in the car.

We do some hiking in the AM and then head down the coast to Tillamook and check out the cheese factory. It’s actually impressive, I made cheese once at a class with my buddy Marc. Why? I don’t know we use to get stoned and learn new stuff. As an engineer it peaked my interest to see a birds eye view of the process too. Soo many spots for automation and quality control, we see one lady sitting at the magnet station and I say to my sisters we def need her.

After the tour we grab lunch in their cafe and then head back to the ocean to do some more hiking. Tonight we are staying in something “untraditional” my sister says as camping on the beach isn’t really “legally” allowed. I don’t know what it is yet but let’s go!

After a few more miles walked on the beach we head to our accommodations for the night at a campground ran by a lovely older gentleman. He tells us “We pretty much don’t have any rules around here, we’re a pretty laid-back campground. But let me know if you need anything.” Sounds good sir.

I walk into a field eyeing flat spots just out of habit and expecting to pitch my tent and then see 15 covered wagons. My sister says “We’re in #1.”! Oh yeah? I see #1 and scope it out. Wow, what a great idea this guy has here.

I slide open the door lock, look inside and check it out. Two bunks with two beds and a small sitting area. There’s a pit toilet and sinks about 600’ away. What else do you need? I laugh and say this is perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I get top bunk, it’s a gift for me to not have to get up off the ground for a night. Those first few steps in the morning, ooof.

After Tilamook we made our way further down the coast eventually to Pacific City. I think walking through this area was amazing. Cape Kiwanda is known to be the deadliest place in Oregon because of the eroding cliffs, sink holes and unstable ground. We hiked through it and then hit the road walk back to our car without even knowing that.

Next up was Newport, we hiked I think 3 different light houses and then spent the 4th of July in town and it was perfect. I think total we saw 25 people. Back home it would’ve been impossible to get a table anywhere, park anywhere, or do anything. Here we did everything we wanted, we hiked, we beached, we ate Italian food and chilled at a wicked cool bed and breakfast on the beach.

After Newport we strolled down into Winchester Bay and explored the sand dunes, saw all the guys racing buggies quads and bikes and then got to sleep in a cool yurt in a state forest just off the beach. I’ve never been in a yurt before. Let alone slept in one, awesome to add it to the list of the outrageous places I’ve slept this year.

Leaving Newport we cruised into Lakeside off the John Dellenbecker trail. This was also a highlight of the trip. 5 miles of dunes to go from the beach to the parking lot. The dunes looked endless and I often thought about if fog rolled in. You’d be lost as F. What an awesome experience, that’s what I expected the PCT southern desert to be like but it was nothing like that. I somehow spend a ton of time in the snow instead.

Finishing up that section made us realize how hard it is to walk in sand for miles. It was flat but man it was tiring, even with my trail legs. Finally we made our way into California and saw the redwood forests. My second time seeing redwoods but the first was in New Zealand.