Oregon Highway 101: Cape Arago Scenic Loop

Our drive on Cape Arago Scenic Loop (Oregon highway 540) began in downtown North Bend.  This loop highway leads to Charleston, a quaint fishing village, and ends at Cape Arago State Park.  We stopped along the loop to see Shore Acres and Simpson Reef.

Shore Acres was the home of timber baron Louis Simpson; a huge mansion and beautiful botanical gardens florished, until fires destroyed the mansion.  The gardens remain, along with a caretaker's cottage (now gift shop).  More amazing are the unusual rock formations found along the shore. Formed by sediment, underground upheaval, and action of the waves over time the rocks themselves looked like a garden.




 Simpson Reef, part of Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, is home to a large number of sea lions and seals.  The "barking" could be heard even before seeing the reef.

The loop dead-ends shortly after the reef.  We returned to highway 101 via Seven Devils Road, an equally scenic drive.

Oregon Highway 101: North Bend/ Coos Bay

A drive across Conde McCullough Memorial Bridge led into North Bend.  At the time this bridge was built in 1936 it was the longest (5,305 feet) bridge along the coast.  It rises high over the water for easy boat traffic clearance.

Coos Bay, close neighbor to North Bend, is the largest city  on the Oregon coast. History and art museums, theater, antique & gift shops, lodging and dining are abundant. 

Oregon Highway 101: Winchester Bay

Lunch one day was at a small crab shack on the pier in Winchester Bay, a fishing village near the mouth of the Umpqua River.


Close by was Umpqua River Lighthouse.  It is unique in that it is the only lighthouse on the Oregon coast that emits both red and white light.

Near the lighthouse was a whale watch viewing platform; we saw none! This Steller's jay came to see if we had any handouts...

In a protected area close to shore one could see rows of cage-like devices
used for aquafarming of clams, oysters, etc.

Oregon Coast Journey Begins

Touring the Oregon coast by traveling highway 101 was planned. We would set up camp, then use the car for sightseeing trips. On October 10 we left Eugene, headed west to Florence and started our journey south.


At Reedsport we followed the Umpqua River several miles east to  Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area. The river drive along hwy 38 was scenic with tall trees, steep rocky cliffs, and a highway with lots of twists and turns. We were able to see some of the Roosevelt elk scattered along the river flats.  Ducks, geese, and other birds also use this area as a rest stop on their migrations.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area Visitor Center is also located at Reedsport.  The dunes extend for miles along the coast.

Our first camp was at Lakeside, a small town on Tenmile Lakes.  In the 1930's Lakeside was a resort town favored by Hollywood stars.  Now it is a popular fishing spot.

Oregon Highway 101: The Dunes

South of Lakeside we found Horsfall Dunes Beach Access.   The Oregon Dunes extend along a large portion of the coast.  Huge piles of white sand can be seen from the highway in many places. They attract "dune buggy" ATV/OHV vehicles, horse-back riders, and hikers.

 At Horsfall there are campgrounds, picnic areas, and lots of access to the dunes and beaches. A handicap accessible wooden ramp allows easy access to the top of the dunes, where you can look down on the ocean shoreline.   Many off-road enthusiasts were seen zooming up and down the sandy slopes.

The dunes seem to end near here, where the Umpqua River reaches into the ocean.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

Mount St. Helens is an active volcano, located in the Pacific Northwest between Seattle, WA and

Portland, OR.  On the morning of May 18, 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook the mountain.  This triggered a major avalanche on the north face.  Rock, mud, trees, etc. plummeted downward. The avalanche released pressure from within the volcano...a powerful lateral eruption blasted to the north; a vertical eruption shot ash up to 12 miles into the air.  Eruptions continued into the afternoon...mudflows and pyroclastic flows (mixtures of hot gasses, pumice, and ash) flowed down the mountain, clogging streams, lakes, and valleys, mowing down millions of trees, damaging bridges, highways, and homes.  Lives were lost...

In 1982, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was established. Johnson Ridge Observatory Visitor Center, at the end of highway 504,  had two excellent films...one covers the eruption, with lots of news footage from 1980; the other covers recovery of the mountain in the years following.  New lakes have formed; mud-filled valleys now provide grazing areas & refuge to elk and other wildlife; forests are being re-established either through planting efforts and/or just letting nature take it's course.

Thick clouds and fog above 3000 ft elevation blocked our view of many sights the day we were there. It was still a memorable trip.

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Craters of the Moon was established as a national monument in 1924 to preserve what was then described as "a weird and scenic landscape, peculiar to itself".  It included 750,000 acres of lava features, some created 15,000 years ago (most recent eruption likely about 2000 years ago) as lava well up from the Great Rift to produce this vast ocean of rock.  In 2000 the Great Rift, a 52 mile long fissure adjacent to the lava field, was added to the national monument site.

Located along US hwy 20 in Idaho, it's hard to miss the black, unearthly like rock.  The park has a visitor center with excellent displays and films as introduction to the lava features.  An on-site campground is available for those who like to take time exploring the trails.  A 7 mile loop road allows one to drive to designated features or trail-heads.  Many trails are wheelchair accessible.

We learned that the lava fields even provided a training ground for moon bound astronauts in 1969.  Here they learned basic volcanic geology and could practice walking among the cinders and lava flows.