It had been a while since we did a good old road trip thanks to illness, work and then a puppy but we finally decided it was time to hit the road for a bit and explore.   Since we got rid of the van this was to be our first tent camping trip in a  long time and the first one with Lira.  We decided to hit the Oregon Coast which is kind of crazy in early June but the weather cooperated for the most part though we did wimp out with storms moving in and cut our trip short by a day at the end.

Since we’d been to the Cannon Beach/Tillimook Head area a few times in the past we decided to start south of there and focus our time between Cape Lookout on the north and Cape Perpetua on the south though we did venture further south one day just to see what was there and to look for elk.    We ended up getting lucky and finding many nice trails in the Siuslaw National Forest and some wilderness areas within the forest where we got to see a lot of old growth Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar along with blacktail deer, a bear and we heard what may have been a spotted owl.

Cape Lookout

We spent two nights at Cape Lookout State Park campground and hiked most of the park.   The first night after setting up camp we just did a long beach hike.  Lira wasn’t quite sure what to make of the beach until she found birds then got into it.  She would stalk up birds then run off into the surf when they flew out, she seemed to be having fun.  The next day we tried hiking up the inside of the spit but made it only about 1.5 miles in before it became impenetrable and then we crossed over to the beach side (down a sand cliff) and went back on the beach.   Then we headed up to Cape Lookout itself and did the Cape Lookout Trail hike out to the end of the cape then headed down to the beach to the south which was a good downhill drop so we had a long climb back up to the car.  That was a long day, about 15 miles total of hiking, we were tired.

Cascade Head

After two days at Cape Lookout we started south.  Our plan was to hike the Nature Conservancy trail at Cascade Head but we were greeted by a “No Dogs Allowed” sign so had to quickly come up with Plan B.  Luckily we had passed a USFS trailhead for Cascade Head on the way to the Nature Conservancy land so we parked and headed up the trail.  This turned out to be an awesome trail that climbed steadily to the top of the headland among old growth trees.

That night we drove to Otter Rock and stayed in an AirBnB to shower and have a real bed for a night before the next camping.  We did a short walk down to see the Devil’s Punchbowl at the end of the road.

Cape Perpetua

I think we saved the best for last.  We’d been blown away by Cape Lookout and then even more by Cascade Head but Cape Perpetua had more surprises in store.  We drove down to the Cape in the morning to do the loop connecting the Oregon Coast Trail, Gywnn Creek Trail and Cook Ridge Trail from the Visitors Center at the Cape.   This was an amazing 7-mile loop and we had it to ourselves even though the Visitors Center was packed with cars and people.   The trail went through old growth with huge trees everywhere.

After finishing the hike we did check out the Visitors Center which was pretty nice and then headed over to the campground to hike up to the Giant Sitka Spruce Trail from there.  This tree was amazing,  600 years old, 185′ tall and a 40′ circumference at the base.  It was taller until a storm took off the top 35′.

At the base of the giant Sitka Spruce

We camped at Beachside that night and then headed back to the Cape in the morning to do the Cummins Creek Loop within the Cummins Creek Wilderness area.   This was a 7.5 mile loop again through old growth most of the way and we heard what may have been a spotted owl and ran into a blacktail deer and a black bear on our hike.   These trees were phenomenal and made us want more.  At the end of the hike we ran into a local guy who told us to check out the Drift Creek Wilderness which is similar in nature.  We later found that Cummins Creek, Drift Creek and Rock Creek Wilderness Areas were all created in 1984 to save the last virgin stands of old growth along the coast and to provide habitat for spotted owls, blacktails, bears and Roosevelt elk.   We sort of lucked into finding the area on our own but now plan on heading back to see the other two areas and more big trees.

After the hike we still had plenty of time so we took a drive down the coast through the Dunes and into Reedsport where we headed up the Umpqua a few miles to look for elk.   When we first stopped we spotted a few cows who were just at the edge of the big meadow but then moved back into the timber.  Well, we saw a few elk, we were happy.  We drove up the road further and looked for a turnaround.  Up another road we turned and on our way down crossed a creek and there were a dozen elk along the creek with a  few velvet bulls, some cows and a few calves.   OK, this was better.  We started back to Reedsport when Catherine noticed a group of antlers sticking up from the grass.  We turned around again and slowly drove back only to find 15 velvet bulls congregated together by the creek in heavy grass.   Ok, that was worth the drive!

That evening the surf was a bit crazy and we were told a storm was on its way.  We checked the forecast and saw rain coming by Thursday evening so decided to cut our trip short a night and head home Thursday so we wouldn’t have to pack up a wet camp on Friday for the long drive home.

We are already planning a return trip and stopped at the ranger station to get a good map of the Siuslaw and find more USFS camp areas instead of the state park camps.