Oregon Coast! Day One and a Half!

July 6, 2026: After waiting for too long for my forwarded voting ballot to arrive, I finally gave up and left for the coast! All that work to get registered to vote and I don't even get to vote!!

I stopped in Medford for my free windshield wipers, walked downtown Ashland, drove through the surrounding countryside, then headed back north, west, then southwest on Highway 199 into California and up Highway 101. When I arrived in California the temperature dropped from 97 degrees to 85 degrees. Once on Highway 101, the temperature was a cool, clammy 57 degrees. I arrived around 5pm and it was already foggy. My plan is to start at the far southern coastline and work my way up stopping at every beach I can find.

First stop, furthest south over the Californian-Oregon border: Brookings. Eeeewww. Creepy. The population is 6,800 and the homeless percentage is way higher than any place I've ever been! I attempted to find a place to park for the night and encountered debilitated RVs, junky cars, and banged up vans with homeless men staring at me from their sitting spots in the dirt. Hoards of homeless roaming the streets together like feral dogs. I left and headed north. I was told later the closer one is to California, the more drug addicts are living on the streets.

I parked overnight on a trailhead pullout right on Highway 101 called Thomas Creek. It's within the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor. The temperature was a cool 57 degrees, but everything felt so wet from the fog. I thought I'd hike down to the water the next day, but I didn't realize how far up on a cliff I was and there is no access to the beach! The trail to who knows where was steep and scary looking! Do I need to break another ankle? No thanks.

July 7, 2026: In the morning a really nice, very clean, white car pulled up and parked. The man in it got out. He looked homeless. Clothes brown with saturated dirt. Very dark, dirty tan and scruffy, long hair. I thought it very strange the dicotomy between his appearance and his car. He went into the woods. 

Soon after I could hear a dog barking like crazy and both the man and the dog came out of the woods. The man kept trying to catch the dog, but the dog was not having it. Beautiful dog and looked well-cared for. The dog came near my van. I opened the side door and tried to get it to come closer. He seemed scared. I had a weird feeling I should not leave my van unattended with that guy around. Another car pulled up and the dog was continuously barking at everyone. Very nervous. I heard the homeless-looking guy say it wasn't his dog. As I left, the new car was calling the authorities on the dog worried it was dumped off. I told them the dog was not here last night and seemed showed up with that white car although I did not see the dog get out of the car. Something was going on there...my instincts said to leave.

I headed north to the next pullout and hiked the trail through the woods. The views through the trees were spectacular even with the heavy cloud cover and fog, but again, I was up on a cliff with no access to the beach or what is known as Secret Beach. (See photo above.)

I continued north and stopped at another lookout with a view of The Arch. Very frustrating not being able to get down to the sand as I've seen photos of people frollicking on these beaches.

Continued north and found Meyers Creek Beach, huge pull-out, and lots of beach! The sun finally came out!!

Stopped at Gold Beach and walked the beach. Didn't take any photos, but I did gather some gorgeous rocks! Lots of dog poop bag dispensers...I use the bags for rocks and shells!

Continued to Sisters Rocks that has a wonderful trail from the highway pullout to the rock cliffs.

Parked overnight on another pullout just north of Sisters Rocks. All night semi trucks would pull in behind me and idle their engines for an hour then take off. So irritating. How can men be so incredibly thoughtless??

And that was the first day and a half!!