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| The Wachats, Oregon coastline |
Unfortunately, the further west we drove, the heavier the clouds became. As dusk was settling, it began to rain. As it became darker and darker out, we abandoned our original campsite destination for one about an hour's drive closer.
Rain began in earnest. The road had many twists and turns. I was driving while David navigated. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the form of a deer and knew she was going to cross onto the highway in front of me. It was as if I felt a Hand on my heart. I came to a full stop rather than just slowing down. What a blessing that turned out to be... the doe crossed in front of the truck. If I had simply slowed to swerve around her, I would have hit her fawn squarely in the side. He trotted about six to eight feet behind her. We watched to make certain that they both crossed to the other side of the road before continuing onward, ever grateful that there was also no one behind me.
We set our sites for St. Mary's Peak campground. Later we realized that a name like that should have clued us that we would be going up a mountainside! We drove up and up in the pitch black, twisting and turning so much that I could barely go more than 10-15 miles per hour. It took us over a half hour to make the trek to the top. The entire time we didn't know where we were or when we would arrive. Only when we passed Parker Falls, we were able to determine that the mountain was to our right rather than a cliff. I hugged that mountain as closely as I could. We determined that we would camp up at the very first pullout that we found.
Finally we saw an arrow. David got out with the flashlight to determine where this side road might lead. Thankfully, it was the campground. We were delighted. We had the campground to ourselves, so chose a level site, set up in the rain, and dove for the inside of the camper. It felt like we were the last people on earth.
The next morning while I was making coffee, the ranger drove by, giving us a friendly warning for not paying before camping. He was very understanding of our late and wet arrival. Later, while I was dressing, a mini van drove in, followed by an entire Boy Scout troop! Obviously, we were far from the last folks on the planet. The troop had come up for a "search and rescue" training session. We visited for a while, then said our adieu.
The park ranger said that on a sunny day, St. Mary's Peak gives a glorious view of most of the major mountains in the area. In the daylight, we drove to the peak, but the cloud cover was too dense to see much of anything.
Our plan was to drive to Depoe Bay, a place where I took fabulous tidal pool photos some 10-12 years ago. I was hoping to do the same this trip.
We visited Wachats' Devil's Churn and its Spouting Horn before turning north to Otter Rock. A spouting horn is when water and air are pushed by waves into an open cave. While I missed some of the more spectacular eruptions, here's a short video to give you an idea of what we saw:
With intermittent rain seeming to follow us, we found Otter Rock and my tidal pools. It was high tide, so David and I took a stroll down to the beach to see if it was something that Roxanne could traverse. All looked good. We set up camp at Beverly Beach Campground and set the alarm for 7 a.m. to catch the tides at their lowest.
Unfortunately, rain engulfed us that night. We awoke to fierce winds, angry waves, and heavy rain. Disappointed but knowing that Washington's coast held tidal pools, we left Oregon and traveled Highway 101 north. On the advice of the St. Mary's Peak ranger, we had great breakfast at DePoe Bay's Sea Hag.
As we drove further, the skies lightened for a bit. David discovered a great stop-over for us... the largest Sitka Spruce in Oregon. Since it was not too far off our route, we decided to stop. This is what we found:
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| Largest Sitka Spruce in Oregon |
Happily, however, a man interested in our camper stopped to talk with us. He suggested that we head for Fort Stevens State Park.
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