In addition to just being gorgeous, the Oregon Coast is jackpot for State Parks!  We actually passed several up so that we can visit them at a later date.  Er, okay, we didn’t stop because our 15 month old daughter was asleep in the back seat and we didn’t want to wake her up.  Anyway, we did visit a handful of parks and all of them were well worth the stop.

 Our first stop was Cape Meares, part of the 3 Capes Scenic route.  It is almost an insult to call this a “viewpoint,” as it really is so much more.  At the parking lot, you’ll find bathrooms (clean, but not fancy) a display and a viewpoint overlooking a small cove.  Apparently, this cove is a great place for photographers to snap pictures of sea birds, as there were about 15 photographers there when we visited.  There was also a volunteer with a telescope set up who was willing to talk about the bird life and point out some of the more notable birds.

From this area, there are 3 paths going down the hill that converge at the lighthouse.  The Cape Meares Lighthouse is not a large one, but it is picturesque, nonetheless.  Inside is a small gift store and museum, although only the lower level of the lighthouse is accessible. My husband was actually the 150th person to visit that day and he won a postcard–woo hoo!

Later that evening, my husband and I decided to take our daughter for her first walk on the beach.  (Yes, she had been to the beach before, but not since she learned to walk).  Since we were staying in Newport for the weekend, we decided to head north of town to Beverly Beach State Park.

I had been to this beach several times before growing up and had always enjoyed it.  The beach itself is large and sandy–perfect for beach walking!  It is also easy to get to from the day use parking area, which is always a plus–especially when you have a toddler in tow.  While we didn’t go in, there is also a visitor center (or something like that) at the edge of the campground, as well as a “group meeting yurt” near the day-use parking lot.  If you are looking to spend a day at the beach, Beverly Beach is a good option.

I will say, though, that I thought the camping areas of the park to be crowded.  It may have been because the park was almost full to capacity that weekend, but it seemed like everyone was right on top of each other.  My husband maintains that most State Parks are like this (keep reading, though), however, I don’t remember Champoeg or Tumalo being that crowded.  There were a fair number of yurts in two sections, which is nice for those of us who like to camp in yurts.  Also, I felt the yurt sections were less crowded than the other parts of the campground.  All in all, it’s probably a great campground if you are going to spend most of your time on the beach, but things might be a little too close for comfort in the campground itself.

The next morning, we decided to take our daughter for another walk on the beach.  This time, we headed south of town to South Beach State Park.  I don’t believe that I had ever visited this park before, but with all the parks on the coast, I may be mistaken.  We first drove through the campgrounds, which I found to be far less crowded than that at Beverly Beach (so take THAT, hubby!).  Like Beverly Beach, South Beach also had a fair share of yurts–although it probably had a fewer number of yurts since its campground is a bit smaller in area than the one at Beverly Beach.

There is ample day-use parking near the beach, although you do have to climb over what I would consider a sand dune to actually get to the beach.  It’s not a big sand hill, but–trust me–it can be challenging if you are a pregnant woman wearing Birkenstocks.  The good news, however, is that it is totally worth it.  The beach is wide and sandy and seems very private due to the dune on opposite the ocean and the stone wall of the South Jetty at one end.  There were also a fair number of people out surfing when we were there–I’ve never understood the appeal of surfing in Oregon, but it seems to be pretty popular (I’m not really a fan of anything that requires a wet suit).  We also saw a couple of seals playing just a bit off shore.

The South Jetty is also part of this park and the mile-long walk starts right at the day-use parking area.  Despite the fact that it was so convenient, we decided to save this for another trip since it was obvious that our daughter’s naptime was quickly approaching.

Okay, so those of you with toddlers know that sleeping can be, well, difficult for your child when you aren’t at home.  Instead of trying to get our daughter to take a nap in the pack and play at the apartment we had rented, we decided that we would just drive around for a while and let her get a nap in that way.  While we were doing this mobile-napping, we did pull into a number of State Parks.  However, the only one we actually stopped at was Lost Creek State Park.

Like many of the small, non-camping State Parks on the Oregon Coast, the main draw of Lost Creek is the beach access.  There is of course a bathroom, and a viewpoint.  The trail down to the beach seems to be nicely landscaped and, more importantly, not too steep. 

Because our daughter was still sleeping in the back of the car, we didn’t head down to the beach itself.  However, we were able to get a good view of it from the parking lot.  It is a nice beach–however, I think it it called “Lost Creek” for a reason.  The tide was coming in when we were there, but there was still a fair amount of time before high tide officially hit.  The beach, however, was rapidly shrinking.  I’m afraid that the beach itself was lost at high tide!

The next day we headed for home.  On our way down, we had taken 26 out to 101 and then down, passing through Tillamook (by the way, the cheapest lunch you’ll get is at the Tillamook Cheese Factory!  I had never eaten there, since I assumed it would have “tourist prices,” but I was wrong! And they have the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches there.)  On the way back, we decided to catch 18 in Lincoln City and go home that way.  Still, we were able to hit a few more parks.

I’m very familiar with Devils Punchbowl.  Not only was it a favorite spot for my family to visit, but every year–from first grade through middle school–we would go there on a field trip to check out the tidepools. 

Tidepools weren’t on the agenda this time.  Our daughter was asleep (again) in the back and we didn’t want to wake her.  More importantly, it was almost high tide, which is probably the worst time to visit Devils Punchbowl if you are there for the tidepools.  If tidepooling is your game, I would recommend getting there about an hour to an hour and half before low tide so that you’ll have a good two to two and half hours to explore the tidepools.  You can find the tide tables here.

However, all is not lost if you are there at high tide.  The Punchbowl itself is pretty cool from up above and this is one of the best spots on the Oregon Coast for Whale Watching.  There is also a gift shop and a (very small, teensy-tiny) Mo’s Restaurant there.

A little further up the road, we hit Boiler Bay State Park.  There is no beach access here, but it does have a worthwhile view.  Like Devils Punchbowl, this is a great place if you are interested in seeing some whales.  Apparently, it’s also a good fishing spot as we say about 4-5 people fishing off the cliff into the bay.  I don’t know what luck they had, though.  While we were there, only one person caught anything and it was only a 5 inch long rockfish.

Once we hit Lincoln City, we veered east onto Highway 18.  Now, this is a road that I know like the back of my hand.  I grew up in Salem and my family were regulars at the beach.  I have literally been down this road hundreds of times.

Which is why I can’t say that the H.B. Van Duzer State Park (actually, it’s a “corridor”) wowed, or had ever wowed me.  It’s a pretty enough drive, but it’s really just a forest between the beach and Salem (or McMinnville).  There is a rest area which, believe it or not, I don’t think I had ever stopped at before.  We did stop and, well, it’s a rest area.  And it’s another State Park off my list.

As I said, the Oregon Coast is a gold mine of State Parks and, thankfully, I still have plenty of reasons to go back!

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My brother, his wife and their daughter came to visit us this week from the Midwest. Now, I love the Midwest and, honestly, I think I would be happy as a pig in mud to live there (I almost said “happy as a clam,” but I thought “happy as a pig in mud” was more Midwestern). One thing, however, that the Oregon has over the Midwest is the ocean. Yep, believe it or not, there are no ocean beaches in Wisconsin.

So, when either of my Midwestern brothers come to town, the beach is usually on the agenda. This time, we only had one day, so hitting every single state park just wasn’t a possibility. However, Pat decided that Arcadia State Park would be an excellent place to stop and look at tide pools.

Now, Arcadia Beach is just south of Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park. If you didn’t know it was there—or didn’t have eagle eyes for state park signs (like me)—you may not even know that it exists. There is a small parking lot big enough for maybe 15 vehicles, a restroom (which I didn’t try out—sorry!) and a not too steep path down to the beach—a beach with very few tide pools!

Okay, so it was kind of a bust on the tide pool front. But the beach itself was quite nice. We were there at the lowest point of the low tide, which made it possible for Pat, my brother and my niece to climb on some rocks in search of the elusive tide pools. The actual beach was wide and sandy and not at all crowded—although, I doubt that Tuesdays in November are high attendance days for Oregon beaches.

Pat did have to show off some of his amazing common sense skills…like walking out to stand on some rocks while the tide was coming in. Classic! My niece got herself fairly damp, however I think that was intentional on her part.

I don’t know how crowded this beach is during peak times, but I do think it’s worth checking out if you want to go spend an afternoon playing in the sand. As I said, the parking lot is small, but there is no camping at this park, so only beachcombers would be there. I’m thinking a second visit here this summer should be in order!

As I said, we had planned to hit Champoeg, which is about a 40 minute drive from our house, for the Harvest Festival. Now, on the road to Newberg (which is between us and Champoeg) is Bald Peak State Park. I can think of about 8 distinct times we’ve driven by the road up to Bald Peak and Pat and I will say we should go check it out sometime. Well, sometime was today!

First thought? The state really needs to pave the road up there! I mean, part of it is paved but part of it isn’t and a ride on a winding gravel road is not fun! Anyhow, we did make it without driving off the side of the hill. Anyway, Bald Peak is a State Park, but it’s actually a scenic viewpoint and, frankly, that’s a far better description of the place. The view, of the Yamhill county (known for vineyards, but you mostly see Christmas Tree farms) and Willamette Valley is a million dollar shot! There are a lot of picnic tables around, but they all look like it’s been a long time since they’ve actually been used for anything. As for bathrooms? Well, yes, they have a bathroom, but it really looks more like an outhouse and I didn’t really need to go, so I can’t say I checked it out!

Here’s the deal. Bald Peak is a great place to stop for a picnic if your ultimate destination is someplace else. I mean, the view is great and it’s a nice drive (once you’re off the gravel road), but there isn’t much there other than that. If you do go, though, take a camera!

Okay, so ten minutes after that we were back on the road and on our way to Champoeg (although Pat missed the road in Newberg and we had to take the long way—which is probably like 2 minutes longer, but oh well!) As I said, we’d been at Champoeg a couple of weeks ago to camp for my birthday. However, I had been to Champoeg a handful of times growing up. It was only 45 minutes or so from my childhood home, but what I remember most from my childhood visits are the big trees. Go figure.

A little history here: Champoeg was a town in the mid-nineteenth century that, according to the visitor’s center, rivaled Portland in size and importance. In fact, it was at Champoeg that a vote was taken to form a provisional government (and be on the road to statehood) or be a British settlement. However, there was a problem. The town was on a flood plain and, in December 1861, the Willamette river flooded and wiped the town off the map and Portland became the big fish in this small pond.

So, when we went a couple of weeks ago, we stayed in a yurt…which was a first for me. Yurts are actually kind of neat and, when you have a small child, a much easier way to camp! They are basically big round Mongolian style tents. Inside there is a bunk bed (I think it’s a twin on top and a queen on the bottom), a futon, a table and two chairs, lights and HEAT! I know there are purists out there who say that really isn’t camping. I suggest you all go find a clearing in the woods and camp there.

The yurt was quite nice and my only complaint was that the bathroom (which was very nice, as were the showers) was a bit of a walk away. Now, this isn’t normally a huge deal except that I’m one of those people who can’t really make it through the night. So, yes, at 1 am I was trudging through the campground.

Champoeg isn’t as large as, say, Silver Creek Falls, but it is one of the larger state parks. They have a 4 mile bike route, a hiking trail, disc golf (which is apparently quite a hit in Oregon. Since I cannot throw a Frisbee straight to save my life AND I’ve lost at miniature golf to someone who is legally blind, I haven’t felt tempted to try Disc Golf), a really nice visitor center and museum and a DAR Pioneer house, so there is plenty to do there. And it’s just plain beautiful there.

Today’s visit was for their Harvest Festival. I think I dragged Pat against his will, but he did fine—probably because he knew a stop at Guitar World would follow our time at Champoeg. Now this is really a great event for kids—kids a little older than L. They had apple pressing, apple bobbing, apple crafts (I’m not sure exactly what they were doing, to tell you the truth), music, etc. Even though she was too young to really participate, L did really enjoy watching everything…and she loved the music. I even have a rare blog-pic of L here…we’re all at the Kitchen Garden at the Visitor’s center. And that is another great thing about this park! When my mother-in-law and I were there a couple of weeks ago, we got a guided tour from one of the volunteers AND some “samples” from the garden (donations gladly accepted, of course). This time, we did spend some time talking to one of the volunteers, but it was quite busy so we didn’t expect any real one-on-one time. I did, however, pick up some Shoofly seeds for our backyard. Supposedly, this bush will repel flies from your house—I just thought it was a pretty plant. But, hey, if it keeps flies away, who am I to complain?

If you haven’t figured it out, I’m a huge fan of Champoeg. It’s got the natural beauty and the history AND it’s practically in our own backyard! Frankly, I think it’s one of the jewels of the Oregon State Park system.

Now, I may not have any more write-ups for a while. Between our schedule, which has gotten very busy for some strange reason, and the weather (I’m a wimp when it comes to cold and rain), we may just not have a chance to get to many parks. Then again, who knows? We may stop at Maud Williamson the next time we head down to Salem. Or we may FINALLY check out Stub Stewart (we’ve been meaning to do that for two years!). Maybe we’ll go scavaging for hazelnuts at Willamette Mission? If something does turn up, I’ll let you know. There are, after all, 184 more state parks to go!

The first of the three parks was Tumalo State Park, which is outside (I believe to the west) of Bend. It’s not huge but it is be-a-utiful! The day-use area is on the banks of the Deschutes River, where Pat got a little fly fishing in.

I don’t know if it’s clear in this picture, but there is actually a bit of a canyon that the river flows through with a rock wall on one side of the river and a grassy bank on the other. While Pat was fishing, L and I hung out in the grass, where there were plenty of picnic tables and horse shoe pits. There was also a swimming hole just downstream from where Pat was fishing (although I don’t know if I would have braved swimming as that water was COLD!).

The campground is on the other side of the road and there three loops with Yurts in one of them. They do have showers—solar showers. I don’t know if this means that you can expect a cold shower on a cloudy day or not. I will, however, find out as we are going to camp there next June! (Yes, June! Until our kids are old enough that we don’t have to worry too much about temperature control, we’ll be yurt/cabin/etc campers!)

Now, my real test of a park is the bathrooms. Yes, that’s pathetic and I know it, but it’s true. I didn’t check out the campground bathrooms, but I did use one in the day-use area. There was a sign on it saying that maintenance on that bathroom was “limited” because of budget cuts, but I will say it was a darn clean facility! So, score one for Tumalo! What it didn’t have, and I don’t think I should expect this in the state parks, is a baby changing table so L had to tended to on a picnic table. Oh well, she’s too young for this to cause too much therapy when she’s older!

The second park we visted was LaPine State Park, which is on the other side of Bend near the town of LaPine (duh!). Of course, I have yet to actually see the town of LaPine, so I’m not entirely sure it exists.

Like Tumalo, LaPine has a campground which looked like a nice one, although we only just drove around. Instead of yurts, they have cabins and deluxe cabins (deluxe cabins have kitchens, bathrooms, televisions, gas grills and, I think, cabana boys to fan you with palm fronds). As I said in my earlier post, I actually have camped here before but I was like 4 years old and with my mother in a RV with her Sweet Adeline friends. All I remember of the trip is having my fingers nibbled on by a chipmunk). No, I did not check out the bathrooms, but the ones in the campground looked decent enough.

Now, Tumalo does have a day use area, but you apparently have to hike from the parking lot to get to any place that you would use during the day. As we had L with us, we didn’t feel like stopping and hiking around in hopes that we might find something. So, ask someone else who has been there what they think. There!

We did, however, stop to see Oregon’s largest Ponderosa Pine. It’s big, it’s tall, it’s a tree. Okay, that was a cop out on my part. It is a noticeably bigger tree than the other trees and now we can say that we saw it. There is about a quarter-mile hike down to it, which was manageable with L. The Deschutes River is not too far beyond it, but you really aren’t supposed to access the river there. Pat says that’s a shame because that is actually a prime fishing spot. Go figure.

On the whole, LaPine was a fine park, but it was somewhat disappointing after seeing Tumalo. Sometime in the future, we may go back and take more time to explore it, but this past visit didn’t really excite us.

The third park was Detroit Lake State Park. Now, I grew up going past Detroit Lake on our way from Salem to Bend and I’ve got to be honest here, I really am not a fan. It’s a big man-made lake with lots of fishing and speed boats. I actually think it’s far more interesting when they’ve drained it so you see a field of water-logged tree stumps—it’s kind of apocalyptic looking. But then, there are lots of people who love Detroit Lake. I know my brother goes fishing there a lot (which makes me think that Pat will soon go fishing there a lot).

So, there are actually two state parks there…the other one being Mongold State Park, which we did not stop at. I think that may have been a mistake since I think Mongold is actually just the day-use area for the Detroit Lake State Park, which is the campground. I’ve got to say, though, it isn’t a very nice campground. For one thing, it’s right next to the highway so there isn’t any place—other than going out in a boat on the lake—where you can escape the road noise. Also, it’s just, well, dirty. Both Tumalo and LaPine (and also Champoeg) just feel very clean and well kept, but Detroit isn’t like that. It’s sort of the park on the wrong side of the tracks. And, um, the bathroom is not exactly a place where you’d want to “meditate,” as my mom says.

While I was in the bathroom, Pat did drive around the park and there is a boat ramp, which is great if you have a boat. (We actually do have a boat! It’s sitting in our garage. Until we get the hitch put on our vehicle and get the boat registered with the state, though, it’s going to stay in our garage). Of course, Mongold also have a boat ramp so there is no reason to use Detroit’s boat ramp unless you are actually camping there.

So, there you go. 3 down, 186 to go…..