04/19/03:
Went up and checked out Smith River National Recreation Area up CA-199 in California and then hit the south coast of Oregon on US-101. Just as great and even greater, but different than the California coast. More like Maine with some large rocks and islands topped by pine trees, probably spruce.
Samuel H. Boardman State Park runs 27 miles from above Brookings and has fantastic shorelines with many big monoliths, a natural bridge an arch and many turnouts.
The Oregon Coast Trail currently follows 300 of Oregon's 350 miles of coastline and they're working on the other 50 miles. I think I'm going to go back and do parts of the trail in Boardman State Park.
I'm camped on the beach 9 miles up the Rouge River in Gold Beach. About 15-20 coho salmon fishermen are camped nearby. Haven't seen anyone pull anything in yet.
04/20/03 Wildlife watching at Gold Beach:
Thought I was going down to Brookings and begin the Oregon Coast Trail but I got sidetracked. Wandered down to Harris Beach and started poking in the around the tidal pools around the rocks and monoliths exposed by low tide. Found 4 different kinds of starfish and lots of them. Sea anemones too and something called a leather chiton. 2-3 inches long and looks like a black slug with white spots. I poked one just to see if it would move. Instead of something soft and slimy it did in fact feel like leather.
Moved up to Lone Ranch Beach which is the beginning of the Oregon Coast Trail. The trail I picked up headed into some tall grass. I figured if I was going to get my feet soaking wet I'd let the surf do it and headed for exposed rocks again. Sure enough, the surf got me. An extra large wave came in and got me even though I was standing on top of a rock.
It had been overcast all day and when it started to rain around noon I called it a day. Got a shower and did laundry and then went to the mouth of the Rouge River looking for wildlife. Drove near the end of a sea wall and found a bunch of harbor seals and my first Steller sea lions. Man, they're big. I'll bet the males go over a 1000 pounds. They didn't care for me or the truck being there and kept a wary eye on us. They had been going right by where I parked but stopped doing that. I thought it might be my bright yellow jacket but they still avoided the area when I got in the truck. When I pulled away they came back.
04/21/03:
Light rain this morning so I went down to the mouth of the Rouge River to watch the sea lions. Some of the harbor seals were asleep on the beach but the Steller sea lions were all in the water. I'd guess there's somewhere around 50 of them all together.
They seem to constantly be going in and out of the little channel along the jetty separating the river from open ocean. Sometimes they're in bunch of 4 or more as if they were chatting as they go. The females seem to be the ones I've had impressions of since I was a kid, you know, the ones balancing beach balls on their noses. They look like they might weigh 300-400 pounds or so. The males are a lighter tan and weigh close to 1000 pounds anyway. (5/7: Actually the tan ones are Steller sea lions and the ones I thought were females are California sea lions).
Hiking Oregon Coast Trail (Cape Ferrelo to House Rock - 1 mile or so one way):
It looked like it might clear up so I headed down to Boardman State Park. I turned towards Lone Ranch Beach first. This trail led out into an open area to a rounded, grassy bluff overlooking Lone Ranch Beach. I only went a half mile or so until I got to the overlook and turned back. It was in the 40's and a 30mph wind was blowing making things very uncomfortable.
The trail to House Rock seemed to be more sheltered and it was. Several moderate ups and downs lead through pine trees. The temperature rose in the trees and so did the humidity. I was soon soaked from the inside out. Lots of moss and ferns in here. It's only a mile or so along the trail to House Rock but it started to rain so when I got there I turned around and came back.
Went to visit the sea lions on Rouge River on the way back. The tide was coming in and the surf fishermen were out in force. They must be really dedicated because it was fairly cold, the wind was up to 35-40mph and it wasn't at all pleasant Since they were out there I felt justified in wandering the beach too and closer views of the sea lions as they paraded up and down the channel. If I can get some decent weather I think I will get the boat wet and paddle around the little harbor. Maybe they will be less suspicious of something in the water with them than on land.
04/21/03 Paddling the Mouth of the Rouge River:
No rain last night but 40's and windy this morning. Saw bits of blue in the sky and hoped it might be clearing up for a while. Went down to the mouth of the Rouge River to visit the sea lions again. Wind was 10-15mph or so. Saw a half dozen Steller sea lions plowing in and out of the channel. Decided to go hike some more of the Oregon Coast Trail.
Down past Myers Creek the sun came out in full force. After just hearing the windy, rainy forecast for tomorrow I turned around and headed for the public boat ramp on the south side of the Rouge River. Better get while the getting's good. The kayak has been sitting on top of the truck since Wyoming in September. I had a cockpit cover on but its kinda old and worn out. My spray skirt was soaking wet and the PFD not much better from all the rain these past weeks. Putting on a wet spray skirt over dry clothes is almost as fun as putting on a cold, damp wetsuit over warm skin, but not quite.
30-40 harbor seals were sleeping on a beach on the other side of the channel where I put in. They woke up and headed for the water as I passed by... all but three fat females who couldn't be bothered. I was about 50 feet from them when they went in, the closest I've been to seals on land, east or west coast. Of course, after they went in, all these heads started popping up out of the water all around me. All these little gray heads with black eyes and noses all around me. Looked like a bunch of little hobgoblins. Cool stuff.
I had to paddle out of a protected cove, past another to the little harbor between the river mouth and the US-101 bridge. 15-20 seals followed me part way, keeping me surrounded. Once in the harbor, many of them disappeared. Several of them still trailed behind me though. If I stopped, turned around and looked at them, they would submerge. If I stopped and let the wind blow me around until I was facing them, they stayed up. I experienced the same behavior with harbor seals in Maine. Often, one of them would dive and pop up 15 feet from the kayak, look startled and dive again with a big splash.
Out in the harbor, the river current seemed to be running about 2.5 knots and the first thing I did was turn into the current and begin paddling. With a six month layoff and not much paddling then and not having paddled any tides or currents since I don't know when, I didn't want to get stuck in waters I couldn't handle. Once I was satisfied I was OK I let the current push me along.
The harbor is only about 1/2 mile long by 1/4 mile wide. A beach or sandbar separates most of the river from the ocean and forces it into a channel 75 feet wide or so. I saw several big bull sea lions weighing 1000-2000 pounds and several smaller females. Now, I didn't really know the sea lions wouldn't attack me. I didn't think so, hadn't heard or read anything but still wasn't sure. So, when I got down to the sandbar, I stayed close to it. If anything unpleasant was going to happen, I wanted it to happen where I had a chance of getting out of the water in a hurry.
I was pretty close to the channel and sea lions were moving in and out. I wasn't much more than 100 feet or so away from them. The California sea lions usually keep on the move, diving and resurfacing for air or staying submerged to feed. Steller sea lions seem to need more air, are lazier or just like to look around more. They seemed a bit less concerned with me in the water with them than when I had been standing on shore watching them, but they knew I was there and I wasn't one of them. A couple of them surfaced 50 feet away and I was impressed with their size and their teeth. Sometimes they'd stick their heads and necks all the way out of the water. I hope they weren't licking their chops because they had big canines like a dog. That's kinda intimidating. Their necks were bigger than my waist and I ain't skinny.
I just maintained my position near shore and watched for 30-40 minutes. Really great stuff. I don't think I've been that impressed since I first paddling with alligators. They are so much bigger than I ever thought. Finally I didn't see any for a while and headed back to the boat ramp. All this time 6-8 seals had been hanging out nearby and proceeded to follow along behind me. Back in the protected cove many more heads appeared. Half a dozen of them were asleep in the water. All you see is a snout and whiskers pointed up in the air. If you look closely you can see their eyes are closed. I had seen this in Maine too. Then they would sense my presence, wake up, look as if to say "Oh, sh*t", and dive.
Really glad I went out, even if it took me a while to buck the wind and river current on the way back. Now I really wish I had gone paddling with the seals and gray whales at the mouth of the Klamath River in California last week. Sigh! Still haven't had the boat in the actual Pacific Ocean. It was on the other side of that sandbar I was hiding behind. Soon, though, soon!
Started back down US-101 again to hike the Oregon Coast Trail but made the mistake of stopping at the Meyer's Creek beach. This beach has many large monoliths and sea stacks just off shore. The tide was in past most of them and pools were forming around the others. I still had my sandals and Polar Tec socks on so wasn't worried about wet feet and off I went.
Lots of green sea anemones, a few purple starfish and a couple of orange ones. Even found a sand dollar, a round shell 2 inches in diameter with 5, what look like flower petals forming a perfect flower. Tomorrow's plan is to get back here to Meyer's Creek Beach for some beachcombing and sea garden viewing.
Went back to the mouth of the Rouge with the vague hope of paddling with the sea lions again. The wind was up around 20-25 knots and it stayed there. I found most of the Steller sea lions outside the sand bar. The tide and the waves were coming in which added to the enjoyment of watching them. One California sea lion was feeding right in front of me and stayed right in that area.
And then I saw a large Steller sea lion surfing. Yup! Surfing! I saw him bobbing around as a 3 footer was getting ready to break. Usually they dive under or just ride over a wave. This guy just flipped his flippers, caught the wave as it broke and rode the surf. And a nice ride it was too. I had never seen that on TV before nor had I heard of sea lions surfing.
Then the California sea lion I was watching flipped underneath an incoming wave and rode it in, underwater! Both were deliberate acts. Over the next 30 minutes I saw several Steller sea lions catching waves, sometimes two on the same wave. And a couple of times I saw two California sea lions riding the same wave underwater. I didn't see any Stellers underwater nor did I see any Californias on top of a wave either.
04/22/03 Beachcombing at Meyers Creek Beach:
Yesterday's weather forecast was right on the money... strong winds and heavy rain. Went to Meyers Creek Beach anyway. Donned the rain gear and did some beachcombing. Torrential rains and winds strong enough to push me around. Quite a workout just walking against it. Found two large sea dollars right away and then no more. Also found a mussel shell 8 inches long. Made me think of malevolent, mutant mussels.
04/24/03 Beachcombing at Meyers Creek Beach:
Lost another day somewhere. Heavy rains and winds all through yesterday afternoon and last night. It stopped for a while this morning and looked like it might be kinda nice but then it got dark and the rains came again. The forecast is for 'showers' for the next 3 days. From what I've seen so far, a shower is usually and extended deluge.
I went down to Meyers Creek Beach and did some website work while overlooking the beach, the monoliths and the waves. The rain stopped and the skies cleared a little so I hit the beach. The tide was 2 hours into the ebb tide and I found 4 more good sand dollars.
The rains came back so I headed out to see the sea lions. The harbor seals disappeared yesterday and I only saw a few sea lions. Same today. Maybe because of the outgoing tide.
Went back to Meyers Creek Beach when the tide was just about all the way out and found 4 more sand dollars.
04/25/03:
Not a good day. I've been hanging out here in Gold Beach hoping for the weather to clear so I can hike a couple of really nice sections of the southern Oregon Coast Trail and maybe get to paddle out with the sea lions again. It's been raining for several days and the forecast for the next several days is the same. So I headed north.
In addition to the rain, there's not much to see between Gold Beach and Coos Bay. Coos Bay's claim to fame is its home to Georgia/Pacific, Weyerhaeuser and other large lumber companies. The most exciting thing I saw was a tug boat pushing a lot of logs around in a bay or river.