Port Orford Part 2

Things got interesting

Most of the time, things go pretty well with this strange life we live. Our second night in Port Orford, we were awakened by a lady yelling in the RV park. At first she was yelling "help" but quickly went to "someone give me your keys". We saw flashlights waving around and heard people trying to help her. She was a hallucinating transient with a knife and finally had to be tazed by the police and taken to the mental health unit. It made us sad but don't feel any less safe in our trailer than we were in our home in Woodland Park. The Texas 7 (escaped convicts) were found a few blocks from our house several years ago.

 

Fortunately, the rest of our stay was uneventful.

Bike riding the Wild River Coast Bikeway video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry9g0iwIsdA&feature=youtu.be 

 

We saved the hilly section of the ride to the lighthouse for our last day and no wind!

 

 Most of the bike ride is through farm land.

 There were cranberry bogs.

 The Elk River

 We made it!!

 

The town of Port Orford

Griff's on the harbor for halibut.

 

And other interesting businesses.

The scent of fresh baking bread and cinnamon drew us into the Golden Harvest.

 Getting here before the summer crowds start arriving was a treat. A jacket was needed with the cool temperatures, highs in the 60 and lows upper 40s.

A view from the lighthouse as Mike ponders.....

Battle Rock

Battle Rock Park is named for the historic battle that took place at Battle Rock where the Qua-to-mah Native Americans fought Capt. William Tichenor's men in 1851. 



We walked down to the caves in Battle Rock to find some real treasures but kept an eye on the tide as it was on its way back in.

You didn't really think we would stop posting all of these cool tide pooling pictures while still at the ocean.

 



The anemones were opening ups as the water started rising.

Mussels on the walls

This cave had so many interesting creatures.

Barnacles

Anemones opening up as the water would rise.



 

There were many different types of starfish each day as we walked the beach.

Jabba the Hut looking anemones having a brunch of crab.



This town of 1100 people turned out to be a real treat and no rain!

 

On our arrival to Port Orford, the RV park manager gave us instructions on where to go if the tsunami alarm sounded. We didn't think about it much until we heard about the earthquakes in Hawaii. Now we know to go left two blocks and up the hill. 

 

What a week we enjoyed, walking the beach in the morning and then bike riding in this cool little coastal town.

After riding the Elk River section of the bikeway, we stopped at Red Fish for lunch. Planning a bike ride that ends with lunch is very important. A great view doesn't hurt.

 

Now we head to Eugene to check out more bikeways. We hear they have covered bridges.

Port Orford

More ocean time

One of the reasons we wanted to spend time in Oregon this springs was to ride their scenic bikeways. We arrived in Port Orford with the intention of riding most of the 60 miles of the Wild Rivers Coast Scenic Bikeway. The strong winds had us thinking that this was going to be one long week if the winds didn't change.

When a person sees this painted on the road, it seems like a good thing to check out.

Yep, that's an ocean view.

We woke the next morning to sunshine and calmer winds. The first three miles going north were into some fairly strong winds. Now we understand why most people ride the Pacific Coast Highway north to south.  

Once we turned off the highway onto Elk River Road, the wind was blocked by the trees and the beautiful valley kept us smiling and pedaling

 The only problem was that the beautiful rivers and waterfalls kept making us stop and take pictures. Finally, we had to just ride.
 One rule of bike riding is that your bike follows where you are looking. I kept that in mind as we would find ourselves glancing down to the river in the gorge as we pedaled along. Fortunately, our handlebars didn't follow our eyes.

Turning around at mile 16 seemed like a good plan even though the river and valley kept calling us ahead.

We stopped at the fish hatchery on the way back down to see some huge trout for the lakes and tiny steelhead salmon that will be released in the Chetco River near Brookings, OR in the fall.

 

Piloted in 2014, the Tag Team Program helps ODFW fish biologists better understand the effectiveness of stocking efforts. It’s also a chance for anglers to participate in fishery management and, perhaps, come away with up to $50.

 

By releasing a known number of tagged fish into lakes, and totaling reports from anglers who caught a tagged fish, ODFW biologists can accurately estimate the percentage of the total population of stocked fish that were caught. With this knowledge, biologists can better stock the correct number of fish and the most desirable species. Not every tagged fish will be reported, so to sweeten the deal, some tags come with monetary rewards.

We were sure hungry after 34 miles of riding and headed over to the Crazy Norwegian.

The giant coconut shrimp went well with the great clam chowder and sour dough bread. All I needed was to ride the mile back home and take some Tylenol.

 

We broke up our hiking and biking days with visits to local museums and parks. 

Coast Guard Museum

 

 A lifeboat from the early 1900s at the Coast Guard museum.

The lifeboats were launched from Nellies cove over 500 steps down from the Coast Guard station.

A walk out on the Headlands Trail from the Coastguard Museum.

At the end of the trail looking down on agate beach, we could see the lighthouse way out there on the tip.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse

 

On the lower work level of lighthouse, a volunteer gave us a tour before we climbed the stairs up to the light.

 The stairs were not attached to the wall but felt very sturdy. I guess they would have to be for it to still be in service.

The 18 second light is specific to Cape Blanco. Every lighthouse has its own pattern to help the captain of the boat or ship know where they are in foggy conditions.

The Hughes house built in 1898 was not far from the lighthouse. We stopped for a tour here also. The couple were from Ireland. After operating a successful dairy ranch for more than thirty years, the couple was able to pay a pioneer builder to design and build the comfortable, two-story home It is always interesting to glance back into the past.

I can't imagine milking 100 cows twice a day by hand. But then again, I have never milked one cow but Mike has.

It was also good to visit with the volunteers at these places as we consider where we could like to volunteer next summer or spring.

 

Who knew there would be more of Port Orford to share coming up?