On Our Road - Oregon Coast, HWY101

***hey everybody, here is an older story I did on a road trip my and some guys took.  hope you enjoy. - eric

On Our Road: Oregon Coast, HWY 101

By: Eric Connolly

In the realm of book and film, the road trip is a mysterious entity.  From the rambling and weaving “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac to the ideological voyage of Che Guevara in “The Motorcycle Diaries.  Or from the chilling yet inspiring story of Christopher McCandless in the film “Into The Wild” to the aptly named and poorly written film “Road Trip.”  Whether it has been in writing or on the big screen, it seems that the concept of taking a trip across one’s homeland is written in the subtext of our very being.  It is something we are drawn to.

That is where our trip began, three college seniors sitting at a long oak bar deciding to take a trip to the Oregon coast.  The goal was simple, to make our way down the entirety of the Oregon coast on Highway 101.  We had no set destinations, no hotel reservations and no other goals to speak of.  We wanted a Kerouac style journey, one that would leave us open to whatever experiences the road would give us.

We began our trip at midnight, heading westward from Missoula Montana down Interstate 90.  We made our way over mountain passes, across rivers and through gorges for ten hours before finally pulling on to the 101 near Seaside, Oregon.  We decided to spend our first night at Fort Stevens State Park, 10 miles west of Astoria. 

THE OCEAN

After securing our camping spot for the night, all we could focus on was finally seeing the ocean. We were a five-minute drive from the beach.  The entire way, all we could do was keep sticking our heads out the window, howling mad and waiting impatiently for the chance to be the first one to see the ocean.

Ft. Stevens Beach, Astoria, OR

As we drove up over a small crest of sand dune, we finally saw it.  The ocean stretched out before us in all its frightening glory.  We also saw the sign telling us that cars were allowed on the beach. The eight cylinders of the Nissan Xterra fired up, spitting sand up behind us as we rolled down onto the beach.  It was 7:20, and the sun was beginning to set through the dimming Pacific coast sky.  We were completely speechless.

In my eyes, as we raised our ice-cold beers to the dying heavens, there has never been anything so beautiful.  We parked the car at the edge of the surf, took off our shoes, and stepped into the icy water.  After a few more moments of silence, an almost ancient urge overtook us, a drunkenness from the salty breeze.  We all stood, shin deep in the surf and screamed off into the distance.  We screamed the screams of men who, even just for a moment, felt completely free.  We continued our primitive yells until the sun finally set beyond the endless horizon, and we knew that we had arrived.

Alex and Brandon celebrate the arrival to the coast.

After a night of sleep in our rather small Sierra Designs three-person tent, we decided it was time to pack up our things and keep moving.  The road was calling.

THE ROCK

We made our way south down the 101 about 25 miles to the town of Cannon Beach.  In the spirit of full disclosure, Cannon Beach was the one place that I knew we should stop on our trip, mainly for its widely known landmark, Haystack Rock.  The 235-foot “sea-stack” is the third largest monolith in the world and is home to many migratory birds and sea life.

Haystack Rock was stunning.  It’s sheer size jutting out of the ocean drew differing comparisons from the three of us, from “skyscraper” to “the Grand Canyon” to “really pissed off deity throwing rocks.”  Whatever it was, it was undoubtedly an important stop on our trip, and one we would all strongly recommend to any Hwy 101 travelers.

Eric, Alex and Brandon at Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach.

THE LIGHTHOUSES

One of the most endearing things about driving down Hwy 101 is the fact that you are almost always next to the ocean.  As you make your way down the road, there is practically always some beautiful ocean view awaiting you.  Stretches of road leave you hanging hundreds of feet above the ocean, where one wrong turn could send on a last ride into the surf.  Another benefit that this location gives is the accessibility to some stunning lighthouses.

There are eleven lighthouses standing along the Oregon Coast, each with their own story and distinct look.  The lighthouse that sticks out most clearly in my mind is the Heceta Head Lighthouse.  Located 12 miles north of Florence, the lighthouse stands 205 feet above the ocean on a misty precipice and has been lit since 1894.  A short half-mile hike leads you up to a densely wooded hill until the lighthouse and the ocean burst out before you as a damp ocean wind whips into your face.

It seems when you are near a lighthouse; you can almost sense the history that surrounds it.  You can feel the dark stormy nights with a lonely light-keeper praying for the storm to pass.  You can imagine the joy that sailors felt after a long journey when they saw a piercing light sweep across the horizon.  You can tell, even though it’s just a tall building with a light attached to the top, that this place holds a vast assortment of history and stories.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

CAMPING

An advantage of taking a trip down the 101 is the ease and accessibility of camping.  Growing up in Northwest Montana I have had plenty of opportunities to go camping, but I was blown away by the quality of camping along the coast..  According to Oregonstateparks.com, if you are just looking for tent sites with beach access, there are already eight parks where you could stay.  If you add in places with RV sites or sites with just short walks to the beach, you have 13.  Each of these parks is affordable (usually between $13-$18 for a tent site), remarkably clean and typically very close to the nearest beach.

For anyone trying to travel the Oregon coast on a budget, these campsites are the way to go.  There is also nothing like waking up in the morning to the sound of crashing waves and the smell of crisp, clean ocean air.  My personal recommendations of where to stay would be Fort Stevens State Park for the drive-on beach and the rustic military fort, South Beach State Park for the noteworthy interpretive trail and opportunity of renting a yurt and Sunset Bay State Park for the beautiful cliffs and hiking trails.

Alex and the XTerra on the beach at Ft. Stevens.

                                                                                                    

THE REDWOODS

After four days on the road, we crossed the border of Oregon into California headed towards our final destination, the Redwood National Forest.

As soon as we passed the sign telling us we were now in the park, the legendary forest where Paul Bunyan found some trees more proportionate to his size, we could tell that we had arrived.  We quickly made our way to a campsite, threw down our tent and went off to explore.

We found a back road up into the coastal side of the forest, and were immersed in the sheer size of the forest.  The trees, sometimes reaching more than 300 feet in height and 25 feet in diameter, are large enough to stop you in your tracks.  They are so large they almost seem unnatural, or even mystical.  Definitely large enough to make you reconsider your place in the world.

If you are planning on going to the Redwoods I have one piece of advice for you.  Don’t be afraid to explore.  Everyone wants to drive through a tree, but honestly, it costs five dollars and is thoroughly anticlimactic.  Find a small hiking trail or dirt road and go get a little lost.  There is no doubt in my mind that the forest hides some secrets, go find them.

THE WRAP UP

The hardest part of any road trip comes in knowing that is has to an end.  The feeling can go one of two ways.  First, it can be a drifting melancholy, a feeling that what you just accomplished is over and that it will be very difficult to match the experience.  It is an easy path to take.  But, there is another way.

The second path, the more difficult but altogether more fulfilling is to know full well that the trip is not over.  The trip is never over.  There is no length restriction on a road trip.  We should always be moving, whether it’s at home or abroad, discovering the world around us.  We had found what we were looking for on our trip, the knowledge that the “road” is just an extended metaphor for life.  You may not have a plan, you may not have a goal, and you may have no direction, but as Jack Kerouac wrote in “On The Road”, “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”

The road is life.  Go find your way.