December 2023 – Chasing our horizons…

Just south of our campground in Charleston is the Cape Arago highway and three Oregon State Parks. A large portion of this area, about 700 acres, was once owned by Louis J. Simpson a Coos County timber millionaire. In 1910 he built a large estate named Shore Acres. In 1921 after a fire destroyed the home, financial losses prevented the family from rebuilding. The property was sold to the State of Oregon in 1942 for use as a park.

What remains of his estate is currently a well-preserved botanical garden and a couple of out buildings. Since our visit was in October the gardens were not in full bloom, but the beauty was evident. They were decorating for the holiday light festival which is very well known in the area. The colored lights appeared to be decorating the plants as they would look when in bloom, so at least we could tell what color the blooms would have been.

The rest of the estate is spread with trails an enclosed observation station and access to these gorgeous rocks. The waves crashing and stirring around the rocks were mesmerizing. Very interesting rock formations, notice the uplifting angle, absolutely incredible.

There is also a nice overlook at Simpson’s Reef, presumably named after the estate owner. This reef encircles a small gathering of rock islands. The reef provides a safe harbor for various sea creatures including seals and sea lions. They are very active and vocal. We could watch them play for hours. But they are a pretty good distance away, binoculars and zoom lens made it better.

At the end of the highway is the Cape Arago State Park. It is a loop road with several different parking and trail/access areas. Our first visit we saw a whale blow right around these rocks. We wouldn’t have seen it if others had not pointed it out, it was quite exiting and our only whale sighting so far…

A gentleman we met on the beach around our home base clued us in on a trail from Cape Arago where seals and sealions like to hang out that is a much closer view than Simpson’s reef. So cool to get some local knowledge every now and again.

It is reported that Sir Francis Drake sought refuge in this small little cape way back in 1579. Wow just Wow. The main overlook in the park and a sunset.

Sunset State Park is also on this highway and looks like a great place. But it is mainly a campground and adjoining beach, and we already have that. So, we took in the view and moved on. And one last look at Cape Arago Lighthouse looking north this time.

We did take a day trip to Bandon, first to check out the beautiful rocks and also to try the fish tacos on the water front. Another suggestion from one of the guys we met on the beach. Friendly folks. Absolutely love this beach and rock formations, the fish tacos were pretty good as well. No starfish this visit, the tide didn’t seem to be as low as on our visit years ago?? We’ll figure this out, but that will have to wait for a later post. I can’t imagine a better display of coastal sea stacks… and of course the famous face rock.

Peace Love and grateful to experience happiness daily.

Our first stop on the Oregon coast was Charleston a very small town just south of Coos Bay/North Bend. Randy was able to score the cutest campsite right on a sandy beach, only about 100 yards from our door to the beach. We were in heaven. It also happened to be on the edge of about 5 miles of Oregon State Parks and various gorgeous overlooks. We stayed in Charleston for two weeks and barely left the campground. Would have stayed longer but they were a bit pricey and had a 28 day limit on our stay.

The beach directly in front of our home for the week connected to the north with Bastendorff Beach a county park and further on to the jetty and entrance to Coos Bay. The bay is an active shipping port, we saw ships entering and exiting almost everyday. And on the really foggy days we didn’t see the ships, but the fog horns signaling their presence were heard loud and clear. It seems that they export wood chips, we assume a by-product of logging activity in the area, to Japan.

The beach to the south was pretty closed off during high tide, but at low tide Yoakam Point and this little secrete beach was accessible. Although we never got caught on this beach with the tide rising, I believe that at high tide the water was against the rocks, i.e. no beach and sheer cliffs. The rock faces were amazing.

There were some anemones on the rocks at Yoakam Point which made us think of our visit years ago to Bandon. So, one day we did make the trek to Bandon trying to time low tide to possible see the starfish, see later post about Bandon. Here are some Yoakam anemones.

The weather changed frequently from fog to sunshine and from rain and drizzle to clear skies. The ocean also changed dramatically while we were there. Large surfable waves to large washing machine choppy mess to beautiful flat blue water. We frequently walked to the jetty and back, and got a nice view of the Cape Arago Light house looking south.