Oregon Coast: Umpqua River to Florence

Eel Lake,  William M. Tugman State Park

July 11, 2015. We started the morning at the scenic Eel Lake, where we had camped at Tugman State Park, and took a short walk down to the dock. enjoying the beautiful lake with emergent vegetation and surrounding forested hills. We then headed north to the Umpqua River lighthouse, which sits on the western edge of Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. Back in '05, we had visited this lighthouse and took the tour up the spiral stairs into the awesome red and white glass top housing the lens; this time, we enjoyed the lighthouse from outside of the closed gate. Across from the lighthouse, I took in the view of the mouth of the Umpqua River and its two jetties, where it meets the sea, across the very green Ziolkouski Beach Park. What I didn't see was another hidden lighthouse in the trees. Look even closer, and between the south jetties is the Umpqua Aquaculture triangle oyster farm. So when I pop the next luscious oyster in my mouth, I can imagine this is where it came from--which is better than the wild oysters being over-harvested and depleted while the dredging destroys the bottom of the sea. Thumbs up for aquaculture.

Ziolkouski Beach Park. Look to the right, just below the landward edge of the longer south levee for the hidden lighthouse. Zoom in to see the rows of suspended oysters on ropes in the triangle between the two south levees.

Instead of climbing the spiral stairs, we visited the museum and gift shop just up the street and spent a good amount of time learning about the history of this place and buying a few gifts. Just a bit off Highway 101, we did our random riding up Lighthouse Drive between Umpqua Lighthouse State Park and the Umpqua River. Lighthouse Drive ended on Salmon Harbor Drive, and we had a very windy, rainy picnic along a little inlet called Half Moon Bay, where people fished the Umpqua along the pier. Sandwiched between Highway 101 and the sea, the only place to wind up was back at at the highway at Winchester Bay. Our left turn continued north.

Umpqua River Light

Now, we were riding along the dunes. My brother recommended a dune buggy ride, so in the late afternoon, we stopped at Sand Dunes Frontier to experience the sand on wheels rather than on foot. It's a different world than hiking the wild places--it's where the federal government gave thousands of acres of what was once pristine natural dunes to a big human playground. My eco adult side felt guilty about supporting an industry of vehicles compacting the sand and damaging the natural dune ecosystem processes, while the little kid in me was having a blast of a good time. We had a crazy driver with a crazy MadMax-like rig for multiple passengers. The old buggy gave him a little trouble while he had us out on the sand, but he got it started again and gave us a ride for our money. The scenery was beautiful, and we were seeing parts of the Oregon Dunes NRA that we would not have been able to access on foot. And, of course, we hit the highest hills at top speed for that amusement park effect.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area with an ATV kicking up sand (upper left).

When that bout of fun was over, it was time to head up to Florence to settle in for the night. We found a room at the Le Chateau Inn, which seemed nice and reasonable, but we parked in the back next to a guy living out of his truck. When I went to move my truck, we discovered an unpleasant surprise of a puddle of leaked fluid. Car trouble. Again. Dinner, however, was on the agenda. We took the leaking truck down to the Port of Siuslaw along the Siuslaw River, and by recommendation, dined on pilings on the river at Mo's Restaurant--a trendy seafood place that had a cool atmosphere, lovely view, and delicious clam chowder. Back at the Chateau, we enjoyed a nice relaxing hot tub before settling in for the night. We saved worrying about the car trouble for the morning.