The Donut Diaries: The Beach, One More Time – Carl Washburne State Park, July 11-15, 2013

The weather in Bend finally cleared up for a long enough stretch that we could get the deck refinished, so here we go again packing up the RV for a few days away from the house. Predictions for the coast are sun, sun, sun.... but... winds 14, 16, 20 mph. Surely that can’t be right? Oh no, you can’t trust these weather programs. Let’s go and see for ourselves...

And off we went towards Florence, Oregon... then past the Sea Lion Caves

and the Haceta Head Lighthouse, with its beam shining brightly...

up to Carl Washburne State Park, which has a lovely, two-mile-long stretch of beach for walking and enjoying the shore. The campground sits across the highway (always a challenge to cross with heavy tourism traffic) and then there is a quarter-mile trail through the craggy forest. This place is spooky enough in the daylight...I’d hate to have to maneuver it at night!

Washburne’s beach was perfectly flat when we visited last year. Here’s Norm in one of last year's photos... see what I mean? Flat!

So you can imagine our surprise when we came out of the forest onto this ribbon of sand dunes!

I’m learning that things change constantly at the coast. But those darned weather predictions were right! The winds were just as strong –if not stronger– as they had been on this year’s previous visits. I could hardly hold the camera steady for a video.

Though the winds made for very uncomfortable walks on the beach, they did create some awesome features in the sand...

Mother Nature’s creation? Nah, a Zen Buddist’s perhaps.

The long shadows of sunset...

We opted to view the sunset from the parking lot above, where we had a bit of shelter from the wind. We also didn’t want to be stuck in the craggy forest after dark!

Since beach-walking was totally unbearable due to the wind (and the blowing sand in our faces), we explored the surrounding forest trails...

On Friday, we set out for the China Creek Loop, an easy 1½ miles based on the map. What we didn’t know was that there was a lot of climbing... up 50 feet, down 20 feet, up 50 feet, down 20 feet, and on and on until the loop finally brought us back down to the start. It was a beautiful and peaceful trail full of huge, old-growth trees, but it really did me in!

On Saturday, we planned on doing the Valley Trail, but thought a day of rest was in order. So Sunday morning we packed a lunch and water, and headed out for the longer 3-mile trail. Since it followed a valley, we assumed it would be much less climbing.

Norm was eager to see the Elk meadow and the Beaver pond, too.

What's this??? Yikes! Get me outta here!!

We didn’t see any bears or cougars –nor any elk or beaver for that matter– but every crunch and thud in the forest gave me a chill. Looking over the railing at a creek crossing, we did see footprints, and very fresh ones!

Norm said it was probably a mama bear and cub, and we likely just missed them. I was hoping the scent of our beef jerky and honey-nut bars wouldn’t call them back!!

The trail was uppy-downy, but not at all like the China Creek Loop, and we finished with energy to spare. I even challenged Norm to do the China Creek Loop in reverse as we were heading back (more down and less up), but he was content to leave well enough alone. Now I’ll never know if I had it in me (!) Oddly enough, my bum knee has been behaving fabulously on this trip --am I actually on the path to healing?? I sure hope so!

After our return to the RV, Gracie was demanding some outside time. But once I secured her in harness and leash, she wouldn’t budge. She’s puzzled by this contraption is on her back, and absolutely hates it! You can just see the frustration in that look!