Our Time in Brookings, OR

Changing our route at the last minute meant scrambling for a spot over the July 4th holiday. Knowing the pace we wanted to set, I figured we'd be near Brookings, OR about that time so focused my search here.

Put our name on a couple waiting lists, made a reservation at a very busy, family park in Smith River, CA, and then just before we launched I found a spot I liked better along the Chetco River in Brookings. Cancelled the first reservation and booked four nights at At River's Edge RV Park.

The quiet mountain side

The park is indeed on the edge of the river, and if there was more water and some fish it would be a prime fishing spot. But neither of those is true this summer :-(  It is very clean here, even the 20% permanent residents. Quiet at night, beautiful tree-covered mountains on all sides, deer and birds. Unfortunately there is also a rock company destroying a section of mountain on the other side of the river. The heavy equipment runs all day, even on the holiday Saturday, and starts before 6 AM! They have a permanent set up so until there's no more mountain there, it will be a daily ear-sore. We'll stay elsewhere next time.

We spent most of our time at the water. There's a lot of variety with the harbor, state beach, and three large rivers all within a few miles.

Harris Beach is one of those post card places you can't believe you're actually seeing with your own eyes. The fog moved in and out over the rocks and haystacks and the driftwood made natural sculptures along the water. We took a short hike through one of the many small cliff areas to a tide pool fed between two huge rocks. Can't believe this is our life.

You'd think I'd learn to listen to my "self" by this age, but once again I ignored and regretted it later. On our way back to the parking lot there was a familiar looking woman talking with some folks at one of the over-looks. I told Bill "She looks like Judy who's blog I sometimes read." But I didn't ask her, just returned to the car. Of course when I opened her blog back at the rig the opening photo was Harris Beach! I should be sore from kicking myself!!

When I was here with the BFF we looked at a couple properties for sale, very different from each other, and I wanted to see if I could find them this time. Figured it was a fun way to show Bill some of the local area.

On our way out of the park a doe and her young fawn jumped out of the bush and loped along the side of the road for several yards just ahead of us. We kept back and just enjoyed their beauty for the brief encounter.

While looking for the property on the Chetco River we found a small access road and drove the Jeep out to see if we could find any fish. No fish, but a pretty spot along the water. And more deer :-)

Looking back at me

Chetco River



Mom and a couple teenagers

Did find a perfect house overlooking Harris Beach, just $800K and we could call it home. Think we'll keep driving.

All the RV parks and motels are full for the holiday weekend and we knew the harbor would be packed at night for the annual fireworks display.  Instead, we went early, enjoyed a couple fresh fish tacos, strolled the vendor tents, and listened to the live music.

Good turn out for the little town

 

Brookings Harbor Marina

This looked like so much fun :-)

Happy 4th of July!

We weren't up to hanging around until 10 PM for the show so we came back to the rig. The park remained quiet all evening, and although we could hear the fireworks at 10, we couldn't see them. We'll see some next year.

Nature's fireworks from our front yard

Our last full day we headed back into California in search of a good fishing spot. The Smith River is surrounded by redwoods, and like all the others we've seen, is at about 25% full.

It's a good thing we have the Jeep - it gets us down to the water's edge that is now very far from the roads that used to be the river's border. We bumped and bounced and scraped through the brush to find a beautiful, perfect fishing spot. It even had some fish!  Perfect, cloudy weather, and not another person in sight, it was a lovely place to spend the morning. Alas it was all fishing and no catching, but we had a wonderful time.





Not as smooth as it looks

"I'm good, you guys go walk on all those rocks"

Checked out nearby Lake Earl, and the "seen better days" community of Fort Dick. Stopped at the lovely little Visitors Center at Crissey Field State Park just north of the border. It is mostly a huge selection of brochures on the state and the area in particular, but has a nice section with historical maps and old photos.





Crissey Field Visitors' Center

Like so many places, four days just scratches the surface of all there is to see here. It is a beautiful area with perfect weather. We'll definitely be back.