Vacation - MTB North Umpqua Trail

We woke up in Sunsent Bay on the coast and decided to get an early start and hit the road as we started to make our way home.  The plan was to head over to Roseburg and then find a place to camp along the Umpqua River and ride a couple of segments along the river trail.

Fast forward a few hundred miles and some windy 2 lane road and we found a great campsite that was relatively empty right on the river!  Cha Ching!  We quickly settled in and made our way down to the river where we relaxed as we listened to the flowing water.  We did not have any neighbors in sight and it felt like we more or less had the campground to ourselves.

After unloading and setting up the tin can, we unloaded the bikes and did some quick maintenance.  We were parked close to the Marsters section of the trailhead and decided to ride without much of a plan but to essentially head in one direction and turn around at some point for an out and back ride.

We ended up riding 2 segments of the trail: Marsters and Half Creek.  Each segment had its very own character.  Marsters was a little higher up from the water and took you through some dense forest.  It certainly had some tek sections that were steep and loose.  There were a couple of hikers that we passed along the way but beyond the initial run-in with the two hikers and their dog, we had the trails all to ourselves.  Erin and I mentioned how the trail blew away the Mendo area trails and were finding humor in the best riding of the trip being 2 hours away from home!

The Marsters segment eventually defended back to the river and we decided to take a quick detour over to the horseshoe bend campground to check it out...For some reason those campgrounds were much busier and we realized how we had lucked into a great campground with little traffic.

We returned to the trailhead and instead of heading back we decided to continue downstream on the Calf Creek section.  That section immediately started with a climb that took us back up into the trees but it was interesting how this segment had a very different flavor than the previous section.  It was generally closer to the river and also took you through a burn area.  We snaked our way along the river until the section gave way to a trailhead and decided to turn around and head back..

The return was just as fun since riding the trail in the other direction gave you different views and seemed like it rode differently.

The most surprising of thing to me of the ride was just how much climbing it packed in!  We rode about 20 miles and there was over 2,800 ft of climbing!

Vacation - Oregon Bound

As we got our propane regulator fixed for the tin can in Eureka, we hit the road and headed further north.  The loose plan was to try to find campsites along the way on the coast.  We got to Patrick's Point and found some nice camp-sites with enough privacy so we could set up camp for the evening.

We backed into the spot, prepped the airstream for the night and promptly took the dogs out for a walk.  We darted around trails but could not gain access to the water so we headed back and settled in for the evening.

The next morning, we woke up and decided to hit the road relatively early so we could make our way along the Redwood Coast into Oregon.  As soon as we hit the Oregon border, we stopped at the welcome center and stretched our legs with the dogs on the beach.  We picked up some fliers at the visitor center and had a loose plan to try to get to Bandon.  The dilemma was that it was Friday and things were hopping along the coast.  Finding an open place to camp was going to be the challenge.

We enjoyed the scenic drive along the southern Oregon coastline and thought there was lots of places to pull over and explore further and some other point in time.  We headed up to Bandon and wanted to get to Sunset Bay to set up camp.  We were lucky enough to find a site but it was far from private.  Everyone was out getting theirs on one of the last weekends forecasted for good weather along the coast.
In comparison to the California campgrounds, Oregon campground were cleaner, cheaper and generally nicer.  I was a little surprised to see such a vast difference in campgrounds but we were more than happy to be back in Oregon.
We unloaded and took the dogs on a nice walk along the beach and then followed a trail that headed up on the bluffs around the bay where we found another little inlet.  We made our way down there and relaxed for a while until we headed back.

It was good not to be driving!

We got back to camp and relaxed for a little while until it was dinner time.  The plan was to hit up Bandon for dinner to fill our bellies with good seafood.
Dinner did not disappoint...we watched the sunset as we ate our dinner and talked about what to do the following day.  All too soon, dinner was over and we were heading back to camp with full bellies and a loose plan for the following day.

ahhh - good to be back in the home-state!

Leaving the Redwoods:

Fixing the tin can:

Patrick's Ppoint

Back in Oregon!!!

Release the hounds!

Sunset Bay

Sunset in Bandon: