Monday Sept 7...Can't go any farther west...

We departed Grants Pass this morning and headed for the Pacific coast by Hwy 199. We enjoyed driving along the Smith River (the 3rd cleanest river in the world). We stopped at the Redwoods National & State Park to wonder at the gigantic trees towering over us. Next we took North 101 and started up the fantastic Oregon coast.


Hwy. 101 follows the coast for the entire coastline of Oregon with numerous parks and pull-offs to view the great scenery. We stopped long enough at my namesake park to take a few photos of the rocks and driftwood…and a little critter that wasn’t camera shy. On up the road we hiked a short but very steep trail to a point atop a couple of natural bridges formed by the pounding waves…the water was beautiful. There are so many wonderful views it is difficult to bypass any of them, but time was short and we needed to get into Gold River for the night and our last look at the Rouge River as it met the Pacific Ocean.