Yesterday we biked to Mt. Humbug, one of the bigger mountains (hills) in this part of Oregon. The nearest town to Mt. Humbug State Park was a little town called Port Orford, which we later learned is the westernmost town in the continental US. At least that's what someone told us. We rolled in at about 4 in the afternoon. It was a Sunday, and the entire town was closed except a couple restaurants, so we picked one and hung out for a while, drank some coffee, and read (it was only 5 miles from the campsite, and we didn't wanna just be hanging out at our tent with no dinner and nothing to do). Then we ordered dinner, which kicked ass cause we got half pound burgers for ten bucks. And they were totally decent.
We made a fire at the campsite and drank some beers with a couple other cyclists we've met on the way. Lots of people doing remarkably similar routes to ours, though most got onto the coast earlier than we did. Then we went to bed without blogging. Sorry.
This morning we did the hike up Mt Humbug, which was pretty nice, and then hit the road. We only had a fifty mile day, but man was it hilly. And I'll tell you something else about the Oregon coast: it's WINDY. Like, DAMN. Homer's a coastal town, so I thought I knew what I was getting into, but this is another story. Luckily, going south, it's almost always at our backs, which is pretty sweet.
Today we stopped at this awesome landmark called Natural Bridges. You look out from the viewpoint, and you see these huge rocks with archways in them that the water goes through.
With a little time to kill, we decided to see if there was a trail that would get us closer. Well, we found one that actually led us right onto one of the archways! We couldn't really get a great picture but hopefully you get the idea.
We kept exploring on the trail, and found this awesome old tree that was hanging all by itself right out over the ocean, it's roots hanging on for dear life to the dry dirt.
A little bit later, we made it to Brookings, the southernmost town on the Oregon coast. It's a cute little town, it actually reminds me a lot of home in AK. We're couchsurfing with Ann and Todd Whaley, who have a beautiful home just outside of town. We each get our own bed. Livin' the high life. And he's a commercial fisherman! And he sometimes fishes in AK! So lots to remind me of home today.
Tomorrow, we'll be crossing the border into California. We will have biked through the entire state of Oregon, north to south. That's pretty neat I think.
Since I don't have a good special Sam moment, and there have been a couple good pretentious Pat ones, and since it's technically his turn to write anyway (he's in a food coma), I'm gonna wake his lazy ass up and let him do this part. Night.
-Pat
PP moment of the day
On Humbug Mountain...
PP: dude that's not a mountain
SS: uh, its called Humbug Mountain, I'm pretty sure that's a mountain.
PP: no its not, it needs to have snow on its peak to be a mountain, i know these things. I'm an Alaskan.
We missed the blog post, so glad you only skipped one day, they've been great to read. Wow those archways and the coast look gorgeous. By the time you read this -- Welcome to California!
ReplyDeleteOh, wait! I read up to this post! Love Port Orford! Did you know they lift(crane) the boats out of the harbor every day? Pretty cool...
ReplyDelete"The port is an open-water dock (no natural protection) and boasts the only drydock port on the West Coast. The fishing boats are lifted in and out of the water by operated cranes, set on custom-made dollies and parked in rows on the dock. As a result, it is known as a "dolly dock." ..."