My wife’s Mothers Day wish was to go on a photo shoot down the coast to the Gold Beach and Rogue River area. Of course, I managed to slip a few geocache hunts into the agenda.
For Mother’s Day my bride wanted to take a drive along a scenic part of the coastline for a photo shoot. Well, THAT narrows it down! The ENTIRE coastline is scenic! …… but we settled on the southerly stretch between our home in Coos Bay and Gold Beach.
Of course, I managed to slip in a geocache hunt or two (or three…) along the way! Our first stop, in fact, was to look for a cache called Jurassic Park located near Prehistoric Gardens, a seasonally popular tourist attraction. We checked out the gift shop then continued south. The next stop was the Geisel Monument Heritage Site where the Geisel family burial plots were displayed. This was the site of a Rogue Indian War skirmish and, well… yes, another geocache.
Upon arriving at Gold Beach we crossed the Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge then turned east to explore the picturesque Rogue River. We were happy to lose the coastal fog as we traveled upriver. Our turnaround spot was the Lobster Creek Bridge – popular with campers, fishermen and boaters. While taking pictures from the bridge we got to see one of the famed hydro-jet mailboats coming down stream on its return trip to Gold Beach. Several passengers waved at us as they passed. Looked like a lot of fun. We made a note to ourselves to take a mailboat ride soon.
After a meal at the Port Hole Cafe in Gold Beach we continued south a short ways to see if we could get some good pictures atop Cape Sebastian viewpoint. Alas, upon arriving the fog was still thick so I decided to look for a new geocache nearby. I discovered two very nice ladies at the cache location already hunting for it and having no luck. I joined the effort and we finally discovered the well hidden treasure box. We then went back to the Cape Sebastian viewpoint on the chance that the weather had changed and indeed it had! Waiting a few more minutes for the fog to dissipate yielded some very pretty views up and down the coastline.
I would love to leave this next part out but it will probably give you a chuckle so I share my embarassment. As we started to leave the viewpoint I realized I didn’t have my phone! I drove back to that last geocache location and retraced all my steps but couldn’t spot it. Getting worried now I went to another geocache location a short distance down the highway and again retraced my steps – nope, not there! It HAD to be back at the first place I looked! Back we went and finally caught sight of it lying on the ground at the base of a tree! Whew! I really have to stop putting that phone in the pouch of my sweatshirt!
Really an enjoyable day overall! Great scenery and photos along with fun geocache hunts!
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