Day 1: A Loooong Day!

The operative word for the first day was “travel”.  We left the house at 4:30 am to catch my 6 am flight out of Midland (of course I was awake 2 hours before that, my mind abuzz of various details about the trip).  I was supposed to have only a 1 hour layover in Chicago, but for some unknown reason my flight was delayed 90 minutes (even the pilot said he didn’t know why).  They were able to make up about a half hour, however, and we landed in Portland about 10:30 am local time.  Also, my bag was on the carousel by the time I arrived at baggage claim, and I was able to secure an Uber in less than 5 minutes.  As a result, I was just a little more than 30 minutes past the time I estimated I would arrive at the campervan pickup location.

The owner of the campervan, Jolene, was very nice and extremely thorough as she went through everything about the van.  She had a detailed checklist and even took pictures of the van to document the condition and any previous damage.  This was such a stark contrast to the campervan I rented last year in Utah where the person simply said “here ya go” (both were rented through the same outfit, Outdoorsy).

Once the handover was complete, I took off to get provisions, which always takes longer than I think.  I finally got on the road about 1:30 pm and headed for my first stop, Thor’s Well, which was about a 3-1/2 drive, despite being only about 60 miles away as the crow flies.  Consequently, I didn’t start shooting until late afternoon.  When I arrived at Thor’s Well, the tide conditions were not right yet (best time is 1-2 hours before high tide), so I decided to use the time to find a camping spot.

I didn’t have the energy to search out a dispersed camping spot, especially since there weren’t many in this area (though later I discover that many people freely spend the night at various roadside turnouts, despite the fact this is “technically” not permitted…obviously the authorities look the other way).  I had driven by two National Forest Campgrounds, and so decided to go this route.  I discovered these National Forest Campgrounds work a little differently than the ones in Michigan I have stayed at: namely, reservations are required for most of the campsites.  Unfortunately, cell service was crappy, and I ended up having to drive back and forth to the nearest town, Yachats (pronunciation unknown), to see if any sites at the first campground were available.  I eventually realized that all the reserved sites were taken, as well as all of the first-come, first-serve (non-reservable) sites.  As it was now about 6:30 pm and starting to get darker, I was beginning to panic.  My last hope was to check out the second National Forest Campground (which I initially bypassed since I couldn’t use my National Park/Interagency Pass and get a 50% discount!).  Luckily, I got the VERY last campsite, which cost me a whole whopping $23!

After securing the site, I quickly dashed over to Thor’s Well a few minutes away where the tidal conditions were now just about perfect.  I hastily set up my camera gear and hiked down to the rocks.  I managed to get some decent shots, even though I later discovered a coating of salt spray on my filter, despite me wiping it off periodically.  The impact is not fatal (it gives the images a "softer" look), and I should be able to clean it up a bit more later.  Anyway, hopefully I can stop again on my way back.

After that, I headed back to the campground, made dinner and then hit the hay!

There was a heavy fog bank hanging over the coastline, which made for some very interesting shots.

Bridge in the foggy mist -- location unknown

A family walking along the beach during low tide

I didn't realize that parts of the Oregon coast were part of a Tsunami Hazard Zone, but it makes sense considering the active fault lines in the part of the world!

 

Thor's Well in monochrome (it looks fine in color, but because of the lighting conditions, the colors are rather muted, so black & white looks much better).