Heceta Beach

I took a nice little drive over to the Oregon Coast this last week. When I got into the town of Sisters my GPS kept urging me to take Highway 242 to get to Eugene, so I pulled over and looked at my paper map. The road is called the Old McKenzie Hwy and nobody was taking it, signs were everywhere warning vehicles over thirty feet to stay off of it, and a pack of bicycle riders was heading that way, so I took it…

It was a great drive that took me past the back side of Mt Washington (first picture), massive lava fields that sometimes stood 20 feet above the two-lane road on both sides, very tight turns galore and finally a view of the Three Sisters (2nd picture) from the top of the pass.

From there it was clear and warm all the way to the coast. As I approached the beach the clouds appeared and as I walked down to the water the visibility was about 10% between the fog and the blowing sand, and the wind was trying to rip my Tilley Hat off my head.

I stuck my hat deep down into the pants pocket of my sweats and soldiered on until my hand touched the ocean and I splashed the water on my face. Mission accomplished and then time to head back to my new spot at the RV park where I’d left my truck.

When I tried to unlock my truck I realized that my keys had been pulled from my pocket when I put my hat back on and were laying somewhere in the sand back on the beach. I had backup keys but those were my originals so after pissing and moaning for a bit I headed back to the lovely beach.

I walked around in the whipping wind and blowing sand for awhile, to no avail, and as I was leaving the beach a man came up to me and asked me if I’d lost a set of Mazda keys! He’d found them and turned them into the nearby hotel office. My hero…

So that’s why it’s called adventure! More followed, I had a good time, and here’s some pictures: