Thirty-one miles north of Cape Blanco State Park on Hwy 101 is the town of Bandon and Bullards Beach State Park, our next stop. Reading some of the reviews, I was prepared to be disappointed, and wondering if I had booked too many nights...but boy, was I wrong! wrong! wrong!
We arrived early (check-in in Oregon is 4:00!), and the staff there was very accommodating. They said the 4:00 check-in gives them time to clean-up the sites, but if the site was not previously occupied, they let you in early.
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| Bullards Beach Trail |
After setting up, we headed to the beach on the beach trail. The trail is a 3/4 of a mile hike through dunes and marshes. It was still muddy, but very worth it.
...and when we finally reached the beach, so worth it! Beautiful, rugged, windswept beach that goes on for miles. We walked south hoping to find the way to the river road back to camp. Not many people...mostly fishermen. We stopped to talk to one. He was fishing for pink-tailed perch and had several in his bucket. In fact, while we were talking, he reeled in two more (double hooks). Sorry, no pictures...
The river trail was a much drier, more sedate walk back. It would make a great bike ride to the beach.
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| Coquille Lighthouse (Lighthouse #4) |
That night, there was a presentation on the history of the Coquille River. Very interesting...on a subsequent night, we attended the presentation on the Lighthouses of the Oregon coast, which includes the
Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon.
Bandon is home to the Bandon Dunes Golf Course. Couldn't convince Tom to play the course, but he did go and found some fun things to do.
Bandon is also home to Face Rock. Face Rock is not only an interesting rock formation; it is also a wondrous, expansive, flat beach to explore.
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| Face Rock (Do you see it?) |
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| The beach at Face Rock |
Face Rock also lends its name to the Face Rock Creamery in Bandon, which serves up some monstrous ice cream cones! It's worth a stop. We tried all their cheese samples, had some ice cream and took home some coconut curry soup for lunch and apricot honey fromage blanc to have with bagles the next morning.
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| Arches in the rocks |
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| Some of those arches needed support... |
Bandon certainly warrants a return visit for more exploration!
Face Rock also lends its name to the Face Rock Creamery in Bandon, which serves up some monstrous ice cream cones! It's worth a stop. We tried all their cheese samples, had some ice cream and took home some coconut curry soup for lunch and apricot honey fromage blanc to have with bagles the next morning.
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