On Saturday, July 30 we moved from Cape Lookout State Park, south down the Oregon coast to a new location at Washburne State Park. This will be our new home for the month of August. We spent about three hours in the trip south and moved to very near the city of Florence, OR.  We stayed at Washburne State Park, driving abut two miles each day to work at the Hecate Head Lighthouse. We had a very nice and roomy site with full hook-ups that include 50A electrical service. The main downside of this location is that there is no cell service of any kind, no data for any air-card, and no "over air" TV signals or radio. Satellite TV is available from some sites where you can site through the trees. To get internet or cell service from Verizon, one can go across the road to the day-use area, but even there the service is a bit slow. For good Verizon, or AT&T cell signals you have to travel about three miles to the south. There is also free Wifi in the Fred Meyer store in Florence.

I must admit that I knew coming here that this would be the case, but had hoped that our cell phone repeater would be able to get enough signal to make things work in camp, but such is not the case.While we did find that with no TV we both did much more reading and we even spent more time just taking about life, we will probably never again accept a postion that does not have both cell service and over-air TV. We watch mostly network TV shows and just don't find it worth the cost for satellite any more.

We really enjoyed the work at the lighthouse, but since it was closed for renovation on August 15, we then completed our stay here by working as leaders of the JR Ranger program and with Kirk giveing evening programs on the lighthouse and local nature. While it was an enjoyable way to volunteer, we did feel that the support by staff for this programing was less than ideal.

By the time that we moved back to the park interpreter program the level of activity in the park was starting to fall off due to aproaching school season, so our attendance was not large. Even so, Pam had some very loyal Jr. Rangers and lead a very successful program.

Evening programs were lightly attended and at times nobody came so that was not my favorite part of the experience. It can be difficult to put in a lot of work preparing a program when only a handful of people attend.

The park rangers were helpful and friendly, for the most part, but we did not feel as important to them as we have found to be the case in most places where we have volunteered in the past.

The park also has hiking trails that lead up to the lighthouse, to the old homestead and also to a beach.

In addition there is a day-use area just across the highway with a nice beach area and some picnic tables. The park dump-station is also over there. Pam's ankle has limited her ability to go on hikes but I did manage to do most of them.  The paths are well maintained and mostly pretty easy walking but with some steep places.

The experience has been a good one, but our favorite lighthouse remains Cape Mears. We did make some good friends while here and we also had the privilage of meeting several Escapee's members that we had not met previously.

One thing that anyone who considers spending a summer on the Oregon coast should always keep in mind is the weather. Our August was an unusually warm, dry one, but there were still very few days when temperatures were above 70 degrees for much of the day. The warmest day of all was only 76 and there were days when the high temperature did not reach 70. The distance into Forence is only about 15 miles, but it can become a it bothersome if you have to go there in order to get internet access. There are several major grocery chains and a Fred Meyer store, but no Wal-Mart.

The lighthouse tours mean that the guides lead groups up the 58 stairs about one trip every 30 to 45 minutes, staying there for about 5 minutes each trip. We took groups of 4 to 6 people at a time. You spend 4 or 5 hours doing this for three days a week in most cases. I did enjoy the tours, but it can be pretty tiring. Pam was setting up the tour groups as we used tickets for the groups to keep the tours in the order which people arrived at the lighthouse, without requiring them to stand in a line. Since her ankle prevented her from doing the tours, she did only that while most of us preferred to lead tours anyway.

This was a good way to spend a month, but we would probably not choose to return there in the future. We will remember many things about it fondly, but it will not be our #1 experience.

We have now completed our July volunteer tour and have been really enjoying the experience. We live in the campground at Cape Lookout State Park, just a few miles from Tillamook, OR. The park is not overly large fut it is breath taking in its beauty and is home to nine volunteer couples from the two parks. We have full hook-ups but only 30A electricity, but with no need of air conditioning at all, that is ample. The typical daily high temperature here is only in the low 70 degree range and so far we have only seen that one time. Most days have highs in the mid 60's. The RV sites are pretty small and closely spaced but there is brush that makes for reasonable privacy in the host spots.

The staff here are very friendly and helpful. The ranger that we work for is here but we report to a member of the Friends of Cape Mears at the lighthouse. There are miles of public beach here and lots of scenic area to rove, but swimming is only for the most hardy as water temperatures are in the low to middle 50's. You do see many children play in the shallow water but few actually swim in it unless they are wearing a wetsuit. There is a lot of kite flying, volley ball, and assorted other activities that do not require getting wet. Like any public beach, there are always the sunbathers out if the day happens to be clear. Hunting for interesting sea shells is usually nonproductive as the shells that are there are very picked over. Broken sand dollars are very common on the beach but I never found even one that was still intact.

This is not a place for folks who love to sweat in the sun because the Oregon coast tends to have many cloudy days and fog comes in if the area east of us over the mountains should get really hot. Water is also colder in summer than in winter due to the patterns of the currents along the coast. Very few of the visitors to this park spend much time in the water. It is very common for more than half of the days here, even in summer, to be foggy and/or overcast. Even in the hottest days of summer, the fog will often roll in and make the day here very sunless. Typical high temperatures which we experienced were between 65 and 70 degrees with the warmest day of all only 71 for the month of July. It is very unusual for those of us from warmer climates to be comfortable with no jacket or sweatshirt.

The lighthouse is about 1/4 mile below the parking area and volunteers are allowed to drive down to the location and park there. There is a paved walkway that you drive down each morning and back in the evenings with locked gates to pass through. This is a very small lighthouse at only 38 feet tall and has only three levels. While we were there, only the lower level was open to visitors due to some vandalism in the lens room, but it should be open to tours by next year as repairs are underway.

We really been enjoyed our work here and the days fly by since they are so much fun. Cape Mears Lighthouse is nine miles away and we work there alternating three day and four day weeks, Sunday through Wednesday. The lady in charge is a wonderful person who goes to great lengths to take good care of us and to be sure that we enjoy our stay. Pam mostly runs the gift shop while I do interpretation talks in the lighthouse, but we also do bits of a few other things as well. There is no cleaning involved in this position and we actually work mostly for the "friends" group who pretty much run the lighthouse. The "friends" have even made us members of that group and gave each of us one of their official jackets, to keep.

This lighthouse is rather unique, as most lighthouses are. Since each was designed for a specific location there is little that is alike between them and each has it's own history as well. Havning been built in 1890 this is a relatively new one and it also holds the distinction of being the shortest one, due to it's locatin high on a rocky headlands. Much of the grounds work is performed by prisoners from the state prison that is nearby. Crews come to both parks to do lawn and tree care as well as weeding and any other work of that nature. The area is really kept well.

Volunteers came from the friends group to relieve us for lunch each day and to help out in busy times if we needed assistance. Over all, this was a tremendous experience and one that we will always remember!

Even muffie seems to have enjoyed our time here, although she does pout just a little when we make her stay home on work days. But she does love to roam the beach and is as inquisitive as any of the children who visit here. There is a large section of beach that is designated to allow dogs to run free without leashes and she does seem to enjoy that area. She is very socail and seems to especially like meeting the other dogs. She isn't into swimming and especially not int he cold water. The campground is just a little packed and so spacing could be better. We did enjoy the evening programs that are put on by the park rangers each evening and also the hiking trails here in the park.

With Pam having difficulties with her right ankle, we have been somewhat limited in the hiking that we are able to do, but even so we managed to get in a few visits. I hiked the trail to Cape Lookout alone and Pam went along on the hike to a waterfall and also to see the biggest Sitka Spruce as well as the famous Octapus Tree. There is also a great Naval Air Museum near Tilamook.

While hosting at Ft. Stevens State Park, we also visited near-by Astoria. It is a beautiful little town with a lot of history. Astoria is a seaport, located just a few miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean and is the first port on the way to Portland. The following are a collection of some of the sites that we visited in the two months that we spent here.

There are many spectacular beach views all along the Oregon Coast as you travel south from Ft. Stevens.

In the town of Astoria is a small, but noteable museum of fire equipment and fire trucks. This one is even free!

Just outside of Baker City, on Bureau of Land Management property, is located the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. If you happen to pass through Baker City, it would be well worth your time to spend a day and visit this site. On the property are clearly visible ruts from the great migration to this part of the country. And the center is there to tell the story of the people who traveled this trail. 

If you are as lucky as we were, there might even be re-enactors encamped on the grounds.

There are several abandoned mines on the property as well as a replica of one of the early mines.

About an hour's travel to the west of Baker City, is Hell's Canyon National Monument. If time allows, this is a very scenic trip.

The Hell's Canyon Recreation Area is a beautiful place with an awesome gorge and lake. There is a campground as well as many undeveloped areas where camping is allowed. The road to the dam is not recommended for large RVs.

The main road along the lake is on the Idaho side and can be accessed from the Oregon side via a steel bridge across the Snake River.

The canyon sides are so steep and it is so deep that very little direct sun reaches to the lake at the bottom.