Tsunami Hits Port Orford, Oregon - 2011

 

Tsunami Hits Port Orford, Oregon

On March 11, 2011, I awoke to stories about an earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My heart goes out to all who suffered loss in that epic event.

 

By 8:30 AM PST, I was online and watching our live webcam at the MoabLive website. The webcam faces east on to the beach from the Port of Port Orford. I did not have to wait long before the water surged around the Port Orford Heads and into the Port. Over the next ninety minutes I counted at least five surges, most of which rose to cover the entire beach.

 

 Watch the Port Orford Tsunami Video  

In order to capture the moment, I copied a series of JPG images from the webcam. Since the camera uploads a shot every three seconds, there was plenty of action to record. After saving the images, I compiled them in WMV file format. The generic term for such a file is a "wave movie". After uploading the video to YouTube, I embedded it here on my blog.

 

Luckily, there was no apparent damage at Port Orford, although Coos Bay to the North and Brookings Harbor to the south did not fare as well. After all of the excitement was over, we developed a bug in the webcam. In this case, it was a real bug that walked in front of the lens and stayed there until the webcam shut off for the night.

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By James McGillis at 09:15 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link

Port of Port Orford, Oregon - 2010

 

No Ocean Bar, But There is a Dolly Dock at Port Orford, Oregon

In October 2010, I visited the Port of Port Orford, Oregon. Port Orford is one of only two "dolly docks" in the U.S., and one of only six in the world. Positioned near the edge of the hardscape are two high capacity hoists. Each can lift and carry fishing vessels up to 25,000 lb.

 

Timing my visit for late afternoon, I could see two boats awaiting a lift by the dockside crane. As I watched, one of two large hoists lifted the fishing vessel Providence from the water to the dock. As her crew gently adjusted their lines, the hoist operator swung and lowered the stout vessel into position on a transport trailer. Once secured to her trailer, captain, crew and Providence pulled away together, heading for home.

 

 

During the summer and fall, an occasional coastal cruising boat will anchor in the protected area provided by the Port Orford jetty. For deeper-draft fishing boats, the harbor area is too shallow for safe mooring. When not on the ocean, many of the fishing boats rest on custom-made “dollies”. These quaint carriages are fitted with axles, wheels and tires salvaged from old trucks. During my afternoon at the dock, I saw a Popeye the Sailor vessel parked on the dock. Its dolly featured ancient white sidewall tires.

 

For reasons both natural and manmade, the port is unique. For instance, Port Orford is the only deep-water port between Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California. Entering or leaving any other port along that 400-mile stretch of coastline requires crossing an ocean bar. Where the ocean tide meets the flow of a river, a shoal will form. Timing an arrival or departure for high tide guarantees maximum depth beneath the keel. It also assures maximum turbulence, as the two bodies of water meet. Shifting currents and shallow spots can turn crossing a bar into a harrowing experience.

 

The Port at Port Orford is an open-water dock, with only a riprap breakwater to protect it from southerly storms. Winter waves and storm surge can be unrelenting. A fallen green navigation marker is testament to the power of the Pacific Ocean. Toppled by winter storms, the heavy steel structure looked like a child’s toy tossed upon the rocks. At the center of the breakwater, the riprap has slumped so low that storm waves now threaten the protected area along the dock.

 

In order to protect the former wooden docks from harsh breaking waves, the Port Orford authority constructed the concrete jetty and breakwater in the late 1960's. Since that time, this crescent-shaped structure has created an even bigger problem. Extreme sand build-up, or shoaling, has plagued the port since then. To combat shoaling, several times each year the Army Corp of Engineers conducts dredging at the port. With allocations of between $250,000 and $500,000 for each dredging project, could this port remain viable without government subsidized dredging?

 

Despite its deep-water designation, shoaling makes Port Orford as difficult to navigate as any West Coast port with an ocean bar. In Port Orford, the Army Corp of Engineers and the State of Oregon have a beneficial role to play. Unlike other states in the West, cooperation between Oregon and the federal government promises a better day ahead. A study now underway could result in a safer harbor for those who risk their lives each day to catch and deliver our fresh seafood. In March of 2008, Governor Kulongoski designated the Port Orford Marine Economic Development project as an “Oregon Solutions Project”. The focus of this project seeks “to find a sustainable solution for the problem of shoaling” at Port Orford.

 

As I contemplate the dangers and discomforts associated with commercial fishing off the coast of Southern Oregon, I raise a glass and offer a toast to the captain and crew of Providence, as well as her sister ships at sea.

Email James McGillis 

By James McGillis at 07:12 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

 

Two New MoabLive.com Webcams - 2010

In October 2010, we completed a 3500 mile RV trip, including major stops in Port Orford, Oregon, and Moab, Utah. With almost 800 photographs to review, we will write here soon about our recent adventures in the Great American West.

While in Oregon, we completed work on a new live webcam at the Port of Port Orford. Here is the press release:

For Immediate Release - Moab Live and Port Orford Property Management & Vacation Rentals proudly announce their newest live webcam. Shooting east, from the commercial fishing dock in Port Orford, Oregon, the live webcam features beach activity and wave action along the rugged Oregon coast. As their general manager says, “If you are looking for a great Vacation Rental, Beach House, Cabin or Lodge in Port Orford, Elk River, Garrison Lake or Sixes, we have it! Port Orford Property Management & Vacation Rentals can serve all of your rental needs!”

 

 
Image refreshes every 3 seconds 

To view our live webcam from Port Orford, Oregon, click the webcam image above, or click HERE.

After our webcam success in Port Orford, we traveled east across Oregon, Idaho and on to Moab, Utah. There, we collaborated with Redtail Aviation to install another new webcam at their Canyonlands Field fixed base operation. Here is the press release:

For Immediate Release - Moab Live and Redtail Aviation are proud to announce their newest webcam, live from Canyonlands Field (the Moab airport) - 18 miles north of town on US Highway 191. The new webcam is great for viewing Great Lakes Airlines flight arrivals and other aircraft activities at the field. As an aid to both commercial and private pilots, the new Redtail Aviation webcam shows a north-facing weather view. Accessible from the air on any smart phone, Redtail pilots are already using the new webcam to check field conditions prior to arrival.

Since their founding in 1978, Redtail Aviation has specialized in scenic flight tours and charter flights throughout Southeastern Utah. For Your Safety - Redtail Aviation is an FAA Approved Carrier. All pilots are FAA certified and specially trained for Canyonlands flights. In respect for safety and visitor enjoyment, all flights maintain a minimum altitude of 2000 feet above sensitive areas and park lands.

 

 
Image refreshes every 7 seconds 

To view our live webcam from Redtail Aviation, Canyonlands field, Moab, Utah click the webcam image above, or click HERE.

We are making plans for another live webcam at the airport in nearby Green River, Utah. Check back soon to hear more about our trip and yet another exciting new webcam project.

By James McGillis at 05:24 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

A Secluded Forest Home in Port Orford, Oregon - 2010

A Secluded Forest Home in Port Orford, Oregon

In late May 2010, I began an extended visit to Port Orford, Oregon. My mission was to finish cleaning and preparing my mother’s former home and property for rental. Although Port Orford straddles U.S. Highway 101 in Southern Oregon, it is remote from any sizable population centers.

 

Seventy miles north are the twin cities of Coos Bay and North Bend, Oregon. With a combined population of under thirty-thousand, full services are available there. Eighty miles south of Port Orford is Crescent City, California. With a population of less than eight thousand, it has full services, but with a small-town feel. Other population centers on the Southern Oregon Coast include Bandon By The Sea, Gold Beach and Brookings, each with fewer people than Crescent City.

 

Interstate Highway I-5 is the nearest Interstate Highway to Port Orford. It runs north and south through the interior of the state. From Port Orford to I-5 in Grants Pass, Oregon is one hundred sixty-five miles. From Port Orford to Eugene, Oregon is one hundred sixty-seven miles. Reaching either road connection to I-5 takes over three hours.

 

Because of its remoteness, I planned to stay in Port Orford until I finished packing, cleaning, staging and preparing for rental of the 1900 sq. ft. home and its 1.72-acres of mixed coastal forest. Deferred maintenance on the property and my mother’s preference for natural surroundings meant that I had work to do, both inside and outside the house.

 

While at the property a month earlier, I had rehabilitated the driveway with a new coating of gravel. Since the driveway is almost one hundred yards long, I strove to keep the “country road” look, conserving a strip of moss and grasses down the middle. Upon my return, it was time to see if rainfall had sustained my greenery. Had any grass filled-in where I had raked gravel off its delicate bed?

 

By August 2009, Port Orford running total for annual rainfall was forty-seven inches. Early this May, the running total for 2010 had exceeded seventy-seven inches. With daily rain throughout much of April and May, grass had sprouted from the composted-encrusted seeds I had sewn on the driveway only a month before. At the house-end of the driveway, the grass between the two tracks was tall enough to clip.

 

When entering Oregon via U.S. 101 North, Brookings is the first town that you encounter in Oregon. Brookings likes to tout itself as being in the heart of the "Oregon banana belt”, claiming that it has warmer temperatures in the winter than other towns along the Southern Oregon coast. Locals in Port Orford would scoff at anyone who claims that Port Orford is part of any banana belt. Although there is more than enough rain to grow bananas, in April and May, local temperatures often hover near 50 f. In order to enjoy the Port Orford climate, one must enjoy intermittent or sustained periods of cool, damp weather.

 

Black-tailed Deer thrive throughout the mixed coastal forest and wooded lots of the Port Orford Cedar Terrace Tract. If one is driving near sunrise or sunset, it is wise to proceed slowly up or down 18^th Street, which is the entrance to Cedar Terrace from town. As the road leaves the City of Port Orford, the two-lane road changes names to Vista Drive. In midday and all night, it is rare to spot a deer in the area, but in the early morning and late afternoon, the woods seem almost alive with deer.

 

Often grazing in herds of five to ten, Black-tailed Deer graze on almost any new, green growth, including poison oak. Only plants that have a distinct gray cast are out of favor for nibbling. One morning, I opened my front door to find a herd of four females, led by a single buck. Since it was early in the growing season, the buck’s antlers remained short and covered with soft tissue. Rarely staying in one place for more than a minute or two, this herd disappeared into the extensive network of deer trails that crisscross the wilds of our front yard.

 

In addition to well-worn deer trails, there are many Black Bear trails in the woods, as well. Because of their propensity for hiding in heavy undergrowth, one can easily locate bear trails in the woods. Where the undergrowth is the thickest, they will use their bodies to clear neatly trimmed "tunnels" in the foliage. Such passageways are about four feet wide and three feet high, which give you a good idea of how large a bear is while walking on all four feet. To follow one of these trails, if one were foolish enough to do so, would require crouching down and clamoring head-down through a blind alley. I wondered what would happen if I had entered one of these “bear tunnels” from one end and a bear entered it from the other.

 

Speaking of bears is all that we can do here, since sightings are rare in Port Orford. Still, the bear-shaped passageways all over the area hints strongly at their presence. Wednesday nights are the favorite time for bears to visit the Cedar Terrace Tract. That evening, trash containers stand along the roads, seemingly ready for the pickings. Early each Thursday morning, Curry Transfer & Recycling trucks pick up whatever the bears left inside the containers. Only a strong splash of ammonia inside of the trash bin will keep bears from dragging any fragrant trash bags into the forest for further inspection.

In order to further enjoy the solitude of a nighttime walk in the forest, I carried no flashlight . In the dark, I made my way by the feel of my shoes on the gravel of the driveway. With no moon to light my path, only the feel of hard or soft material beneath my feet kept me on course. I thought, "If I cross paths with a bear, he will likely be more afraid of me than I am of him".

One Wednesday evening, I took a nighttime stroll down the long driveway. I walked from the house to

 

The next morning, I noticed something askew in the open-top waste bin that sat near the driveway. Overnight, someone or something had tipped a heavy futon cushion upright in the bin. Now, most of its length stood above the side of the bin. Upon closer inspection, I could see several large, muddy paw prints on the fabric of the futon. Claw marks extended out from each print. It was then that I realized that overnight, a bear had visited my front yard. While sniffing out a small garbage bag, the bear had used one mighty fore paw to lift the fifty-pound cushion.

 

Soon, I found two of my small garbage bags torn open, their contents strewn around in a clearing behind the waste bin. Having found nothing there to eat, the bear deposited a scatological calling card and then departed. Had the bear watched me walk the up and down the driveway the previous night? I consoled myself by thinking that bears only come out in the dead of night, when nothing is stirring. Either way, that is the last time I shall walk the driveway at night, under a New Moon, and without a flashlight.

 

Over the years, my mother and my stepfather had added on to their house three or four times. Starting as a rectangular box, including a one-car garage, it blossomed into a 1900 sq. ft. home. Now there are three wings in the front, plus an attached two-car garage and shop. Inside, I painted both bathrooms and did touch-up painting everywhere else. On hands and knees, I cleaned away any carpet stains. I cleaned the kitchen as if it were my own, spending over two hours on the oven alone.

 

After many days of cleaning, packing and organizing the contents of the house, I rested one morning inside my travel trailer. From my vantage point inside my coach, I saw a lone Black-tailed Deer grazing voraciously on the far side of the front yard. Not straying far, she quickly trimmed any adjacent foliage. From the quiet security of my coach, I shot some pictures of her activities.

 

Soon, she moved off-camera to my left, but then returned to the clearing. As I watched in astonishment, a newborn fawn followed her out of the forest. Opening my door, I shot several more pictures of the doe and her young fawn. Tiny, with a trembling gait, the fawn appeared to be only days old. Waiting for the fawn to find and follow her, mother led child out into the clearing, and then back towards the forest. As I continued shooting pictures, the fawn stooped beneath its mother and nursed.

 

After nursing, mother and child moved toward the side yard, which affords greater protection from prying eyes. Still hungry, the fawn dutifully followed its mother. As quickly as I could watch and perceive, the bonding between mother and child was complete. A few minutes later, I spied the doe, standing still in the forest foliage. Likewise, she watched me from the shelter of her forest redoubt.

 

Reflecting on that amazing scene, I wondered if our front yard was the birthplace of the fawn. During the thirty years that a house has stood on that lot, there were never any dogs or other known predators on the property. With my mother's quiet lifestyle, the deer and the bears had their run of a forest lot comprising over 1.5 acres. Since this was their shared home for so long, deer appeared to be comfortable birthing, nursing and grazing all over the property.

 

As I departed Port Orford in June, 2010, only the ten-cubic yard waste bin remained as proof that I had done so much work. Within the hour before my departure, a large truck backed down the driveway and then hauled the bin away. I was ready to leave and the house was ready for a lucky new owner to come and enjoy life in the forests of Cedar Hollow Terrace. Two years later, in July 2012 the property sold to a lucky new owner.

 

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By James McGillis at 12:07 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

A Southern Oregon Forest Home - 2010

 

Port Orford, Oregon - "The town that chooses you."

A Southern Oregon Forest Home.

 

Over the past three years, I have traveled often to Port Orford. First, it was to help my mother after the death of her husband of thirty-five years. Later, I helped maintain her property on Cedar Hollow Drive, including 1.72 acres of mixed fir, pine, cedar and other hardwoods. A three-bedroom home stands in a clearing at the far end of a long gravel driveway. Last fall, I helped my mother move from there to Heritage Place, an assisted living facility in Bandon (By the Sea), Oregon. Next, I began preparing her property for sale, expecting to use the proceeds to pay for her new retirement lifestyle. After she passed away in February 2010, I opted not to sell, but rather to prepare the house for rental. In late May 2010, I shall make another visit to Port Orford, completing that process.

 

In Port Orford, U.S. Highway 101 changes names to Oregon Street. There, the highway is four lanes wide, with parallel parking along both sides of the street. Nowhere in Southern Oregon does the speed limit exceed fifty-five miles per hour. Despite signs and flashing lights warning of the thirty miles per hour speed limit through the city, many travelers barely slow down. As often as not, the local police cruiser quietly waits for the next speeder to blow through town. Rarely does he have long to wait. Announcing his presence with a quick “whoop” from his siren, there is no place for a scofflaw to run or to hide. Some call it a speed trap. Others will say, “We warned you, fair and square”.

 

To an outside observer, Port Orford appears to exist in a time warp. With no traffic signals to slow you down, you might drive through town in less than five minutes. If you are looking for national-franchise businesses of any kind, you will find only filling stations, hardware and auto parts stores there. Almost every other business in Port Orford is local, both in ownership and concept. For many businesses in and around Port Orford, a website is a curiosity, but not a reality.

 

When I began working on the Port Orford house, everything outdoors was reverting to nature, including fir trees that overhung the eaves and green moss growing on the roof and in the garden. Moss is appropriate in the forest, but when growing on a roof, it indicates that too little sunlight is reaching the surface. Twice in the past two years, I contracted with Blue Sky Tree Service, in Bandon to cut dangerous, dead or overgrown trees from the property. My goal was to lift the lower reaches of the canopy and to push back thirty-five years of forest encroachment around the house.

 

Inside the house, there were spider webs behind each piece of furniture that abutted a wall. By the time of my departure, it felt like I had vacuumed out enough spider webs to knit a sweater. As both the outside and the inside became cleaner and neater, I realized that the property is beautiful, beyond compare.

  

For five years, Mom’s 2005 Chrysler 300 was almost the only vehicle to use the driveway. Lately, heavy service trucks have used the driveway more frequently. By late April 2010, Port Orford had already seen over fifty-five inches of rain. The matt of decomposed forest material that lay upon the driveway quickly turned to mush. It was time to apply a new coat of gravel at each end of the driveway.

 

Looking at the driveway from the street, it soon becomes a double-track, with moss, grass and other small plants growing between the tracks. Farther on, the ground is higher and retains more of the original gravel. In honor of the natural surroundings, I wanted that section to have the undisturbed look of an old country road. Our goal was to rehabilitate the driveway, but leave a swath of green between the two sets of tire tracks.

 

After several recommendations, I contracted with Janet Dougherty, of Bandon, Oregon to provide the gravel that we needed for the job. Janet is the owner and driver of Big Bertha, a fourteen-yard Mack EZ-460 dump truck. Janet and Big Bertha quickly spread twelve tons of freshly crushed gravel for me. They laid most of the material at either end of the driveway, leaving the middle section relatively untouched. Each end received at least two inches of gravel, plus an extra pile, which I later hand-raked into place.

 

Upon delivery, the gravel was wet and covered with a thin coating of gray mud. The mud was a byproduct of wet crushing the rock. Most city dwellers are used to seeing washed gravel, which looks clean by comparison. In order to see what the gravel really looked like, I sprayed water on a few spots, flooding it until the gray mud ran off or soaked in between the stones. After washing, the material showed itself to be solid granite, three quarters of an inch in diameter and varying in color from dark gray to white.

 

After hand grading the driveway with shovel and rake, I then drove back and forth in my 2006 Nissan Titan truck. The wide tires acted like steamrollers, packing the gravel down to its base level. After grading and rolling, our transition from gravel to concrete is as smooth as a Los Angeles freeway. In the transition area between full-gravel and our country road, I raked fresh gravel off the median, and then built it up where the wheels of my truck might roll.

 

The next day, my driveway greenbelt looked sad. We had gouged it, dumped on it, scraped and trampled it. It rains so much in Port Orford that unless grass or moss are well established, soil can run off quickly. I decided to rehabilitate it from the ground-up. To do so, I first applied bags of bark mulch and potting soil, spreading those materials wherever growth was thin or damaged.

 

In town, I found a grass seed product that included a moisture-retaining growth medium, encapsulating each seed. After sewing the super-grass seed along the center strip, I raked up some extra pine needle-mulch and used it to cover much of my new ecological experiment. Next, I sprinkled granular plant food along my new garden path. Finally, I watered the median, from the pump house to as far as my hose would reach. Overnight, the Port Orford area received gentle, soaking rain.

 

On April 26, 2010 we completed the driveway, and then departed the next day. With frequent rain reported since then, we hope to see substantial growth upon our return in late May. With a bit of luck, we will have a clean, level driveway and thriving new growth down the center of our country road. Whatever the results may be, we shall report them here in Early June. At that time, please return for photographic evidence of nature’s bounty in Port Orford, Oregon.

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By James McGillis at 03:44 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Predictions For The Fate of Humanity - 2010

 

Predictions For The Fate of Humanity

In late December 2009, I traveled on U.S. Highway 101 south, from Port Orford, Oregon to the San Francisco Bay. That day, I chased a storm that cleared to the east as I drove through the redwoods of Northern California. With the 2010-decade then only days away, a foggy future in my mind mirrored the many fogbanks I observed during my drive. With fear running rampant on TV cable news and the lips of many people, what might the coming decade bring?

 

On January 1, 2010, most people who own a working timepiece and live in contemporary world culture believed that the day marked the beginning of both a New Year and a new decade. It was time for predictions, prognostications and perhaps, some new personal resolutions.

 

Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, “Now we are engaged in a great decade, testing whether this Earth, or any Earth, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure”. If you wish to know now how this story ends, we cannot offer you satisfaction. We can promise, however, that by the end of this decade the fate of humanity shall be clear.

 

The outcome need not be apocalyptic, as the End of Days and 2012 Mayan Calendar doomsters seem to agree. What they missed in their dire predictions is the big joke that the Mayan placed in their calendar. Unspoken and unwritten, was knowledge that their calendar indeed ended, but that the continuum of a time-space reality here on Earth did not. After their calendar’s eons of noble service, creating a new and equally accurate one would be easy.

 

As we embark on the 2010-decade with 20/10 myopia, can we expect to disembark again in ten years with 20/20 insight and enlightenment? As we begin the 2010’s, no one knows for sure. The good news is that human spiritual enlightenment has been gaining ground in our world ever since East met West.

 

Once a particular issue gains enough momentum in human culture, it can appear to be unstoppable. Examples include fear of terrorism, the rapid spread of Islam in the world or the increasing frequency of terrorist acts. Concentration on any or all of those subjects will not help America and Europe win the supposed war on terror. Since the Jihadist mentality has had several decades to fester, we will continue to feel negative aspects of its momentum for some time to come.

 

Whether Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or none of the above, those of us who fall on the side of peace and tranquility can still change this world for the better. Our secret weapon in the war for peace is the personal resolution. Picture a Jihadist, praying to Allah at the close of Ramadan. Pausing to welcome the New Year, will he yearn both for self-love and for the death to the infidel, or non-believer? It cannot be. As mutually exclusive concepts, self-love and other-hatred cannot coexist in the same human being.

 

Photographs of human auras and of water molecules exposed to meditation and loving contemplation reveal brighter and more coherent vibrational emanations than do control samples. Thus, we might say that loving thoughts emanate energy that is a quantum level higher than thoughts produced during moments of fear, hatred or self-loathing.

 

This year, if all lovers-of-life resolve to approach their fellow humans with love and compassion in their hearts, they will create enough positive energy to dampen murderous thoughts in geographically disparate populations. With the strength and purity of its energy, love will trump and void hate every time. Under such a regimen, within ten years’ time, peace could prevail among millions, if not billions of humans who do not currently enjoy it.

 

It is not whether we humans win or lose our wars; but rather, how we play the game of love and life that shall decide our fate. No single human can reverse climate change or put an end to poverty or war. Collectively, humanity has the ability to do all of those things and more. All it takes is individual desire, coupled with the resolve to complete the required actions. These acts of goodness well may distract us from fear, hate and self-loathing. If so, ten years hence we could wake up to a more peaceful world and a healthy Earth to support us.

 

On the following day, as I completed my drive, the energies of the sun surrounded me. From Interstate I-5, four miles north of Westley, California, I observed cattle grazing on a green hillside. Whether the visual effect came from sunlight refracting through my camera lens or something entirely different, I cannot say. What I can say is that a bubble of new energy large enough to cover that field shown before me on that day. Smiling, I remembered that all is well in the universe and in the little 3-D world that we call our own.

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By James McGillis at 04:09 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link

Oregon - One Step Forward and One Step Back... 2008

Oregon - One Step Forward and One Step Back...

In July of any year, one of the nicest places to visit is the southern coast of Oregon.  U.S. Highway 101 is the primary access route, north and south.  Additionally, several highways cut east and west, winding along the river valleys and upper canyons, providing a change of scenery from the coastal strip.

 

Driving north from California across the Oregon border brings a couple of shocking revelations.  When you arrive in Brookings, which is the first town you will encounter, you will notice that motor gas prices are about twenty cents cheaper per gallon than in California.  The lack of a retail sales tax and lower state fuel taxes makes Oregon a great place to fill your tank.

 

 

Well, maybe not so great, once you realize that Oregon does not allow self-service filling of one’s own fuel tank.  The supposed “positive result” of this archaic law is that it keeps thousands of Oregonians employed as gas station attendants.  The downside is that during the summer tourist season, motorists queue up at the lower-priced stations, engines idling and pollution spewing from their tailpipes as they wait. 

 

Despite the many “Keep Oregon Green” signs that one sees along the highway, old energy and old-style thinking are adding an immense load of greenhouse gases to the Oregon air shed.  If estimates are true that the average vehicle produces about one pound of carbon dioxide for each mile driven, how many additional tons of carbon dioxide do Oregon motorists produce in order to make dead-end jobs for some of their residents?  Additionally, how many hours of lost productivity do Oregonians suffer as frustrated motorists wait in line for fuel that they could safely pump without assistance?

 

Once you get past the pros and cons of Oregon’s fuel pricing and dispensing methods, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you motor north towards Gold Beach, some twenty-five miles beyond the California border.  If you have breakfast or lunch in Gold Beach, you will notice that the pace of life is a bit slower than California.  If you allow yourself to slow down and match the natural pace in Southern Oregon, you will enjoy your experience far more than if you simply rush towards your destination.

 

In the early days of travel along the Oregon Coast, towns sprang up along the highway approximately every twenty-five miles.  The ostensible reason for this spacing related to how far a horse-drawn vehicle could travel in one day.  With that idea in mind, twenty-five miles north of Gold Beach is the sleepy town of Port Orford, famous in its heyday for the “Port Orford Cedar” trees that covered its coastal slopes.

 

Although hidden from the highway in many places, the coastal strip between Gold Beach and Port Orford has several direct openings to the sand and surf.  Owing to the gentle slope of the continental shelf in this area, low tides pull far out from the beach and high tides rush in on large breaking waves.  Flotsam from Asia and driftwood from the Pacific Coast are among the prizes awaiting the intrepid beachcomber.

 

Although the commercial port at Port Orford is so small that they haul out the fishing fleet with dockside cranes, it is the only deep-water port along the coast between Portland, Oregon and the San Francisco Bay.  Protected by headlands to the north and west, the small port remains vulnerable to storms approaching from the southwest.

 

As with several other Southern Oregon coastal towns, much of Port Orford lies within the “tsunami zone”.  Once erroneously called “tidal waves”, Americans have adopted the Japanese word “tsunami”, which means, “One or a series of huge sea waves caused by earthquakes or other large-scale disturbances of the ocean floor”. 

 

Nearby Crescent City and Eureka, California has each experienced tsunamis in the past fifty years.  Many places along the Oregon coast show geological evidence of large-scale tsunami activity, although contemporary coastal dwellers tend to downplay or ignore the potential threat.  At Port Orford, one has to travel nearly a mile inland to find ground high enough for the state to declare it a “tsunami safety zone”.

 

Whether it is for reasons of tsunami safety or lack of sewage plant capacity, Port Orford qualifies as the only town along the highway where recent commercial development is almost unknown.  Although there is a new library adjacent to the highway, there are no chain restaurants in town.  The pharmacy closed its doors a few years ago, leaving only a clinic to tend to the healthcare needs of the many retired residents.  The infrastructure is so antiquated and poorly documented that the local water system was recently losing between one third and one-half of its stored water to leaks in the system.  Many leaks are nearly impossible to track down and fix in the wetlands and other marshy areas around the town.

 

Founded in 1851, Port Orford is the oldest town along the coast.  Its population of less than 1500 is not much different than it was in the late 1800s.  In its heyday, Port Orford featured a sawmill that efficiently transformed the old-growth Port Orford Cedars into planking for sailing vessels and later for insect and mildew resistant cedar-shake shingles.  Both the sawmill and the old-growth cedars are gone now, leaving retirement living and tourism as the top two economic engines for the town. 

 

If you are looking to live far away from city life and can accept that the nearest major medical center is in North Bend, almost sixty miles away, Port Orford allows a pace of life and a heavily wooded landscape not often seen in contemporary America.  If you do build or buy there, you might want to check the tsunami map before doing so.  There has been no tsunami lately, but that is no guarantee of future calm waters

 

Unlike coastal areas farther north, the Southern Oregon coast rarely experiences frost, although the area can be windy and rainy in the fall, winter and spring.  During the summer months, the weather can be clear and beautiful.  It can also be overcast and gloomy, but rarely is the area hot, when judged by standards of the inland Western U.S.

 

Viewing the area from the air for the first time can be quite a shock.  What looks like untouched forests, when viewed from ground level, looks like a logger’s paradise from the air.  Often loggers leave only a fringe of untouched forest along the highway.  Forest products are an essential industry in Oregon, but every time I see a load of scraggly and twisted old-growth tree trunks barreling down the highway towards the chip mill, I cringe.

 

With its many coastal state parks, Oregon makes amends for its questionable logging practices.  To its credit, forward thinking Oregonians, such as the 1960s Governor Tom McCall helped pass legislation setting aside most of Oregon’s 363-mile coastline as parkland or open space.  No other coastal state can boast such forward thinking in its use of irreplaceable coastal environments.  Additionally, there are many public campgrounds and private RV parks tucked into the shady groves along Highway 101.

 

If you have an RV and have the time, a trip north or south along Oregon’s Highway 101 is well worth your time.  Just don’t let your engine idle while you wait in line for fuel.

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By James McGillis at 07:58 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link