From logging to recreation at Loon Lake

About 1400 years ago, a massive slide in the Coast Range blocked a river that flowed into the Umpqua River near Reedsport. The persistent rains of the Oregon Coast gradually filled in a lake behind the natural dam and Loon Lake was formed. It was discovered by white settlers around 1850, when two men following Indian trails stumbled across it, a half dozen miles upstream from the Umpqua.

People talk about the "last mile" of Internet connection as being the most difficult. In logging, it's the first mile from where the tree falls. Loon Lake provided a solution for trees along its banks, which were put into the lake and taken to the east end where they were loaded in trucks and taken to a mill in nearby Gardiner. The logging road provided automobile access for the first time, and the lake became a recreation area. There is little logging in the area anymore and the loading area at the end of the lake is now a campground run by the federal government. A privately owned lodge, Loon Lake Resort, operates year round.

One of the interesting items at the lodge is a massive sculpture, created from a single piece of old growth fir, in the shape of a bird. It's a lovely piece of art, but it certainly appears to be a pelican. Personally, I wouldn't know a pelican from a loon, but that's what the manager told me. It seems odd, to have the artistic centerpiece of Loon Lake Lodge be a pelican, but if you stop in, it's worth looking at closely.

Cape Meares and the area

Cape Meares Lighthouse is the shortest on the Oregon Coast, standing only 38 feet high, but since it is situated on a headland 217 feet above the Pacific Ocean, it doesn't need to be tall. Cape Meares if the farthest north of the three capes for which the Three Capes Loop is named. A local attraction is a strangely shape tree called the Octopus Tree. You can walk north from Cape Meares to a parking lot at the south end of the Bayocean spit. That itself is worth a walk. You won't find much if any traces of the resort community that was built here in the early part of the 20th century. It mostly got washed into the Pacific.

Across the bay are some delights for the tummy. Get fresh oysters in Bay City. Enjoy the famous Tillamook Cheese at the factory or a wider variety at the smaller Blue Heron French Cheese store a little to the south.

High Culture in Newport

Newport has a high concentration of cultural activities. Near Nye Beach, it has both the Newport Performing Arts Center and the Newport Visual Arts Center. The former has many musical performances during the year and the latter conducts showings of local and out-of-area artists. It seems that there is an art gallery every block or two along the bayfront on Yaquina Bay. David Ogden Stiers, who was best known as Major Winchester on the TV show "MASH," lives in the area and sometimes conducts performances of the Newport Symphony Orchestra.

From Iraq to Iran

As I sit out here on the Oregon Coast, Iraq seems a very long way off. Every morning, my daily newspaper arrives at my house from Eugene with more news, but it's getting hard to pay attention. Today, I'm reading about how one general says the surge is too much, not long after another said it was about right, while the hawkish neocons think it's too little. I've pretty much resigned myself to seeing this thing dribble along indefinitely, probably getting worse, eventually falling apart so we have no choice but to leave.

But while that prospect depresses me, the idea of taking on Iran worries me much more. We're not in Iran yet. President Bush seems to think our big problem in Iraq is them, but U.S. casualties seem to mostly come from Sunnis, who are not allied with Iran.

My only hope is that even Bush can't fudge the math enough to start a third war. Our military has been designed to fight two wars simultaneously if necessary. Well, we're doing one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq now. We're only managing to do this much by a "stealth draft" of reservists and national guardsmen. The equipment is wearing out along with the personnel. We really can't handle a third war.

On the other hand, this president isn't very good at math. Or he may just figure there's a quick, low-cost way to fight Iran. I wouldn't put anything past him. It's scary.

Natural History on the Oregon Coast

There's a museum in Roseburg called the Museum of History and Natural History. It sounds like an oxymoron. If you're the second, you must be the first automatically.

The Netarts Spit runs north from Cape Lookout State Park. It's definitely for the lover of solitude, five miles of pretty much nothing except sand and some driftwood. Between the spit and the mainland is Netarts Bay, which is quiet and rather muddy. There is some concern that the ocean is going to erode its way through the south edge of the spit, turning it into an island, and some creative erosion control techniques have been used. But don't worry. If it washes away, it's not going to catch you by surprise as you're walking along the beach.

The nearest city is Tillamook. Enjoy the Tillamook Cheese Factory while you're there and maybe see some of the history of military aviation at the Tillamook Air Museum.

Military Highways

Highway 101 has been designated one of America's Scenic Highways. The Oregon Coast Visitors Association puts out thousands and thousands of brochures about it. It's certainly a spectacular road and one of the "signature" landmarks of the Oregon Coast, but I have to wonder about the "byway" part. It's our primary highway. It doesn't go "by" anything. When it was put together in the 1920's and 1930's, it wasn't just to be scenic. The intent was to improve America's ability to defend its coastline, which is why it was called the "Roosevelt Military Road." It's the best way to see a lot of Oregon Coast real estate.

Free and Open Beaches on the Oregon Coast

Every mile, and there are some 350 of them, of the Oregon Coast is open to the public. In contrast, California has only about 90 miles out of more than a thousand miles of coastline owned by the public. Governor Oswald West convinced the Oregon Legislature in 1913 to make the beaches public property. A later governor, Tom McCall, brought about legislation in 1967 that guaranteed that the beaches would remain forever accessible to anyone. Oregon State Parks is generally responsible for keeping the faith on this issue.

You can't climb across private property to get there if the owner doesn't want to let you, but once you're on the beach, you can wander anywhere you like. It's something that Oregonians have ensured will be there permanently for current residents and generations to come.