Today we headed south out of Florence.  A strong wind brought a temperature increase of over 10 degrees over 30 minutes or so. 

Our first stop was in Reedsport, where we stopped by the visitor center for Oregon Dunes NRA, which administers the Oregon Dunes, the largest coastal dune field in North America.  The kids began work on their Junior Ranger books, but will have to complete them through activities in the dune field, which is not adjacent to the visitor center, and mail the workbooks back when done.

Next we visited the Umpqua Lighthouse:

The lighthouse has a fascinating history.  The part I found most interesting was that the lighthouse tenders petitioned to have the original lighthouse abandoned after storm damage, and when the petition was finally approved, the original lighthouse shook and swayed just after the lens was removed.  The tenders fled the lighthouse, and the tower fell moments later.

The new lighthouse is built on a bluff above the river mouth, so it’s safe from wave damage:

Continuing south, we hiked a portion of the John Dellenback trail in the Oregon Dunes NRA.  The kids found quite a few Rough-skinned Newts:

We hiked past a small dune field within the forest:

Trish found this mushroom, which was seven inches tall:

We found a couple snails too:

At last we reached the main dune field.  Another two hours of walking across the dune field would get us to the ocean:

On the way back:

We had originally planned to overnight at the casino in Coos Bay, but it turns out they now charge to sleep in their dirt parking lot next to the highway, so we continued on to overnight at the South Jetty at the mouth of Coos Bay.  It’s nice and quiet here, save for the crashing of the waves against the Jetty.  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.