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| No name trail |
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| Rear of the Chateau |
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| Start of No-Name trail |
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| Lobby in Chateau |
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| Capella in Azalea Gardens, Brookings |
Started the day with breakfast in Brookings at the Brookings
Inn and Resort. The facility did not deserve that grandiose a name. Very
mediocre breakfast with limited selection, but the staff was helpful, the price
was commensurate with the accommodations and we got the car fully charged.
The motel was on the western outskirts of the town. We did
not leave until about 9 and then we stopped for gasoline where the line was
pretty long even with lots of pumps, and some shopping at the Fred Meyer.
Picked up lunch food, a larger food cooler and some hiking shorts. A big sale
and our last opportunity for purchases in no sales tax Oregon.
Brookings the town did not get a mention in travel guide. An
undeserved slight. It has a milder climate than most on the Oregon coast with
winter temperatures reaching as high as the 70s. Because of the mild
temperature and abundant rain, there are flowers all year round. They claimed
that 90% of the country’s Easter lilies are grown here. We went to the Azalea
Gardens, a city owned 33-acre park. Nicely groomed, but the flowers were
largely past their prime bloom. There was a Capella building in the park. That
word comes from the cape that Italian soldiers wore and achieved honored status
when one soldier cut his cape in half to cloth a beggar. The building was very
nicely done in glass and wood and copper spires and created a peaceful setting.
It is frequently used for weddings, only a $102 fee, and reminded me of the
Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes. The park and building were donated to the City
by Mr. Elmo Williams, a film editor and
producer. High Noon won him an Oscar for editing, among other movies. He and
his wife lived in a coastal home in Brookings post retirement. She died in 2004
and the Capella was erected in 2008 in her memory upon her death with his
child’s inheritance (probably not all of it.) He died in Brookings at age 102
in 2015. The docent was very chatty and informative. She and her late husband
had retired there from SoCal almost 20 years ago and she loves it. Since her
husband’s death she said that her children no longer allow her to drive to
California. She pointed out that it is warmer and far less windy than the rest
of the Oregon coast. A real booster for Brookings. Another docent arrived and she had been there
34 years since retiring from San Francisco. She too was a Brookings booster,
extolling the climate, easy life style and nice people. They both conceded that
housing prices have been rising at an alarming rate.
The center city was a nice, long, prosperous looking main street,
but after crossing the Chetco River we went to the harbor area. Lots of fishing
and pleasure boats and restaurants along the boardwalk. We had some ice cream
at a shop named Slug and Shots.
We then drove on Oceanview Drive to reconnect with the 101 south
and quickly crossed into California at mile marker 363 on our way to the Oregon
Caves National. This last stretch of the Oregon coast is the southern end of
the “fabulous 50” miles where there are soaring green headlands one side and
seascapes of cliffs and sea stacks on the other. The ocean water seems to be
bluer and clear, albeit much colder, than what I see along the CA. coast. A
nice place to take an extended vacation.
I should have taken route 197 east, but didn’t and then
missed the turn on to 199, Redwood Highway. You enter the Redwood State and
National Park (it is composed of several state parks which are enveloped within
the national park) We quickly entered a stretch of road on 199 in the Park that
is among the most beautiful I have ever driven. At times the road runs along
the Smith River, but you are never far from towering redwood trees. It is aptly
named the Smith River Scenic Byway. Not to be missed. This part is the Jedediah
Smith Redwood park. He was the first white man to explore the northwestern part
of California in the 1820s.
We stopped for lunch and information at the Smith River NRA
Visitor’s Center. We continued northwest on the byway passing through the
Collier Tunnel and shortly thereafter crossing back into Oregon. It was only 12
miles from there to Cave Junction. This area seems to be very lightly populated
and minimally developed, although in the 1850s it experienced a short-lived
gold rush. Not much in Cave Junction, so after a short visit to the visitor’s
center, we set out on route 46 to the Caves Monument. It was only a 20-mile drive,
but it took almost an hour. We not only climbed a few thousand feet, but the
windy road lead us through the dense forests that were like what we saw around
Crater Lake.
We arrived too early to get into our room at the Chateau. It
was fully booked even though it is expensively priced. The Chateau is definitely
a quiet retreat in an unusual setting. No frills rooms, no TV, no internet, but
tranquil, especially after the day visitors for the Caves leave. I had some
time to walk around and through the facility, as well as to talk with an
official from the Oregon Caves Outfitters, a non-profit that operates the
Chateau, as he was hitting me up for a contribution to the restoration fund. It
was built in the 1930s with major assistance from the CCC. There have been only minimal changes to the
building since then. It is a six-story structure with a concrete foundation and
a wood framed superstructure built over a small gorge through which a stream
flows. Only the three upper floors are visible from the front entrance and only
the two upper floors house guest rooms. The large fourth floor lobby is
awesome. It has high ceilings, a huge double marble fireplace and enormous
exposed wood beams and log posts. Large open wooden staircases connect the
third, fourth and fifth floors. Large plate glass windows open the third (dining
room) and fourth floors to the outside.
We went on an afternoon hike on the No-Name trail that began
at the end of the parking lot. The license plates in the lot were from all over
the western US and Canada. The trail took us about three miles into the gorge. Lots
of switchbacks and green foliage. As I was attempting to cross the stream in the
gorge at the base of a waterfall I slipped on the wet rocks and fell in.
Amazingly my phone did not get wet. Very few people on the trail.
Our room was spacious, furnished in a Native American motif,
but somewhat spartan by modern standards. We ate dinner in the third-floor
restaurant, next to the stream that flowed through the Chateau. The meal was
good. It was very relaxing sitting in the lobby where there lots of families. Not able to charge up the car.
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