Dunning The Shoreline Becomes Tradition
Words and Photos By: Betsy Fessler
Each year we plan a summer trip to the Oregon coast. We have friends in Washington state who meet us there for riding and other activities. More often than not we choose the Coos Bay riding area to hang out, and I always look forward to it.
Knowing that the Oregon dune trip was coming, I was counting down the days until we could leave the heat of July and run to Oregon to cool off for a while. The forecast was mostly sunny every day with temperatures to be in the ’60s—it sounded like heaven.
It is a little tricky getting to Oregon in the summer because we drive through extreme valley heat to get there. We don’t like towing in high temperatures, so we leave very early in the morning. It works out though, because not only do we beat the heat of the day, but we arrive in Oregon with enough time to set up and ride the same day
This time, we camped at Myrtlewood Factory. Myrtlewood Factory is situated right off of Highway 101 in North Bend. We pulled in and parked near the front door, so I could run inside to check-in. The gal at the front counter was welcoming and answered all my questions. We effortlessly drove into our space.
We like camping at Myrtlewood Factory because it is all paved. That way we aren’t tracking sand into our RVs. It also has fairly easy dune access along Hauser Depot Road. There is a gift shop and parts store on site. In addition, each day there is a food trailer outside that offers anything from hamburgers and steaks to tri-tip, French dip, and even freshly made jalapeño poppers. Even people who weren’t camped at Myrtlewood were driving in from the dunes to have lunch.
The downfall of Myrtlewood Factory is that there are no hookups. During extended visits like ours, several group members left to dump and fill at nearby Tugman State Park for no charge. Tugman has a nice clean dump area that is easy to maneuver in—it can be busy. Another option was to have the Little Stinker company deliver a porta potty to our camp for a fee.
Learning the way of the land is a little tricky when you first visit the Coos Bay Dunes. There is a main throughway called Bull Run that is marked with signs bearing a triangle. Bull Run is also full of side trails that quickly had us dipping and squirreling through a native landscape full of dense brush, lush fern, and shore pines. Some have high banked sand turns that are super fun to zip through. Some of the trails are narrow though, and one of our group members drives a Can-Am Maverick X3 MAX… He clipped a tree with a rear wheel and caused damage that had to be repaired before we could get back to camp.
These trails, which I call worm trails, can have loose sand, making it hard to turn sometimes. There was another mishap when one of our group members riding a motorcycle crashed and unfortunately broke his leg. We transferred him to one of our UTVs and got him back to camp. Thankfully, North Bend has a good hospital and it is not too far away.
We always pray that we would not encounter riders coming the other way on the worm trails, and we had a lot of fun on them, but always exercised caution. Otherwise, they seem to go on forever and are a unique feature to Coos Bay. We couldn’t get enough of them.
Our group also loves the beach. Coos Bay is one of the only riding areas in the country that allow off-road vehicles on the beach. During our stay there, we would often pop out onto the beach and ride from one entry point to another. But sometimes finding the trails to the beach was tricky.
One day, we all packed lunches, found some blankets, grabbed up all the dogs, and rode to the beach for a picnic. When we got there, we found many other groups had the same idea. Our dogs really enjoyed digging in the sand and running up and down the surf. The kids all scattered to collect seashells. Others in the group relaxed and took in the sights of the waves and the constant parade of vehicles. At one point a bald eagle soared over us. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.
Another reason we enjoy Coos Bay is that Dungeness crab is usually in season while we are there. As soon as we get there, we plan a crab feed and go to Chuck’s Seafood in Coos Bay to buy them. This time we bought fifteen crabs from Chuck’s and had them cleaned. On the way back to camp, we stopped to get sourdough bread and makings for Caesar salad also. Everyone forgot to bring seafood utensils for this trip, so the guys all rummaged through their toolboxes to find anything from pliers to channel locks and vice grips so we could crack the shells. We filled our bellies and had a really fun night.
Night riding is also popular when we stay at Coos Bay. After dinner one night, we suited up and headed to the south end of the riding area. We wanted to see the bay, the McCullough Memorial Bridge, and the lights of North Bend. The moon rose almost full that night and was reflecting on the bay. The wind was calm and the temperature was comfortable. It was a perfect time for a night ride.
During that ride, we approached Boxcar Campground and ran into a group of turbo UTVs all decked out in lights gathered on top of a nearby dune. Turns out there are impromptu drag races there during weekends. One of our group members had a freshly built Ultra4 car there with an LS motor. He decided to chug down and join the others for a few friendly races. He didn’t do too badly against them, considering he wasn’t running paddles.
We enjoyed our recent visit to Coos Bay so much that we have thrown around the idea of spending even more time there. I don’t know if that will really happen. But at the least, I am sure that Coos Bay will be an annual summer tradition for many coming years.
