The View (No, NOT the TV show)

Site with river in background


Standing on the dock, looking at our rig

When we arrived Lincoln City, OR, we got a small surprise: "We have you in dry camping, as we're booked solid". Hmmm, I thought: "But we have a reservation, and no one said we would be dry camping when I made the reservation!" Donna started thumbing through Woodalls, thinking we needed to move on, but the park managers changed some other reservations around, and we ended up with a full hookup on the river! This view was, by far, our nicest since we started our journey. This park (Chinook Bend in Lincoln City) is about 4 miles from the coast, up a canyon. Because of the terrain, we did not have cell phone service or internet service. The steep canyon walls, heavily forested, also compromised our satellite signal. Woe is us, no high definition signal(everything else was OK). Minor trade-offs considering the serene setting.

The people across from us were party central (for the 70+ crowd). Every day, about 11:30am, people would show up, eat lunch, play cards, and gossip. About 5:00pm, the potluck casseroles would arrive. More cards and gossip. By 8:00pm, they were gone and probably in bed. Quite clique-ish, we weren't invited in.

Another interesting item about camping on a coastal river: as the tide changes, so does the flow of the river. There looked to be about a 3' rise and fall. This is a hot campground during salmon spawning time - there is a big board showning catches - averaging about 40 -45 pounds. We saw a lot of fishing, but no catching. August and September are supposed to be the big months for fishing.