Bandon, Oregon - Day One

Sunday, October 22, 2017
Depoe Bay to Bandon, OR
Distance: 136 miles
Campsite: Bullards Beach State Park
Space: A39 (back-in)
Cost Per Night: $26 (plus $8 reservation fee)
Duration: 6 nights
Weather: 55 and cloudy (no rain)

After enjoying our two weeks on the Olympic Peninsula, we were eager to get back on the road for another adventure. Three weeks after our return, we were back on Hwy. 101, this time heading south. This would be my third trip to Bandon and my first time to camp at Bullard's Beach State Park. I couldn't wait! 

The drive down to Bandon was beautiful and (thankfully) uneventful. Not counting our lunch stop, it took us 3 1/2 hours. We didn't hit any rain other than a tiny sprinkle near Cape Perpetua. There was also some light fog there, but not enough to make for a stressful situation. It was actually a very nice day for a drive. There was some traffic following us near Yachats (pronounced "Ya-Hots") and Cape Perpetua, but the further south we drove, the more we had the road to ourselves. The curvy parts near the cape weren't bad since the signage to slow down was reasonable. Once again, I found that I had stopped thinking about pulling the trailer and just drove.

We looked for a nice place to stop for a picnic lunch in the trailer and wound up on a somewhat stressful detour, making our way into a residential area with narrow lanes and a couple of dead ends. Luckily, I didn't drive down those! (Backing up a trailer is not easy and backing up a trailer on a narrow residential street is no fun!) We made it back to Hwy. 101 and found a wayside (near Carter Lake) to pull into for our lunch break. Still feeling like a novice with the trailer, it can be pretty stressful to find myself in a situation where I might have trouble backing up to turn around. It's a learning process!

After arriving at our campsite and getting set up, we walked around the campground to check things out. It was off-season so there wasn't a ranger to check us in at the entrance of the park, but we had pre-registered, so all we needed to do was find our site. Later on, a ranger drove by in his truck and waved a hello to us. All good!

Loop A was quiet and with the tall shrubbery, felt pretty private. Each set of bathrooms (one per loop) has four showers with unlimited hot water at no cost. They were very clean and spacious. No complaints!

I hadn't planned for our arrival meal (something I've since learned to do!), but managed to thaw two hamburger patties to throw on the grill. Rod built a nice fire and we relaxed with our drinks before dinner. We could hear the soft murmurings of the folks two sites away, but they never got too loud.

Peaceful evening around the fire.

Click on photos to enlarge.