Sunset Bay State Park

The drive from Bandon, Oregon to the Sunset Bay state Campground is about 24 miles on a twisty, turny road that you're supposed to do 25mph on. Ha ha ha! The campground itself is pretty standard for state campgrounds, but the sites are actually kinda small. My tent, which is only 10' by 10', barely fit on the site. However... the hot showers are REALLY hot and you don't have to keep pushing the little button to get water the whole time. It's an actual turning faucet, just like a regular bathroom! I know... hot showers feature way too heavily into my choices... sue me!

The day-use beach area is awesome though. It's sheltered, shallow and a tiny bit warmer so it is perfect for dogs, families, kayaks, rafts, boogie boards, etc... I spent hours laying on a big towel listening to giggling children, people watching, reading, snacking and drinking iced tea and then made the fatal mistake of relaxing so much that I fell asleep. Of course, when I woke up I didn't reapply sunscreen like an intelligent person would. Nope... I was hot, so I went walking through that nice, shallow water. It wasn't until that evening that I realized that I had burnt the back of my legs and arms to a crisp!

There's a series of trails from that day-use area that lead to several more small bays and their beaches. The trails also lead to Cape Arago and to Shore Acres State Park. Since my sunburn was bad enough that I didn't dare expose my arms and legs to more sun the next day, I donned jeans and spent the day hiking the trails. After sleeping in late, of course!

One of the more interesting trails was the Pack Trail. The trail is steep but it's in the shade and was beautiful to hike. It follows part of an old wagon road that led from Shore Acres to Bandon. I'm no athlete, but am in decent shape and was sweaty as all heck within a few minutes of walking UP, Up, Up this trail. I can't imagine the poor horses pulling a loaded wagon along this trail. As I was hiking, just about a half mile in, I came upon 3 teenage girls in pajama pants and sweatshirts (what is it with teenage girls and sweatshirts? On hot summer days!) who immediately stopped all conversation the minute they saw me. But they were NOT happy campers! LOL Another half mile up the trail I ran into mom and dad and brother. They were in shorts and tees and were enthusiastically picking up garbage from the forest alongside the trail. I had a hard time holding my laughter until I was well past. I wasn't sure where my sympathies should lie... with the parents who had grumpy, unhappy teens or with the teens who had cheery, eager parents! LOL!

On the trail, you can "visit" a WWII radar observation post. They're kind of like cement lean-tos. They were used to guard the coast from enemy invasion or attack. Now, they're either used by a serial killer (it looks sooooo Criminal Minds in there!) or by the local teens as a hangout. Or both!

I'm not a flower sort of person, but the trail is full of these beautiful purple flowers with this intricate pattern on the inside of the petals. Now this is how much of a teacher I am... as I'm walking and looking at these flowers and the bees that are all over them, I can't stop thinking about Ms. Frizzle. Our last unit in kindergarten this year was on plants. We watched a video where Ms. Frizzle explained how bees used the patterns within petals as "landing lights" that show them where the nectar is. So here I am hiking and "relaxing" and all I can think of is "I gotta get a picture to show the kids!" - pathetic!

After all that hot hiking, I made a huge salad and heated up some absolutely delicious fried chicken that I'd found in Bandon and went to bed fairly early. It's amazing how a day filled with steep hiking gets you ready for an early bedtime! Sadly, I had to pack up the next morning and head back to reality.