Last night, I played blackjack for a few hours at The Mill Casino in Coos Bay, Oregon. While playing, one of the card dealers suggested that I take a jet-boat trip on the Rogue River in Gold Beach. About fifteen minutes later during a break from playing, I looked up the attraction on my phone and noticed that the rating on Trip Advisor for the river trip was a near-perfect five stars with over 500 customer ratings. During the next 24 hours, several people enthusiastically recommended the Rogue River boating trip.
After a few hours of playing blackjack, I drove to the Wal-Mart parking lot in Coos Bay and slept for the night. The next morning, I drove about 10 miles to the Shore Acres State Park. The park is a historical former estate along the Pacific Coast. The house is relatively modest, but its surroundings and settings are anything but modest. Surrounding the home are acres of manicured landscaping including a rose garden, koi pond, floral arrangements, and a water fountain. Also, the estate sits above a flat area of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
After continuing south on Highway 101, I noticed a sign off the highway for the Humbug Mountain Trail. I parked at the trailhead and started the six-mile round trip hike to the 1,748 ft summit of Humbug Mountain. The beginning of the trail felt a lot like a rainforest, because of the dense bright-green vegetation as well as the sound of raindrops dropping from the overhead leaves. Shortly thereafter, the trail became much more foggy with greatly diminished visibility and colder weather. The hike then became very unique and I enjoyed hiking through the dense, gray fog while listening to the Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow podcast.
About an hour later I arrived in Gold Beach, OR. My first stop in town was the Jerry’s Jet Boat Tours headquarters near the northern boundary of Gold Beach. Because of today’s and tomorrow’s expected rain they’ve had a few people cancel and a few spots open up. The person working at the front desk told me that there might be discounts for tomorrow’s 104 mile tour because of the weather. The original cost is $95, and I left my contact information and asked him to call when he has an update from the owner. Several hours later, I returned a missed call and was told that the tour had been discounted to $50 for tomorrow. I signed up for the 9AM tour tomorrow morning and am really looking forward to the experience. Tomorrow night, I’ll probably be sleeping in Crescent City, CA (or as far past Crescent City as I can make it) so that hopefully I can meet Gabriela on Tuesday night.
Next, I drove to the south end of town and stopped by the Visitors Center. The two older ladies in the visitor center were extremely helpful and offered a couple of recommendations for hikes. More specifically, they suggested making a loop by driving on the South Shore of the Rogue river to hike the Frances Shrader Overgrowth Trail and Myrtle Tree Trail, and then returning back to Gold Beach from the Northern Shore of the Rogue River. The Frances Shrader trail was a interpretive, self-guided walking trail including moss-covered trees, dense/overgrown green vegetation, and creeks.
Next, I drove to a picnic area off of the highway where there was a view of the Rogue River and a view of the car bridge that crosses the river
The visitor center’s second recommendation was the Myrtle Tree Trail, a trail leading to the largest Myrtle Tree in Oregon. The lady mentioned that the leaves growing on the myrtle tree have a great scent when broken open. After hiking a few minutes, I arrived at the myrtle tree which has a 42 foot circumference, 70 foot canopy, and height of about 88 feet. The Myrtle leaves had a great scent which seemed like it could work well for almost anything including detergent, chewing gum, deodorant, cologne, aftershave, air fresheners, candles, and more.
Heeding another suggestion from the Visitors Center, I had dinner and a drink at Hunter’s Creek Bar and Grill (http://www.yelp.com/biz/hunter-creek-bar-and-grill-the-tav-gold-beach). The bar has a laid back atmosphere and average food, but I would give it 4.5 stars for two reasons: Free Wifi and most importantly the back of the bar has large windows looking out over quaint Hunter’s Creek.
