Important conclusions from the Oregon Coast

And a roundup of favorite beach towns!

After our trip to Portland and the “big city” experience I had with almost getting kidnapped in a ride share, we were ready to be back in our trailer exploring nature. Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon was our best coastal campground yet.

From the website: “One of the nation’s largest public campgrounds, Fort Stevens marks the site of a military installation once used to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort saw service for eighty-four years, from the Civil War to World War II. Today, Fort Stevens is a four thousand, three hundred-acre park offering a variety of recreation adventures which include camping, beachcombing, a freshwater lake stocked with trout, trails for hiking and biking, wildlife viewing, and an historic shipwreck.”

Eager to see this tourist magnet, Mike and I charged up our e-bikes and enjoyed miles of riding through richly forested coastal wilderness. There’s nothing quite like gliding swiftly along a smoothly paved path through trees, flowers and ferns, the wind in your hair and flies in your teeth. 

The old bunkers and buildings of the fort were in good shape for exploring and gave a historical window into a time when the military vigilantly guarded the mouth of the Columbia River, an important conduit inland to major cities in the USA. 

Walking through the abandoned installations, most of them sunk into the dunes and disguised with vegetation growing on their roofs, I was impressed once more by the ingenuity and industriousness of our nation. Visiting was a strong reminder to be grateful we currently live in a time of domestic peace.

There’s also a fun and challenging frisbee golf course spread out among the old fortifications. We tried it, and quickly lost our frisbees in the grass and bushes!

From the top of the park, we then rode our bikes a couple of miles back along the beach toward camp…and were lucky enough to encounter the famous shipwreck at low tide, an enormous rusted dinosaur skeleton half-buried in sand. 

As we watched the sun go down over our beloved Pacific Ocean from the dunes overlooking the shipwreck on the beach, we had an important conversation. 

When Mike and I set off on our trek in a trailer across the USA, we hadn’t just been looking for adventure; we’d been seeking to answer some big questions.