Bandon-by-the-Sea

 

When Irish immigrant George Bennett arrived at the mouth of the Coquille River on the southern Oregon Coast he brought the name of his Irish hometown, Bandon, to the new settlement.  Additionally, he brought an Irish shrub called gorse (ulex europaeus) and planted it as a fence hedge surrounding his property.

Gorse is plentiful along Oregon's South Coast

This ornamental evergreen with its bright yellow blossoms soon infested the area, spreading along the sand dunes and throughout the town. Unfortunately, the high oil content of its foliage made the plant extremely flammable, a factor that would change Bandon forever.

In 1936, the town was a thriving community: a logging and fishing center, home to cows and cranberries, and the busiest port between San Francisco and Portland. On a warm and dry September evening, a shift in winds brought a nearby forest fire closer to town. When it reached the gorse, the fire exploded into an inferno completely destroying the entire commercial district in a short time and leaving 1800 inhabitants homeless.

Coquille River Lighthouse

Like the mythological Phoenix, the town rose from the ashes and rebuilt itself. Today, Bandon-by-the-Sea, as it is known in tourism parlance, is a favorite destination on the Oregon Coast. The Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, a complex of five courses just north of town, attracts players from all over the world. Set on a bluff overlooking the ocean and dunes, it consistently appears on any list of top ten golf courses and compares favorably to some of the best in Scotland and Ireland.

There is more than golf to keep visitors coming back. Like any coastal community, the ocean is the big draw, and the setting in Bandon couldn’t be more spectacular. Wide, sandy beaches are easily accessible and offer a plethora of driftwood, agates, jasper, and petrified wood. Offshore are wildly sculpted sea stacks and monolithic rock formations providing sanctuary for a wide variety of sea birds. Where the Coquille River meets the ocean, an octagonal lighthouse with a tall round tower stands guard over the perilous bar. Built in 1896, it was the last lighthouse constructed along the Oregon Coast. It was decommissioned in 1939, but volunteers and lighthouse enthusiasts keep this landmark maintained and opened to the public during summer months.

Wooden, welcome arches lure travelers along Highway 101 to detour into Bandon’s Old Town. This compact downtown offers a variety of shops, galleries, restaurants, an excellent history museum, independent bookstore, and plenty of free parking. A walkable waterfront lines one of the two main streets allowing close access to fishing boats, charters, and fresh seafood. Bandon Fish

Market makes a tasty stop for fish and chips followed by a dessert visit to Cranberry Sweets located across the street. This local institution features all sorts of cranberry candy goodies, and they are most generous with their free samples.

Cranberries are an important business here and Bandon boasts of being “The Cranberry Capital of Oregon.” The acidic, sandy soil and mild climate make it a perfect place for cranberries and there are nearly 1600 acres under cultivation. Bogs can be seen along Highway 101 north and south of town with most of these berries destined for bottles of Ocean Spray juice.  On the second full weekend in September, the town celebrates this crop with a four-day cranberry festival.

Bandon Fish Market

Bandon is also known for its dairy industry and for years, Bandon Cheese was a popular stop for visitors traveling the coast. After the business was sold to Tillamook Cheese, the creamery and retail store closed, but a new cheese factory opened this spring. Face Rock Creamery will be offering a variety of their locally made cheddars as well as squeaky cheese curds and Umpqua ice cream cones.

The town of Bandon is bookended by two state parks. To the north is Bullards Beach State Park with a large campground, sandy beach, and access to the lighthouse. To the south, is a string of state owned lands including Face Rock Scenic Viewpoint and Bandon Natural Area offering beach access and close-up viewing of the rock formations offshore. Beach Loop Road parallels the ocean, connecting all these scenic vistas. No trip to Bandon would be complete without a stop at 11^th Avenue and Beach Loop Road at Coquille Point for a calendar view of the very best of the Oregon Coast.

From Coquille Point

Zumwalt Prairie: High, Wide, and Lonesome

Zumwalt Prairie

Vast grasslands once covered much of northeastern Oregon, eastern Washington, western Idaho and on up into Canada until homesteaders plowed these under to create the great wealth of wheat, potatoes, lentils that make this region famous. However, there was a section in Oregon that was a bit too high in elevation (between 3300’ and 5000’) and a bit too remote for farming to be successful.

Young, red-tailed hawk.

The Zumwalt Prairie, located north and east of the town of Enterprise in Wallowa County, is the largest (about 200 square miles) tract of remaining bunchgrass prairie in North America. Its rolling hills run from bright green in the spring and early summer to shades of yellow and brown as the season progresses. With little sign of human habitation other than a few cattle ranches and plenty of abandoned farmsteads, the place is alive with wildlife including 3,000 elk, black bears, wolves, cougars, bighorn sheep and over 48 varieties of butterflies. The prairie is home to one of North America’s highest concentrations of breeding raptors (golden eagles, prairie falcons, northern harriers, kestrels and numerous varieties of hawks) as well as grassland songbirds.

In 2000 and 2006, The Nature Conservancy purchased 33,000 acres, or about 51 square miles, and has been working in partnership with various state agencies and local ranchers to manage invasive species, develop sustainable grazing practices, and protect animal and plant habitats.

Abandoned farm on Zumwalt Prairie

To visit the prairie, fill up your gas tank and follow Hwy. 82 east of Enterprise about three miles. Turn onto Crow Creek Rd. to Zumwalt Rd. and follow the signs to Buckhorn Overlook. The road soon becomes gravel, but is well graded and fine for most passenger cars. Be sure to stop and look back at the sweeping view of the snow-capped Wallow Mountains. There are a few trailheads off Zumwalt and Duckett Roads, and a trail map produced by The Nature Conservancy is available at the Forest Service center in the town of Joseph.

View from Buckhorn Overlook

Other than the beauty, quiet, and wildlife, the main attraction in the prairie is the Buckhorn Overlook. Located at 5200’, this abandoned fire lookout sits on the edge of the Imnaha River Canyon and offers a view that is nothing short of spectacular. The steep walls of the Cow, Horse, and Lightning Creeks lead into the Imnaha River Canyon and beyond that is Hell’s Canyon (deeper than the Grand Canyon), and beyond that the peaks of the Seven Devils in Idaho. And, the best part of savoring the view is that you will probably have it all to yourself.

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge: Birders Paradise

Swimming in circles

If you think you have noisy neighbors, pity the poor mallards, herons, and red-tailed hawks living year round at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. They are about to receive a visit from tens of thousands of Cackling/Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and assorted waterfowl as they stop here on their winter migrations along the Pacific Flyway. When the Corps of Discovery overnighted here in November, 1805, Captain William Clark complained in his journal that he couldn’t get a wink of sleep thanks to all the geese, swans, and ducks: “…they were immensely numerous and their noise horrid.”

The refuge, located in the flood plain of the Columbia River about 10 miles downstream from the Portland/Vancouver metro area, covers over 5000 acres of marshes, wetlands, and woodlands. It was established in 1965 partly as a result of the devastating earthquake in Alaska the prior year. The area around the Copper River Delta was lifted over 6 inches, severely altering the only summer, nesting habitat of the dusky Canada goose. To save the breed, efforts were made to protect their winter habitats along the Columbia River and in the Willamette Valley.
The refuge is divided into several areas, but the most accessible are the River “S” and Carty units, both near the small town of Ridgefield, Washington. To reach the River “S” unit, follow Interstate 5 north of Vancouver to exit 14. State route 501 leads west 2.5 miles to Ridgefield; turn left on 9th Avenue at the flashing school zone sign. It’s approximately one mile to the wildlife refuge sign on the right. A graveled, one-way road provides a scenic, four-mile loop through wetlands and forests. In winter, visitors are not permitted out of their vehicles except in a few areas, but there are numerous pull-offs and wide spots in the road for viewing wildlife. Between May and September, hikers can enjoy spotting songbirds, woodpeckers, and herons along the easy Kiwa Trail.
To reach the Carty unit, return to route 501 and turn left into downtown Ridgefield, a charming town and ideal place for a coffee warm-up. Follow Main Avenue a short distance north of town to another refuge sign on the left. This area is only accessible by foot and includes a short climb over an arched bridge across railroad tracks. On the other side, is the recently completed Cathlapotle plankhouse.

For thousands of years, people as well as birds have inhabited this area along the lower Columbia River. In their journals, Lewis and Clark described a large, prosperous Chinook village here called Cathlapotle and documented over 900 inhabitants and 14 plankhouses. These long, cedar buildings were central to the Chinook culture and provided a place for sleeping, cooking, working, and celebrating. The explorers met and traded with the natives and camped nearby on both legs of their journey.

To commemorate this historic event, volunteers have built a full-scale, Chinook-style, cedar plankhouse to serve as a classroom for interpreting the natural and cultural heritage of the area. It took over three years and 3500 hours of volunteer labor to complete the 2800 square-foot building and it is the only Chinook-style plankhouse replica in existence. Since it is staffed by volunteers, the building is open only periodically. To view their calendar, check the website  to confirm open hours. Even if the building is closed, it is still interesting to view from the outside. Near the plankhouse is the trailhead for the Oaks to Wetland Wildlife Trail winding a little over two miles and passing lakes and a wide variety of habitats.