After a lovely stay at Beachside Recreation Area, we were ready for one last day on the Oregon coast before heading to Crater Lake National Park. First, we enjoyed a scenic hike at Cape Perpetua that had a beautiful view overlooking the ocean and an interesting stone structure. Next, we visited a place called Devil’s Churn which sounded interesting.  A fairly steep but short hike down brings you to a gorgeous rocky area where the water enters with great force, producing the churning effect. It has a really wild, rugged appeal like so much of the Pacific coast. Our last stop at Cape Perpetua was the Visitors Center to say goodbye to Mike and Maile and thank them for all their helpful suggestions. We enjoyed chatting for a bit and left armed with more ideas for places to go next.

It was finally time to leave the coast and start heading east. This area is definitely on our list of places to visit again. Of course, we needed coffee for the drive so we looked for an espresso shacks. The one we chose was right in front of a little store called Magic Mushroom. Francis decided he needed to check it out because the name sparked his curiosity. It turned out to be a gift shop. No psychedelic mushrooms sold there but it made a pleasant quick stop along the road. It had been a while since we had done a long drive so we enjoyed listening to music and checking out the scenery in a place we had never been.

Eventually, we needed to think about a place to spend the night. We saw a sign for a campground so we decided to check it out. We assumed it was close by but we ended up driving for miles before we found it. It was a combination picnic area and campground and was actually pretty nice but we really wanted something free so we kept looking. We came upon a dispersed spot of the road with a primitive fire ring so we decided that would work for us. By the time we made a quick dinner and set up the jeep, it was time to call it a night.