Winter Camping at Washburne State Park

The best way our family has found to unwind from the holidays and start out the new year is to get outside and go camping. I especially love going to the ocean this time of year, with the churning waves and more frequently sunny skies than we have farther inland. For rock lovers like myself, this is also the best time of year for agate hunting along the mouths of creeks. Camping in January on the Oregon coast might seem like a wild idea to some, but with a yurt for a little extra measure of comfort, it is possible to brave the wildest storms. My absolute favorite state park for camping during the winter months is Carl G. Washburne Memorial State Park, located between Florence and Yachats nestled in a secluded stretch of coastal forest. This rugged, wild part of the coast offers some gems of beaches in between stretches of rocky cliffs. This particular park is my favorite because of the location, and because there are only two yurts tucked into the woods, so close to the ocean that you can hear the waves. Not many brave souls camp out here in the winter, so you can achieve more of that quiet, remote camping experience than one usually expects from a state park campground.

Since packing for a yurt camping trip requires a lot less gear, we headed out on a Friday evening for a reasonably short drive over the coast range, and grabbed some clam chowder at Mo’s for dinner when we reached Florence. We arrived at our yurt in the dark, got settled in, and enjoyed a family movie night on the laptop (okay, so this is fluff camping, but there’s no way I’m taking my kids out to tent-camp this time of year.)

It was bitter cold outside, but inside the yurt it was warm and dry thanks to the canvas covering and wall-heater. We threw a quilt on the comfy futon bed, got the kids set up on the top bunk of the bunkbed, and felt right at home. With that trusty heater, we knew we could go out and get as sopping wet as we pleased, and everything could be dried out for our next expedition while we ate lunch and re-grouped.

We headed north towards Yachats and stopped at one of the waysides to explore some of the exposed rocks at low tide.

Treasures of the sea seem to wash up in abundance near creeks, and we found all these colorful shells and even the white salt-bleached skull and pelvis of some little critter.

We also visited our favorite little spots at Rock Creek and Big Creek where un-assuming little pull-outs along Highway 101 take you on dirt paths down to the beach. The kids ran and danced along the edge of the tide, and I walked along the beach collecting more rocks and driftwood (a girl can never have enough.)

We decided it was about time we visited Heceta Head Lighthouse, since we had camped here for the past few years and never checked out this landmark. We parked by the majestically built, 220-foot tall Cape Creek bridge, and hiked up the short, half-mile trail to the historic light keepers house perched on a cliff above the cove.

Some of you may know about my love affair with old Victorian farmhouses, and this 1893, Queen Anne beauty with all the trim caught my fancy. I’ve read in some of our William Sullivan guide books that rumour tells of a ghostly inhabitant in the form of a former light keeper’s daughter named Rue. My son thought this idea was fascinating and kept hopefully looking up at the attic windows for an apparition to appear. We also found out this is a bed and breakfast, offering six rooms for 133-251 dollars. If the idea of sleeping in a historic, haunted light keeper’s house strikes you as an experience not to be missed in life, you can find out more about it at: http://www.hecetalighthouse.com/

We hiked the rest of the way up to the lighthouse and found out tours were only offered March-October, so we promised the kids we would return in the spring for a climb up the lighthouse stairs and a peek around the historic house. By that time, the sun was starting to set, so we headed back to our yurt to cook some dinner on the Coleman camp stove and have a campfire while the weather still permitted.

It rained, hailed, slushed and snowed buckets all night long. Listening to a storm and the crash of the surf from inside a yurt at night is a great experience. I didn’t mind any sleep I missed listening to Nature’s display outside. That’s my idea of an exciting time!

The next day was very wet, and I was so thankful for our yurt. It rained all morning as we made breakfast and packed up, but there was a short break in the weather that allowed us to play around the beach by the lighthouse again. Then, the rain really started coming down, so we ate a car picnic, and headed for home.

If you want to check out Washburne State Park online, visit the Oregon State Parks website at: http://http//www.oregonstateparks.org/park_123.php