Beatin’ the heat, van-style

We really wanted to stay up in the mountains of Oregon for the summer, but their elevations are simply too low for the heat wave coming in. It was going to be in the mid 90’s at the 4400 foot elevations. With only a 3 degree drop for every 1000 foot of elevation gained meant it would still be low 90’s no matter where we went in the Oregon mountains. There was nothing within a two hour drive and the mountains are just not tall enough to get us out of the heat, so some tough decisions needed to be made.

Tuesday was a rough morning for us – not every day is a perfect day in a Van Tramp’s life. We talked, we bickered, and we full on argued until we eventually decided to just go all in on the heat avoidance and do it right. There was only one place to go, and it was four hours away… the coast. So, Big Blue was pointed West and we spent the rest of the day driving – straight through – to the coast line and to a state park just outside of Florence, Oregon – Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park. The temperatures were in the low 70’s and the scenery was spectacular, with the large moss covered trees and ferns everywhere. We hadn’t been out of the Redwoods area of the world for long, but I must have missed it a lot more than I knew. It felt good to be back in coastal forests, that was for sure. The park even had some great showers, which we took advantage of even though it had not yet been a week since out last.

Two nights is all we booked, even though we knew we would be staying at sea-level for over a week. Another night (Thursday) we stayed in another beautiful national forest campground just north of town. Both were crowded – basically full – and right off the main highway (so loud too). Normally this might have been hell for us, but they both really hit the spot. However, we really couldn’t stay long at either place due to the trees (no solar). Plus, we had other plans other than staying in crowded state parks or campgrounds. On Friday, immediately after work, we were on the move for public lands.