Some hints and tips for those traveling to, from, or on the coast. (Hillsboro: RV park, rent)

[Random_Walk]

Dear tourists:

We love seeing you stop by. Really, we do. Just wanted to give you a couple of bits to consider, based on what I see on and about here...

* Please do not consider Highways 101, 6, 26, or 30 as your golden opportunity to pretend you're in some kind of sports car commercial. Blowing along the curves at 70 mph will quite literally kill you on these roads if you don't know them. Rain and snow makes the roads slick in a hurry. Rocks the size of footballs occasionally fall onto the road, and your suspension (and planned trajectory) will not hold up when/if you come into contact with them. No, you won't have time to dodge them on these narrow two-lane roads. Logging trucks have a habit of pulling out with little warning or notice - just around a blind curve (fortunately, most are courteous enough to put out warning signs, but not all). Animals are, well everywhere. We got lots of them. Some like to avoid the thickets and game trails, preferring the pavement as a shortcut.

* On the opposite end, if you find yourself scared of the road? Do not consider it as a reason to drive along the roads at 30mph, as it doesn't make you safe - it makes you an obstacle. Please, find a safe place to pull off the road, enjoy the awesome scenery a little bit, and re-collect your nerves. Better yet, let someone else drive it for you. Pressing on only makes you more nervous, angers the zillions of drivers piling up behind you, and makes everyone miserable.

* A small note: many towns have posted 30mph speed limits on Hwy 101 while you're passing through town. I promise it's not a trap, but done because people walk across the road at amazing moments, and with zero warning. Two choices here: Observe that limit, or help add to the city coffers in a way that you really won't want to. Just sayin'.

* Okay - here's a fun one for the big vehicle drivers out there. This weekend, a charter bus found itself high-centered good and hard on a driveway feeding into Hwy 101 from a hotel here in my town (Rockaway Beach). It blocked the southbound lane of 101 for hours. For the love of all that is holy - if you have a big vehicle, please take this into consideration! The curves are narrow, roads have abrupt vertical shift, and if you ain't used to it, you may want to scout around a bit before dragging the RV out this way.

* Going out in the woods? For the love of all that is holy to you, LET SOMEONE KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING! There is literally nothing but forest (and the occasional logging trail) between my backyard and Forest Grove. That's almost 60-75 miles as the crow flies. Extremely easy to get lost in there, and with no one to walk to. It's the same story all up and down the coast, so do be sure to leave word (and at least a rough map!) with someone who you know that will notice if you don't get back on time.

--non-driving-related hints--

* Every day, I see visitors walking the railroad tracks as they pass through my town (and walking the tracks in Barview, in Garibaldi, in Bay City...) Bit o' news about that: There's an excursion train that runs along those tracks multiple times a day, especially on weekends. You may not want to be in its way. The tracks may appear unused due to rust, but consider that the tracks are extremely close to salt spray... tends to cover evidence of recent use pretty quick.

* Going crabbing? Don't get the 'birdcage' type, since they're worthless. go for the round slip-ring type or the rigid round pots. They work better. Also, don't bother with chicken for bait. Refrigerated chickens aren't really native to the bays... may want to go for something the crabs can recognize, like dead fish or fish-meal (the stinkier the better ).

* Clamming? The narrow shovels, post-hole diggers, and "clam guns" are great for razor clams, but lousy for anything else. A cheap, ordinary spade shovel digging next to the siphon-hole is the best tool I can think of for the burrowing clams. A narrow rake is perfect for anything else (cockles, littlenecks, etc). The tools will rust in very short order anyway, so don't spend too awful much on tools, eh? Oh, and you can get ultra-cheap buckets at the Tillamook cheese factory - 50 cents each, and they come with lids (no handle, but no problem, really...)

* There is an awesome bookstore in Tillamook: Rainy Day Books - Tillamook, OR I highly recommend it (and the name is rather apt, given the weather). They have one hell of an awesome collection of books in there.

* Avoid the chain stores, and stop at the little places; the food/goods/whatever-they-sell will surprise the heck out of you.

(anyone else that lives out here, please drop in your own below. )

[Larry Caldwell]

Oops. I have to rep someone else before doing you again. Good post. I would just add about the same amount of material on safety. The coast is not a theme park. People die there every year. I lost two good friends to the ocean, and one of my co-workers lost his daughter and her boyfriend to a sneaker wave.

Beach Safety

[pdxMIKEpdx]

* Going crabbing? Don't get the 'birdcage' type, since they're worthless. go for the round slip-ring type or the rigid round pots. They work better. Also, don't bother with chicken for bait. Refrigerated chickens aren't really native to the bays... may want to go for something the crabs can recognize, like dead fish or fish-meal (the stinkier the better ).

Gotta disagree with you on a few things here. The "birdcage" crab pots DO WORK, but need to be modified a bit.
They are very light, so some weight is needed to hold them in place so the current doesn't take them away.
Also, a couple of twists of steelheading lead (the kind you can find on a spool at BiMart for example) on the doors will allow them to close better and you will lose less crabs.
Doing those two things will improve their performance quite a bit.
They are more of a "set and forget" type of trap. Once crabs get in they don't get out. (Unless you don't weight the doors!)
With rings, you need to check them every twenty minutes or so.


Chicken legs can be a very good bait. I use Turkey legs almost exclusively. In fact, there was a bait shop near the Yaquina bridge in Newport that sold skinned Mink carcasses for crab bait, and that was some of the best crab bait ever.
Crabs like to eat fresh stuff just as much as the rotten smelly stuff.
When you use fish carcasses, there is an excellent chance you traps will be harrassed by seals instead of crabs.

I believe the best setup for dock crabbing is the "round slip ring" pot with turkey legs for bait. Never failed me.
You can also punch a few holes in a big can of fishy cat food and wire it to your crab ring if you need to add scent.

Also, crabs hate fresh water. After a good storm all the fresh water coming into the bays drives the crabs out into the salt water.
I found the best crabbing is late summer before the big storms hit.
Buy a tide table booklet (some stores give them away for free) or look up the tide table online and do your crab catching on the incoming and slack tides!
Don't forget a Shellfish License is required, but they are cheap.

There are plenty of places that rent crab gear and boats.
There are two marinas on Nehalem bay that rent all that stuff. They also have docks to crab off of, and I believe one of them has overnight RV parking right on the waters edge.
Easily googled if you want information.

[Random_Walk]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Gotta disagree with you on a few things here. The "birdcage" crab pots DO WORK, but need to be modified a bit.

Perhaps, but I'll keep the big boys - they're heavier, but easier to work with IMHO.

They are more of a "set and forget" type of trap. Once crabs get in they don't get out. (Unless you don't weight the doors!)
With rings, you need to check them every twenty minutes or so.

Exactly.

My favorite way to do it is to get a couple of buddies, then set out 4-5 pots in a string, and 4-5 rings in a parallel string. We then "run" the rings, which gives each ring a 20-30 minute soak, leaving the pots to sit around for an hour or two before checking them. With 3 guys in the boat, it's drop-easy to do - you rotate the guys who pull to keep everyone fresh, energy-wise.

Spent 3 hours Sunday on the water. We pulled in around 30 Dungeness and 5-6 red-rock crabs (they're considered trash crabs the size of a Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab, but the meat is sweeter IMHO). Most other boats managed maybe 5 crabs at most, with many pulling in none.

When you use fish carcasses, there is an excellent chance you traps will be harrassed by seals instead of crabs.

That's why I use the heavy pots. Makes it harder for them to bust in.

The mink carcasses are a good idea, though.

Also, crabs hate fresh water. After a good storm all the fresh water coming into the bays drives the crabs out into the salt water.

This is why I usually do it during incoming tide (as you mentioned) - especially in Tillamook Bay, where you have five rather big rivers dumping into it all at once.

Don't forget a Shellfish License is required, but they are cheap.

$7 annually for residents, and $14 gets you a 2-day pass for out-of-staters, I think.

There are plenty of places that rent crab gear and boats.
There are two marinas on Nehalem bay that rent all that stuff.

Same story in Garibaldi. If you BYOB (err, bring your own boat), the ramp pass is $5 a day.

[hamellr]

Random - Do you or your friends have a boat? Or did you rent one?

[Random_Walk]

I used to have one, but got rid of it a couple years ago while still living in Hillsboro. Never had much cause to use it around town, and towing long-distance was a drag.

My neighbor has one here, and I borrow it when the mood strikes (I re-wired it for him, he offered to let me swipe it on occasion, so I do), though most times we both just go out at the same time. Sometimes one of my friends will come down with his, and we all go out in that instead. It's gotten so that I go out about once every weekend or two lately.

I've been looking at a couple of boats locally, but I haven't quite found a good one yet - at least not at a price I want to pay. I'm basically looking for a solid little runabout (maybe 16' or so) with a good outboard motor (40-50hp would do just fine). Couldn't care less about looks, as long as the hull and motor are solid.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Random_Walk

I've been looking at a couple of boats locally, but I haven't quite found a good one yet - at least not at a price I want to pay. I'm basically looking for a solid little runabout (maybe 16' or so) with a good outboard motor (40-50hp would do just fine). Couldn't care less about looks, as long as the hull and motor are solid.

My grandfather used to have pretty good luck finding boats that size in Eastern Oregon, then reselling them out there.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

My crabbing boat is a 17 foot tri-hull with a 60hp outboard.

Perfect for two people, a very stable platform on the water, and the 60hp motor is perfect for running against a strong tide.

FWIW, make sure you clean all the nooks and crannies after a crabbing trip!
You will never smell anything worse than a rotting crab(s) in the bilge.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

- If you get caught in a rip current or even a strong long shore current, swim perpendicular to the current. Any other direction and you will fail (and drown).

- Hypothermia is exacerbated by being drunk.

- Always watch the surf and don't assume all waves respect the current surf zone (rogues happen).

- If you are not an experienced ocean swimmer / ocean sports enthusiast, think twice about going into the water.

[tablemtn]

Like the surfers say, if the ocean sucks you away from the shore, don't panic, and don't waste your energy flailing around. That will just lead to exhaustion. The best course of action is usually to get into a floating backstroke position then allow the waves to carry you back to shore, which is what they tend to do, though perhaps not as quickly as you'd want.