Summer Wind (Ashland, Brookings, Gold Beach: camping, living, beach)

[ExNooYawk]

Please don't laugh at me for asking this question but what is a good month to bring our Airstream over to the coast, on the water, without getting blown away? We've been to Ireland's RV Resort in Gold Beach in June and couldn't sit outside at all due to the wind. I love the looks of Winchester Bay and the Sea and Sand Resort outside of Yachats but don't want to sit in the rig for a whole week due to the wind. Cloudy weather doesn't mean we stay cooped up but wind does. Sea Perch RV Resort looks wonderful but, again, we don't want to sit in the trailer for a whole week while it rocks with the rhythm of the wind.

Should we not bother to book directly on the coast during the summer and just wait until September? We can go inland a ways and have done that with very nice results. We can drive down to the Coast from many inland campgrounds. Any advice for us? Thanks in advance!

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Originally Posted by ExNooYawk

Should we not bother to book directly on the coast during the summer and just wait until September?

Summer? On the coast, September is when summer starts! May and June are windy months here. Once the fog season settles in, there is less wind. Brookings, on the extreme southern coast, also tends to have less wind as it lies on a bench that faces south, though June is still likely be quite breezy.

Late spring (that's anything before July 4th) is best in the Willamette Valley or the Rogue Valley. There's lots of wind protection from the combination of the Coast Range and the Cascades. The coast is usually at its best from Sept. to Nov., but we can get lousy weather at any time of the year, so there are no guarantees.

[Fiddlehead]

I do the opposite of long-range planning. I am opportunistic. Living as I do in Ashland, I watch the weather, and when I see an opening, I head to the coast. I have found the shoulder seasons (late spring and especially early fall) to be especially nice. We usually squeeze in a couple trips a year, always a pleasure. Can you wing it, or do you need to book well in advance?

[Smiled]

Any advice for us? Thanks in advance!


Yeah: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

[Larry Caldwell]

The Oregon Coast without wind is the exception. There is no way to predict it in advance. October can be beautiful and mild at the coast, but the biggest wind storm ever recorded in the state happened on October 12, 1962. One headland weather station recorded wind speed over 170 mph. The storm crippled the whole western third of the state.

You will notice that Oregonians call it "the coast" rather than "the beach." If you want to sit around in lounge chairs, you will do better in the mountains in July or August. If you want to visit the coast, pack several layers of clothes topped by a waterproof windbreaker and a hat with a chin strap. In September or October, you stand about a 50% chance of hitting good weather. The autumn storms normally start coming onshore about the first of November.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

The Oregon Coast without wind is the exception. There is no way to predict it in advance. October can be beautiful and mild at the coast, but the biggest wind storm ever recorded in the state happened on October 12, 1962. One headland weather station recorded wind speed over 170 mph. The storm crippled the whole western third of the state.

You will notice that Oregonians call it "the coast" rather than "the beach." If you want to sit around in lounge chairs, you will do better in the mountains in July or August. If you want to visit the coast, pack several layers of clothes topped by a waterproof windbreaker and a hat with a chin strap. In September or October, you stand about a 50% chance of hitting good weather. The autumn storms normally start coming onshore about the first of November.

Thanks for the reminder about the Columbus Day storm. Didn't they have a similar thing a couple years ago up in Washington? Pretty intense!

I agree the closest thing to lounging around in Oregon is high summer by your favorite Cascade lake. The Coast always is something of an adventure for us. Hiking the headlands and forests, scouring the beach for shells, clambering over rocks to check out tide pools and blowholes. It does seem like wind is usually a companion on most of it.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

...the closest thing to lounging around in Oregon is high summer by your favorite Cascade lake.

And Oregon's well known for it's lack of bugs, but this is one area of the state that can get infested with mosquitoes. Go up to any Cascade lake above about 4000 feet (or even hiking at that elevation) and your lounging around should include a dose of Deep Woods Off.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by jjpop

And Oregon's well known for it's lack of bugs, but this is one area of the state that can get infested with mosquitoes. Go up to any Cascade lake above about 4000 feet (or even hiking at that elevation) and your lounging around should include a dose of Deep Woods Off.

Haha! True. I would say that they are not usually too bad during the day, but come about dusk, watch out!

[ExNooYawk]

Originally Posted by Fiddlehead

I do the opposite of long-range planning. I am opportunistic. Living as I do in Ashland, I watch the weather, and when I see an opening, I head to the coast. I have found the shoulder seasons (late spring and especially early fall) to be especially nice. We usually squeeze in a couple trips a year, always a pleasure. Can you wing it, or do you need to book well in advance?

Thanks, Fiddle, we can wing it as we are in Ashland too. The thing about winging it is that we may not get a campsite. Last summer I tried to book us somewhere during the week in August but everything was pretty much booked. I'm talking about the state campgrounds.

We LOVE to stay in Harris Beach on the sites overlooking the water. Those have to be booked nine months in advance. It took me a few tries to find availability in mid-July.

It's sounding like September may be our best bet for being directly on the water.

Thanks for all the information, you guys. Hopefully that 1962-era storm won't repeat itself for another hundred years.

[hamellr]

All the state campgrounds on the coast are booked solid from June through September, and have been for twenty years. Weekends are booked solid for another month on each side of that. You need to reserve spots 8-12 months ahead of time. But, if you get there early enough in the day, you can sometimes snag a spot that the person who reserved it didn't come for.

You can usually find a spot in some of privately owned campgrounds (like KOA), but they're worse quality by quite a bit. Places like Hebo Lake usually have quite a few spots, but they're a few miles from the beach.

But, your best bet is to go to where there are a lot of fishing boats, such as Winchester Bay or Charleston. With fishing at an all time low, you can snag one of the camping spots near the wharfs pretty easy.