Oregon; McKenzie National Forest and The Coast
Oregon Trip May 12-21, 2025
This trip was centered around taking my Mom & Dad’s ashes to the Oregon Coast. My mom passed in December 2024. My dad passed in 2009 and we still had his urn as they wnted the majority of their ashes buries together in the St John, WA cemetery. We kept some of the ashes for this trip.
SO…Moving on to the trip:
Belknap Hot Springs
When planning the trip, we looked around for areas we had not seen before and came across Belknap Hot Springs along the McKenzie River. We had not been to the part of Oregon so we decided to check it out. The drive took us to Sisters, OR where we headed west. We missed a turn and ended up going over Satiam Pass. This was a beautiful drive, but not really what we would have preferred.It added an extra hour to our trip. When we finally got to the resort, we checked in and set up. We discovered there was no sewer hookup at our site, amd wondered a bit about our choice. The site was great proximity to the upper pool and bathroom/shower facility, but we did see some sites along the river that were really nice. Unfortunately the facilities near our site were not great. It was impossible to get consistent tempreature int he showers and the toilets did not work great. The river sites, while nice were a bit further from the lodge where the showers were and the bathrooms were not open at night, so that is not a great option either. THere were some sites near the upper pool that were much more private that would probably be the better choice if we were to stay here again. Site 38 seemed like a viable option and has sewer hookup.
The resort itself was very enjoyable, although somewhat in need of improvements and maintenance. There was no restaurant which seemed a bit odd.It looked like breakfast was available for room guests, but not for RVs. Exploring the grouh=nds we found that crossing the bridge to hte how springs source, you could acces a system of trails that included the “Secret Garden”. I have not been able to find a definitive answer to who built the Secret Garden or when. Most information indicatre that part of the Mckenzie River was diverted by Frank Bigelow in the 1930-1940 era and the waterfalls and gardens were created at tnat time. There is an interesting history of the resort and property but it does not really explain the gardens. The gardens are quite amazing and it would be fun to know more about the era when they were built. I found an interesting document from the 70’s that touches on many Oregon Hot springs. Belknap in mentioned on pages 63-66.
Hiking In The Belknap Area
The entire area around the Mckenzie River is an inland rain forest. I don’t thinkyou could find a bad hike in the area. It is similar to the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula.
McKenzie River Trail
The Mckenzie River Trail is accessible from the resort. The trail is 26 miles long and includes the Blue Pool trail that we hiked as well. We just did a short out and back from the resort to check it out. Click HERE for a more detailed review of the entire trail.
Koosah Falls and Sahalie Falls
A nice trail along the Mckenzie River that hit two great waterfall view points as well as many river views. It parallels the river the entire hike. More info HERE.
Blue Pool
This was a great hike through Rain forest, lava flows, and river views. The pool was pretty amazong. The Mckenzie River actually flows underground through lava tubes for a ways before surfacing again at this pool. More detail HERE.
The Oregon Coast
The drive to Beverly Beach State Park was a short hop in comparison to the first leg of this trip. We made a stop at a Camping World to pick up a grey/black water tote as I failed to get ours packed for the trip. A reminder to check for sewer hookups before leaving on any trip. (As it turned out, we did not use it and were able to returnn it when we got home.)
We had good weather for the most part, it rained a lot at night, but for the most part it was nice with some sun breaks. After we checked in we went to Rogue for a burger. We were disappointed, the men was different and the burgers were nothing like we had experienced in the past.
Beverly Beach
Beverly Beach is a great place to stay. It is a huge park with many loops and some really great sites. The bathrooms and showers were close by. Amy, JT, and Jude met us there and camped in the neighboring site. As the name suggests, the park has beach access which goes under a bridge on 101. Our site did not have sewer hookups but there are many that do. It is likely that sewer sites would have to be booked the 6 months ahead that the booking window allows.
There is a nice trail on either side of the park, we hiked both sides and walked the park a couple of times.
Aquarium
Amy And family arrived during the night. We spent the first full day going to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and then Nye Beach. A pleasant, quiet day. We stopped at Coasties Roasties and had dinner at the Chowder Bowl. Both were disappointing.
Ashes
Saturday, May 18. Amy And JT went for a run in the morning so we had some time with Jude. After the rune we went to Agate Beach to spread the ashes for mom and dad. We had left some of Dad’s ashes here previously, and we went to the same area. The location is mapped HERE and the coordinates are: 44°39’26.1″N 124°03’30.1″W
Some were sprinkled in the surf while Amy read a nice passage that she had found. It was a beautiful morning.
Depot Bay
After Agate Beach we spent the rest of the day at Depot Bay and then went to Pelican Brewing at Siletz Bay near Lincoln City for dinner. After dinner Amy and family walked the beach at Siletz Bay and Jude found a float. He was pretty excited!
Ona Beach
After the Mchorses headed home, Liz and I did a hike from Ona Beach to Seal Rock, which turned out to just be a beach walk. IT was a nice walk with some unusual rock formations and some strange jelly fish with a name Vellela vellela, common name By-the-wind-sailor.
Usual Attractions
We spent the remainder of the trip hitting the usual attractions on the Oregon Coast. We visited Yaquina Head, Cape Foulweather, Otter Rock Loop, Siletz Bay, and a few others.
It was a good trip and we saw some new places. The McKenzie River area is really beautiful and worth another visit at some point.