Oregon is so full of interesting places to visit that Diane and I frequently overlook those in our own corner of the state. This Memorial Day week end we chose to travel closer to home by visiting Baskett Slough and W. F. Findlay National Wildlife Refuges, then traveling to the coast for a few days. These are great one-day or several day tours! If you’re looking for a relaxing way to spend a few days, consider this trip.

We've provided two maps. On each one we've marked out specific points of interest with yellow circles and the roads we took by blue lines. Each section has a thumbnail picture or two with it. Click the thumbnail pictures to view a larger (50-80K) image.

Day 1 – Wildlife Areas in the Upper Willamette Valley (Map)

• Willamette Mission State Park
• Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge
• William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge

Willamette Mission State Park

We drove north out of Keizer to Willamette Mission State Park - follow the blue lines on the map. This park honors the site of the first Christian mission in the Willamette Valley. Jason Lee and his followers began their outreach to the local Indians here in 1834. Later Lee would help found the city of Salem, Willamette University, and the state of Oregon. The park is as historical as it is beautiful.

After you pass the entry station you’ll see a sign telling you that the main park facilities are down the road to the left and wildlife viewing stations are to the right. Look right you’ll see a massive walnut tree that gets larger the closer to it you get. We found the field in front of the tree full of lupine, poppies, and other flowers. The viewing stations are there, but we didn’t see any wildlife this time.

The road into the park proper passes a tall power pole on top of which is a large osprey nest. A pair of ospreys had moved in and was sitting on a clutch of eggs. We set up our telescope and camera and watched through two shift changes.

As of July 27 two active, hungry chicks were keeping their parents busy bringing home the fish.

	Continue into the park and you’ll come to Mission Lake and the nation’s largest black cottonwood tree. It’s one of several “largest” trees in the area. Click here for more information on big trees in Oregon.
	And there's the tree as seen from across Mission Lake, an old oxbow lake left by the Willamette River.

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Baskett Slough

As you can see from the map, Willamette Mission Park is on the east side of the Willamette River and Baskett Slough is west of the river. The best way to cross the river is the Wheatland Ferry. The ferry landing is just north of the park entrance. Just follow the signs.

The “Daniel Matheny V” plies the river daily, hauling farm vehicles, crops, and slow-traveling tourists like us. A thick cable suspended between two towers keeps it on course and its quiet electric motors quickly move it from one bank to the other.

The ferry itself is named after one of Oregon’s pioneers who owned the land on the west bank. Click here for the details of the Matheny family.

We drove south to Highway 22, then out to Baskett Slough, named after George J. Baskett.

From the viewing kiosk just off Highway 22 you can see virtually the entire site. Even at the end of May the wetlands still had significant amounts of water in them. When you stop take your time and make use of the kiosk telescopes or set up your own. We’ve never failed to find geese, herons, ducks, and other birds. Look carefully – we found a beaver lodge, complete with several beaver!

Look across from the kiosk and you’ll see a low hill named Baskett Butte. If you have time, drive into the refuge and hiking the trail to the butte’s summit.

To get to the center of the refuge and the Baskett Butte trail return to Highway 22 and head west. Turn right onto Smithfield Road, and then take a quick right onto Coville Road. You’ll travel back into the refuge, paralleling Highway 22 for a while. Once inside the refuge, drive slowly and keep looking around. You can also continue down Smithfield Road to the north end of the refuge.

Click here for a map of the refuge.

Click here for some great pictures (not mine) of the Baskett Slough wildlife.

We stop at each turnout and scan the area with binoculars. When we find something interesting we set up the spotting scope and take a long look. That’s not as hard as it sounds, for the tripod is sturdy enough to leave the scope attached. It also has a handle, so carrying the tripod-scope combination is no problem.

Continue down Colville Road and you’ll come to the Baskett Butte trailhead parking area. The trail to the top is an easy trail, but it is uphill and there’s no shade or water. Plan accordingly. The viewing platform at the top is dedicated to Rich Guadagno, former refuge manager who died in the Pennsylvania part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

	Yes, the view is worth the trip. We were parked in the wide spot on the road in the lower left corner in the previous picture.
	Looking out at the wetlands and the wonderful Willamette Valley farmlands beyond.

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William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge

We followed Coville Road east to US 99W and turned south toward Eugene. Outside of Corvallis we found the sign pointing to the William L. Finley NWR (map). This 5,325 acre refuge is named after one of Oregon’s pioneering naturalists who championed wildlife preservation through photos and films. Oregon State University has an extensive collection of his work.

In the spring Finley NWR is awash in migrating geese and other water fowl! Yes, that gray "carpet" is hundreds of Canadian geese grazing in the grass. There may be some rare dusky Canadians mixed in there, but we can't tell from this distance. By the end of May they have all moved on.

At the first viewing area in the Finley Refuge Diane saw her first goldfinch! It posed just long enough for her to see it in the binoculars and then took off. We never saw it again. Yes, Diane is wearing a sweatshirt in the picture, but not because it is cold. We both got royally sunburned at Baskett Slough and were hiding from the sun at Findley. Yes, we had sunscreen with us. No, we didn’t use it. Yes, we were sorry!

Water levels, bird populations, and scenery change throughout the year at each refuge. You travel this route throughout the year and see something different each time. What won’t be different is the relaxing, scenic drive.

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Days 2-3 – Meandering to and Around Astoria (Map)

First stop was Kelly Point Park, a Portland city park at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Getting there is rather interesting. From I-5 you head west on Marine Drive for several miles until it dead-ends at the park. It's under the "D" in "Portland" on the map.

Along the way you pass Smith and Bybe Lakes, two local game reserves within the Portland city limits. We intend to return and explore them in detail. When we do we’ll add the details to our “Local Tours” section.

Kelly Point is a neat park with excellent facilities. We walked out to the confluence and sat down for a long look. During our 2001 journey along the Columbia River to its source we had stopped at every major river confluence with the Columbia except one – the Willamette. Finally that adventure was complete.

The Willamette River is coming in from the left. That bit of land on the left is Sauvie Island. The pilings are left over from the bygone days when the rivers were the main avenues of commerce.

From Kelly Point Park we traveled north, then west, leaving Portland on US 30 toward Astoria. West of Ranier the highway climbs the shoulder of the Coast Range where the elevations offer some spectacular views of the Columbia River landscape.

The cantilever structure of the Longview, Washington, Bridge, now the "Lewis and Clark Bridge," really stands out..

Highway 30 continues through the small town of Westport. When you enter Westport, look for two things – the Berry Patch Restaurant and the sign to the Westport Ferry. The restaurant has a widespread reputation for the best pies this side of Diane’s oven. We haven’t eaten there, yet, so if you have, please tell us about it.

The Westport-Puget Island ferry is the only ferry across the Columbia River in the United States. BC Ferries operates two across the Arrow Lakes part of the Columbia. We had taken the Galena Bay ferry across upper Arrow Lake on our Columbia River trip. Today we decided to take the Westport Ferry. The crossing was a first for us. Afterward we wondered why we waited so long to take it!

The Westport-Puget Island ferry approaches the Westport dock.

The ferry crosses the main channel of the Columbia, which is quite narrow at this point, and dropped us off on Puget Island. A leisurely drive across the island took us to Highway 4 where a left turn brought us to the entrance of the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbia Whitetail Deer. The headquarters building was closed, but Steamboat Road was open. We followed it through the refuge and back to the main highwayat Skamokawa (love these names).

Along the way we came upon a great blue heron marching along beneath a nurse “piling.” Unfortunately we saw no deer.

Our motel reservations were in Astoria, so we turned south onto Highway 401 to the Astoria-Megler bridge. Thick clouds were embracing the coast and soon the steady beat of windshield wipers marked our time down the wet road. Yesterday sunburn, tonight cold rain.

Crossing the bridge across the Columbia to Astoria we looked down to see several small sandbars exposed by the receding tide. On one of them were two large black birds with a distinctive white head – bald eagles! The lower Columbia is home to many nesting eagle pairs, and here were two of them on a sandbar next to a major highway bridge.

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Day 3 – Fort Stevens, Fort Canby, and Ecola State Park (Map)

Low clouds and drizzle greeted us Sunday morning - another beautiful day on the Oregon coast! Fort Stevens State Park was our first stop. This is the largest of the Oregon State Parks and offers a wide variety of experiences - beaches, coastal dunes, military forts, and sunken ships.

The US Army used this area to defend the Columbia River from the Civil War to World War II. On the night of June 21, 1942, a Japanese submarine which fired 17 shells in the vicinity at the Fort, making it the only place in the lower United States to come under enemy fire in World War II.

The Fort Stevens Museum's collection shows that many ships met their end in these waters. One of these, the 2000-ton schooner Peter Iredale, wrecked on 1906.

Named for Peter Iredale, the head and founder of the shipping company, its rusting remains are still visible on the beach, though they are slowly being covered by shifting sands.

From Fort Stevens we drove north to Fort Canby State Park in Washington. Like Fort Stevens, this park and the nearby Fort Columbia State Park were active military bases. Both of them housed heavy costal defence artillery during World War II.

Here you'll find one of the best presentations of the Lewis and Clark expeditions in the area. Unfortunately the museum was being renovated when we were there, so the Lewis and Clark area was closed. We did enjoy the views from its windows and the Cape Disappointment Light.

	The museum offers some spectacular views from its perch high above the ocean.
	Two swallows gathered mud for their nest from a small puddle near the museum. Here one of them takes off while the other watches.
	Diane stand next to a first-order Fresnel lens. This multi-ton collection of glass sent a sharp beam of light over 15 miles.
	From the museum you get a sense of the size of the Columbia River. The dark "line" on the left horizon is the South Jetty that extends from Fort Stevens State park.
	The Cape Disappointment lighthouse.
	The path from the museum to the lighthouse passes this beautiful cove. A trail used to provide access to the small beach, but it has been washed out.

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So where to next? We flipped a coin and it pointed south to Ecola Beach State Park with its incredible vistas of Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. We also enjoyed watching the nesting seabirds on the nearby rocks. Only after we got out our spotting scope did we find some brown pelicans among them.

	From Ecola Head you have a wonderful view of the Tillamook Head Lighthouse, one of the most isolated lighthouses imaginable. Click here for more of its history and here for some spectacular pictures provided by the US Coast Guard.
	Looking north from the Ecola Head viewpoint you see Indian Beach. Incoming waves are more focused at Indian Beach and the resulting surf attracts many surfers.
	Here's the Cannon Beach view with Haystack Rock in the background.

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We left Ecola Beach State Park and slowly drove south through a crowded Cannon Beach, then south down US 101 toward Tillamook. The highway climbs partway up the side of Neakahnie Mountain, then goes around it, clinging to the mountain's rocky flank. The view from the turnouts is magnificent.

Neakahnie Beach from US 101 on Neakahnie Mountain. Every so often we need to see things like this to remind ourselves why we spend 8-10 hours a day at work!

And that's that! We hope you will be able to see some or all of these sights. Oregon is a great place - thanks for letting us share some of it with you.

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