Sunrise at Sunset Bay

Elmer and I took a weekend camping trip to Sunset Bay State Park south of Coos Bay. I hadn’t booked a spot in advance and was winging it, like you used to be able to do with camping in Oregon.

I was lucky. Only a few spots were available, which shocked me. It was after Labor Day; this campground is four hours away from the Portland area and 20 or so miles off 101. When I arrived the parks employee said I better check out the site fast because if I didn’t book it right away, someone with an app could steal it out from under me—as I stood right there!

Oregon is overrun when it comes to camping like this. If I was governor I would find a way to build 25 new campgrounds in two terms. Take some of the clean energy money and spend it.

It had been a long, long time since I camped with a dog in a state campground. Luckily this one afforded some privacy and I pitched my tent under a stately Sitka spruce.

At 5:30 Elmer roused me for his morning walk so off we went with a flashlight for the half mile to the tiny beach at Sunset Bay. We walked back and forth until the light rose over the trees behind us. Kelp abounded. Gulls swam offshore. A freighter lit up like a Christmas tree waited for the right moment to sail between the jetties and into Coos Bay.

We were the only ones there, a bit of surprise to me considering how many people were camping in this park. No one else wanted to see dawn come to life at the ocean’s edge? I have always maintained one of my secret weapons in life is the ability to get up early and get things done.

At around 6:45 a school bus picked up three grade school kids near the bay. They had been waiting in a van with their mother. What a bus stop! Maybe the most scenic one in North America. Just wait until February and they catch the bus in the rain and windstorms.

I miss waking up every morning and interacting with the ocean. It was also one of my secret weapons. I shall return one day, but where? How? When?

On the trip from Portland I hit three thrift stores and struck out each time. The thrift hounds from the Willamette Valley have picked these stores clean. Like I said, Oregon is overrun.

The next morning, Elmer and I hit the beach even earlier. There we were zigging and zagging with the flashlight illuminating our way. A few stars shone in the sky.

I saw headlights from a road above the beach that led to the parking lot of this wayside. The vehicle then turned onto a ramp that led to the beach where it is illegal to drive. The ramp is used to offload kayaks.

Great. Some asshole on meth was going to drive down the beach and spoil my sunrise.

Elmer and I turned around and a directed my flashlight toward the vehicle (a typical meth beater sedan) so the asshole knew I was there.

But the sedan did not drive down the beach. It left the ramp and got stuck! The asshole gunned it a few times. Nothing doing. He gave up for the moment.

By this time I was sitting on a log taking this all in with Elmer at my side. Layers of light gray began appearing in the sky.

Then a woman with long hair got out of the passenger side, took off her top, and started playing with her breasts and dancing as the headlights lit her up. All the while she was filming it with a phone.

A meth Instagram influencer? I’ve seen weirder on Oregon’s socialist beaches, but the early hour distinguished this encounter.

The woman returned to the sedan. The asshole gunned it again and made it onto the ramp and over to the parking lot. There, the woman took off her clothes and danced in front of the cinderblock restroom while the asshole turned the headlights on and off like a strobe light.

She filmed her performance. Where will it land after being uploaded? I actually want to see it.

Ten minutes later they left and Elmer and I resumed our walk until sunrise came on Sunset Beach.