The Wild and Scenic Rogue River: Gold Beach, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Sep 3, 2011

Sunday, July 30, 2011

While I generally prefer to shoot stills, there are certain experiences that really demand video.  The ride up Oregon’s wild and scenic Rogue River is one of them.  The 104 mile round trip up the Rogue, one of the original eight rivers protected by the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, is half wildlife safari and half amusement park ride.  This video focuses on the latter.  It was shot using a Canon PowerShot S95 in an underwater housing.  (The HD version is available here if your internet connection can support it.)

The video only hints at the amount of wildlife that can be seen in and along the river.  On this trip we saw Canada geese, harbor seals, dozens of turkey vultures, ospreys everywhere, several bald eagles, herons, three bears, a number of river otters including one that was eating a lamprey for lunch, and a deer with a couple spotted fawns.  Because of this, taking a DSLR with a telephoto lens can also be a good way to go as long as you have a way to protect it while enjoying some of the wetter passages along the river.

Commercial tours up the Rogue are offered exclusively through Jerry’s Rogue Jets out of Gold Beach.  If you decide to try it yourself—and I recommend this experience to anyone touring Oregon’s southern coast—here is my best advice:

1. There is a 60, 80 and 104 mile trip.  Choose the 104 mile trip.  It is the only one that takes visitors into the wild section of the river.  (The Rogue is divided into three sections: recreational, scenic, and wild.)  Don’t worry about the trip’s duration; time flies and you are never more than a couple hours from a potty break.

2. Do not choose the 60 mile trip unless you’re just looking for a basic boat ride and want to stay relatively dry.  There is little white water—life jackets aren’t even required—and the boat never leaves the recreational section of the river.

3. Take the trip on a weekday, if possible, and avoid holiday weekends if you want to see wildlife.  Our first trip was on Fourth of July weekend.  We saw lots of other people along the river but few animals.

4.  Wear a hat and use sunscreen.  Your wet clothes will keep you cool enough that you may not notice the sun baking you to a crisp.  And do not forget sunglasses.

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Fourth of July: Bandon Beach, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Apr 9, 2011

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The first time we spent the Fourth of July on Bandon Beach it was quite a spectacle. Thousands of people crowded the beach on either side of the mouth of the Coquille River. Driftwood was used to build windbreaks and bonfires. By the time it was dark, and despite signs that prohibited it, there were fires up and down the beach. Kids were shooting off their fireworks. It was a crazy fun atmosphere. The official fireworks show took place over the ocean which allowed us to lie in the cabover of our camper and enjoy it out of the gale force wind that was coming in off the ocean.

This visit, six years later, was different. The fireworks show had been moved inland. No longer were the fireworks set off from the beach. Now they were set off from near the Bandon marina in an effort, we were told, to attract more business to Old Town Bandon. I’m sure it made those businesses more money but the beach experience, though undoubtedly more legal, was not nearly as much fun.

Fires and fireworks or not, Bandon Beach is always photo worthy. This image was captured just as it was beginning to get dark enough to enjoy the evening’s pyrotechnics—in the opposite direction.

[Click on the image to view larger.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Cape Kiwanda, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Jan 8, 2011

Friday, August 20, 2010

Shooting good landscapes requires a certain amount of skill and a lot of luck. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose luck every time.

As I walked out to The Keyhole, an arch on the north side of Cape Kiwanda, I knew I was going to be there at a good time of day. The sun was unobscured by clouds, its light directional and low in the sky yet not so low that the arch was completely in shadow. The tide was also good: not so high that I couldn’t get to the arch; and not so low that there was no water beneath it. Good light and a good tide do not always happen at the same time but on this day they did.

Given the number of people on the opposite side of the cape, I was surprised to discover that this side was largely deserted. I would have the arch to myself. Everything seemed to be in my favor as I approached it. Now all I had to do was come up with an original capture that was worthy of the scene in front of me. That’s the trick, isn’t it?

I set up my tripod, carefully framed the arch, tweaked my exposure settings, and waited for the right moment to press the shutter. Sometimes it can be hard to recognize “the right moment” but, in this case, it seemed to be when the seal popped out of the ocean and climbed up onto the rock in the center of my composition!

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Pacific City, Oregon

Posted on Sunday, Jan 2, 2011

Friday, August 20, 2010

Tell me this giant windsock doesn’t remind you of The Doomsday Machine, that giant ice-cream-cone-of-destruction that showed up in episode 35 of the original Star Trek. We spotted it from up on Cape Kiwanda and decided to check it out. From our initial vantage point, we had no idea how huge this thing really was; as we walked toward the windsock, it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger – so big it had to be anchored to a Subaru Outback.

I challenged Lewis to catch the windsock by its tail. Lewis happily took up my challenge, alternately lunging at and then dodging the colorful tails as they whipped and snapped in the wind. I was a little surprised when he actually got hold of one. He was quite pleased with himself.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Devils Punchbowl, Oregon

Posted on Sunday, Dec 26, 2010

Thursday, August 19, 2010

This is the view we enjoyed from the Devils Punchbowl overlook. Not bad, huh? Actually, it was even better than it looks because we were taking it in from the comfort of our camper while we downed some clam fritters and Mo’s chowder. It is the small Mo’s outpost here that always brings us to this state natural area.

At some point I set down my spoon, grabbed my gear and fleece jacket – the wind is often brutal here making a coat mandatory – and stepped outside to grab these shots. After capturing the first image, I turned to go back to the camper. Then I heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance. I could see it was the Coast Guard and I was already envisioning a silhouette of the heli against the setting sun. Unfortunately, the helicopter took so long to arrive at the sun’s azimuth that they were no longer at the same altitude. No worries. I had a bowl of Mo’s hot clam chowder waiting for me in the camper…

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2010 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.