Secret Beach, Wild Woods Gypsy and Bandon Rain

This is a series of posts about our Southern Oregon Coast road trip in November, you can start here if you would like.

If you remember on the third day of our Southern Oregon Coast road trip, on our way south towards Brookings, I had tried to find a hike called Secret Beach that was in my Day Hiking Oregon Coast guidebook. I do enjoy the book for the trail inspo but details are not always its strong point.

The parking lot for Secret Beach itself is nothing more than a pullout at the beginning of an overpass over Wridge Creek about mile marker 345 on HWY 101. NO signage. We didn’t see it driving south, nor did we see the sign for Thunder Rock Cove that it was supposed to be before.

Now on Day 4 and driving northbound, we did drive past the parking lot for Thunder Rock Cove as the road did not have a sign and at the trailhead was blocked by parked cars. We did, however, see what was probably the parking lot for Secret Beach itself but opted to turn around there and go back to the larger Thunder Rock Cove one as the hubby could see on his map that they might be connected.

This trail is another section of the Oregon Coast Trail and helps hikers make their way up and over headlands when the tides are high.

We were in search of Secret beach but came to a sign that offered two choices. Ah, a two-for-one! Hoping that “beach” meant our Secret Beach, we took the left fork thinking we would be coming back to this junction as a part of the loop and then could go to the beach. That turned out to be partly true…

The “loop” option brought us out to the Seal Point headland near Thunder Rock Cove and stunning sea stack scenery similar to Cape Flattery on the northern most point of Washington State. But without all the puncheon walkways.

The trail was well worn so this must be a popular spot and you could see where some like to push the limits and venture out towards a sea stack that seems to be connected to the main headland. Not for me, thank you.

This view wasn’t bad, though.

Or this one:

From here we continued on the loop as it worked its way through the coastal forest. We could see pockets of shore and wondered if we would eventually get to Secret Beach. I didn’t think this loop trail was connected but at one point the hubs dropped down what looked like a social trail (no signage). The book had said that the last section of the Secret Beach hike was steep but was it this steep? Holding on with hands steep?

It was clear that the “trail” would mean walking the creek out once you got to the bottom.

It was obvious people came this way but would you put it in a guidebook for your average day hiker? This was the trail looking up while deciding my next move:

My hubby was feeling more adventurous (and had leather gloves with him) so we talked about how he would drop down and into the creek to see if this really was “the way”. I’ve done this kind of thing before like when hiking the North Coast Trail but we know how that turned out. And if this wasn’t the trail then that meant there was a more appropriate one I wouldn’t need gloves for.

After a few minutes on the beach he came back to report there was an actual trailhead further north that must come down on the other side of the creek. Yay! The plan was I would go back up to the car and move it over to the actual Secret Beach trailhead, thinking the loops were not connected.

So up the rooty trail I went and as I reached the top of the loop trail and thought I would be heading back to the junction we had been at earlier, I came to a closer junction with just the words I wanted to see. Even if they were written in Sharpie.

This trail took me right next to HWY 101 and the overpass before looping back to the other side of a swale and onto what was definitely a more defined trail for accessing the beach. It also had a nice footbridge over a different creek than the one my husband had to navigate. The route he took must be an “emergency” exit for hikers trapped by rising tides as his route was soon closed off but he thankfully on the other side.

I had passed a few other hikers heading out and there was one family at Secret Beach when I arrived so I’d say we lucked out on this no-longer-secret pocket beach. You can see on the far side of the beach how the tide now blocked where my husband had come out from his descent.

A rocky perch offered plenty of viewing spots and it was possible to drop down and cross the stream to get to the beach proper. I sat and watched my husband and most of the family hop over rocks and dodge the incoming waves to do so. Now that we know where the beach is and how to access it, we will have to time our visit with a low tide. Supposedly there are some caves you can explore when the tide it out.

I also climbed up the headland to see what it looked like on the other side. Meh, just another secluded section of sandy shore.

Our hike overall was about 1.9 miles and took about 1.5 hours. It was a little after 11am when we got back to the car and continued our trip north. The plan was to stay on 101 until Reedsport and then cut over along the Umpqua River to I-5 for the rest of the drive towards Seattle. We had already decided we would stop in Bandon again for more gluten free chowder and see what it looked like when the town would be open for business.

Somewhere just north of Port Orford (4 miles north of Humbug Mountain State Park), I saw a hand painted sandwich board sign on the side of the road that listed out farm stand items like bread, fruit and such but what was unusual was that it also said gluten free bread. So of course, we had to make a quick turn left and follow the sign!

We came to a gravel road on the left and a sign for Wild Woods Gypsy. If you have ever done something like this, you know that you never know quite what you might find when pulling down a random gravel road onto someone’s small farm. But it was Small Business Saturday so I was brave.

It turned out to be a cute little store and farm stand. If we didn’t have such a long trip ahead of us I would have purchased more of the delicious looking produce and goodies.

The store was legit and a part of the Wild River Coast Food Trail I had first seen in Bandon two days ago. There were boxes of apples and gourds on the outside and refrigerators full of meat, milk, cider and eggs.

inside were items like jams, jellies, and other homemade wares. They actually had quite a few gluten baked good options but we left with two loaves of bread and some fruit for the trip home. I don’t normally eat bread but it is nice to have a loaf of homemade bread every once in a while.

We hit Bandon a bit after 1 pm and the town was pretty busy with people enjoying the sunshine and lining up for fish and chips at The Bandon Bait. That would have to be another trip for us because chowder was what we were craving. We got two chowders this time so we didn’t have to share and the hubs picked up some homemade salmon stick.

Santa and Mrs. Claus had set up at the Bandon Fisheries Warehouse and there were more vendors selling their wares to folks wandering inside. Washed Ashore also had a craft table set up where children were making jellyfish ornaments out of finds from the ocean. You can read more about this non-profit and the warehouse on my Washed Ashore In Bandon, Oregon With Gluten Free Chowder and A Sea Stacks Stroll post.

Reluctant to leave and not looking forward to the long drive ahead, we left the warehouse towards HYW 101 around 2pm. We had one more unexpected stop as we were pulling out of town, I saw a sign for Bandon Rain, a local cidery. Who knew?

We quickly pulled into their parking lot and went inside to check it out. We ended up just getting a few bottles to go so we could try them at home. Turns out they have been in business long enough to have been here when we came through in 2020 but we didn’t drive in far enough to Bandon to see them.

They had quite a bit of fruity ciders which we aren’t huge fans of (we prefer drier ones) but we did take a few home including one named Don’t Burn The Gorse and it had the most interesting flavor. Do you know what gorse is? We didn’t either but now we know it is an invasive, thorny plant that goats won’t even eat unless there is nothing else. Local folks are always trying to get rid of the noxious, highly flammable, weed off their properties and it is credited with the Bandon Fire of 1936 that burnt the town to the ground (thus the name of the cider). Gorse looks similar to Scotch Broom and the blossoms are used for salads, tea and fruit wine. The cider was hard to describe but had an herbal characteristic, very unique.

Okay, time to get on the road for real. Our drive home was mostly uneventful and I had forgotten how significant the Umpqua River is (maybe because last time I drove State Route 38 from Reedsport to Interstate 5 it was the middle of the night). We did a little research on the way home and discovered just how much terrain its basin covered. Its high point is 9,182 feet Mount Thielsen along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Cascade Mountain range! I will have to tell you about my time at the base of that little lighting rod some time…

Of course once you get on I-5 there is not much to report but we missed any traffic jams so that was nice.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our little road trip to the Southern Oregon Coast and it inspires you to make plans for a trip there yourself. Here are a few of the resources I used to briefly plan the trip but as you saw, quite a bit of what we did was on the fly.

And I didn’t get a lot of knitting done on this trip because I was driving my car but I did finish up a pair of socks for my sister in the hours we were settled in the car at night. It was a sock set with yarn called Aloha and Pacific which I thought was perfect for my sister who was born in Hawaii. And I have enough yarn left over to knit a second pair for my other sister who was also born there!

Editor’s note: in researching later, it turns out that the Bandon Bait offers gluten free options. I am not entirely sure what that looks like or if it is celiac safe but it will definitely garner a visit the next time we are in Bandon!

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