Head out! Three western families take easy, fun, and action-packed summer vacations …

Sunset, June, 2004 by Jane McConnell, Janet Filips, Shannon Thompson

2 Car camping on the Oregon coast

My husband Jim's idea of camping is backpacking into the wilds, eating freeze-dried stew, and listening to mountain lions screech. My idea of camping is a Forest Service day-use pass and a chain motel with breakfast buffet. Our sons, ages 13 and 7, thought sleeping bags were mainly for spending the night at a friend's house. It was definitely time for a family camping trip.

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Jim and I decided to compromise with three nights of car camping on a dramatic, boulder-studded stretch of the southern Oregon coast, 7 miles north of the Oregon-California border.

Harris Beach State Park, on U.S. 101 just north of Brookings, is one of the few Oregon campgrounds situated close enough to the ocean to afford the occasional sweeping view of the Pacific. Known for great ranger programs and easy beach access, it has creature comforts such as modern bathrooms, self-service laundry, and newspaper vending boxes as well as a nearby supermarket.

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Sunny start: What can beat sun, sand, and waves? Day one, after setting up camp, we headed down the South Beach Trail to the beach. The kids scrambled over driftwood logs, flung kelp, played commando among sand craters, and cavorted in the thundering surf. I did yoga stretches on the sun-warmed sand. Vacation!

Kid pleasers: Examining oodles of hermit crabs, sea stars, and sea urchins in crystal-clear tidepools below nearby Cape Ferrelo. Running along spines of dunes at sunset. Stepping into a redwood "bear house," a huge, hollow tree trunk. Spotting a bald eagle. Goofing around in the kids' tent. Eating ice cream at the marina, building sandcastles, and roasting marshmallows over crackling logs.

Jim's bliss: A swim in his wetsuit and coastal bird-watching. He spotted ravens, hawks, buzzards, swallows, falcons, even a diving pelican. "It was spectacular, the combination of the air currents, the birds, and the unobstructed view."

I was in heaven: Hiking. I loved the top-of-the-world panorama on the Oregon Coast Trail. We hiked from the Lone Ranch area in the Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor--the southernmost leg of the trail that follows segments of the state's 362-mile coastline--to the top of wind-whipped Cape Ferrelo. We also enjoyed the other-worldliness of the River View Trail, which runs along the Chetco River and through the ancient redwood forest near Loeb State Park.

Coming of age: Thirteen-year-old Douglas, an accomplished stone skipper, taught his little brother a winning sidearm technique. The boys skipped stones at every watery spot we found.

If we only knew: Camping at Harris Beach State Park meant sleeping near U.S. 101. We learned that semis rumble down the highway all night. Earplugs were salvation.

An open society: Our camping area was smack in the middle of a revegetation project. Translation: Campsites were separated by plants only inches high. It was life in a bull pen, with every stick of our neighbors' campsites in view. It made for a sense of drapes-open suburbia rather than wilderness, but, as a greenhorn, I was fascinated by the setups of veteran campers.