Dune bashing in Florence ( Oregon)

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It was November and Seattle had started to get cold. That weekend, few friends at office and I decided to head to Florence, Oregon.

We were to hire a car and drive down to Florence. But, by the time we got the car and started from Seattle , it was pretty late. Since it is almost a 4 hour drive to Portland and we had started late, we figured out that if we were to find a place to stay that night, it had to be somewhere between Seattle and Portland. So we checked in at a hotel for that night.

The next morning, we started towards Multnomah falls, on the way to Florence. We reached there around 12:30 pm. I will be frank here – there are many more beautiful waterfalls in the South of India than the Multnomah falls. I wasn’t quite impressed by it. But the fall colours around the waterfall made it look beautiful. We walked down all the way to the base of the waterfall. Didn’t quite make an effort to walk up all the way to the top of the waterfall. We spent some time there clicking pictures and then headed off towards Florence. We passed Portland around 4:30 pm but didn’t stop there as we had to reach Florence before night fell. Florence is approximately a 4 hour drive from Portland.

Once we reached Florence, we checked into this small cozy B&B – Lighthouse Inn. Located on US-101, it is a decent place to stay for couple of days (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g51867-d248252-Reviews-Lighthouse_Inn-Florence_Oregon.html )

Since we were tired from the long drive , we just crashed on the beds once we had our rooms allotted. The next morning, we woke up fresh ready for the day’s adventure. Quickly freshened up and had breakfast. Then leisurely strolled around the B&B for sometime. The Siuslaw river bridge is just a 5 mins walk from the B&B. So we walked to the bridge , spent some time there and walked back to the B&B.

We then headed straight to the Florence sand dunes – the most exciting part of the trip ! These sand dunes are along the Pacific Ocean coast. And the best part is you can hire ATVs / mini dune buggies to ride on the sand dunes or go on a buggy tour if you are a big group. We were five of us and decided that we would hire 5 ATV bikes and do some dune bashing. The ATVs can be hired for an hour. But before that, you will have to sign a disclaimer that says that the renting company is not responsible for injuries, if any, resulting from this activity. So it just means that the complete responsibility of yourself and the ATV for that 1 hour lies with you.

We signed the forms and got ourselves an ATV bike each. Well, I sat on mine and nervously started the engine. And when I accelerated , the ATV would just pull to the side not letting me ride it straight on the unpaved road. It happened couple of times and then the person from the rental store told me that I was trying to break and accelerate at the same time which was causing the problem. Finally, I slowly started accelerating without applying breaks and then there was no looking back. We entered the sand dunes area and well, for the next one hour, I had one of the best adventures.

With what started as a slow ATV ride careful enough not to injure ourselves or the bike, in no time became a competition sort. We were racing , sliding down the dunes and having lots of fun. But you have to be careful enough when on the dunes because the dunes could be deceptive. A dune may have a sudden downhill and if you are not careful enough, you could trip over and fall from the bike. This is exactly what happened to one my friends. Fortunately, he just had few bruises and was up and riding his ATV bike in no time. After that, one of our friends’ bike’s rear wheels got stuck in the sand. So they had to manually lift the bike to get the rear wheels out of the sand. And then , our allotted one hour was over and we had to return our bikes. But indeed, it was the best one hour spent !

Our next stop was the Sea lions cave. But by the time we reached there, the weather had turned rough and the caves were closed. We did not get a chance to see the sea lions but were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the scenic beachside and the angry Pacific ocean. It was cold and the angry waves from the ocean hitting against the rocks made the weather more enjoyable. We spent some time there and as it started getting dark, made our way back to Seattle.

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