My spouse lived a substantial portion of her life on the southern Oregon coast. I lived in Coos Bay 50 miles south of where we are currently bivouacing. Neither of us has ever heard of a nearby place called Ada, until today.
We were aimlessly cruising around near Woahink Lake just a bit south on US-101 when we came to an intersection that had a sign indicating Ada was 11 miles in a direction we had not anticipated. Having only lived nearby for 10 years, I looked at the more experienced Peggy and inquired whether she knew anything about Ada. Her answer was negative so we turned in the direction of the unknown and settled in for a back-country cruise.
The road started out as a two-lane, well-paved albeit serpentine road. However, it soon lost most of its width and the center dotted line. Not much later, the road lost all the paint markings and the width alternated between narrow and skinny. Some parts gave up all pretense of paving and continued as gravel. Regardless of the road qualities, the scenery was absolutely stunning. Some of the loop passes through timber on ridges, more parts run along lake shores and other parts skirt boggy areas filled with wildlife. We spotted a hawk dragging off an unwary rodent, vultures lurking in bare trees, deer, a kingfisher, blue herons and a variety of ducks.
When we finally made it to Ada, we were rewarded with almost nothing because there really isn’t much there. The scenery all the way there is great but Ada seems to be an old, funky fishing resort that has fallen on tough times. There are some RVs parked there (apparently towed there by the insane because the access roads are challenging, even for a pickup truck) that look like they have been there long enough to get grass and weed skirts. The view from the RV park out over the lake is magnificent. Too bad this place is at the end of a terrifying road.
We headed back home down more gorgeous lanes, skipping a visit to the local recreational marijuana store. Maybe next time.
We shot a few pictures along the way and you can see some of them if you click here