Grants Pass to Agness to Gold Beach

In an earlier post, I wrote that most of the passes from I-5 to the Oregon coast are similar. This one is different. We planned to drive from Grants Pass, Oregon, over the Coast Range to Gold Beach by way of Agness, a tiny but famous community.

A little after noon, we took Exit 66 off I-5 toward Merlin, then west on the Merlin-Galice Road. At one our first stops, near Galice, a plaque marks the entrance to Rogue River’s Hellgate Canyon. Both the river and the canyon turn north here; we drove west on Galice Road, then followed narrow, winding, but paved, Forest Service road 23 to Agness, Oregon.

It takes one to two hours to drive the other passes to the coast. I admit that we did stop a lot to enjoy the scenery (and because I get motion-sickness), but this route consumed about 5 hours of our precious week-end. If we hadn’t stopped at all, it would have still taken three to four hours. Don’t go this way if you want to get there quickly, because you can’t. Take plenty of time and enjoy the beauty.

We chugged almost to the top, ready to begin the descent into Agness many times, but every time we reached what we thought was the summit, the road descended just a little, then took us even higher.

The cobalt-blue sky stretched from the northern horizon to the southern, uninterrupted by clouds. Flower blossoms dotted the hillsides, and wild currants bloomed against the bright blue sky. A sign promised: 5 more miles to Peavine Lake. We never did see the lake, or another sign pointing the way.


The scorching heat had not yet melted all the snow in these mountains even now in late June. If we had come this way a month earlier, I think the road would have been impassable.

When we finally reached Agness, a sign read “Population: Small”, and our thermometer registered 101 degrees! A few locals visited in the shade outside the store. But the shade provided little relief from the miserable heat.

We didn’t even go inside, just snapped a couple of pictures and hopped back into our air-conditioned vehicle, anxious to head down the river again in anticipation of a cool ocean breeze.

As we followed the river downstream, we watched the temperature drop slowly, 98, 97, 96... Finally 75! We must be almost there! Gold Beach is a small, quiet town that has changed very little since I lived near there over 40 years ago. Looks like the jet boats are still the town’s major attraction, the streets and sidewalks nearly empty.

The sky here was not clear, not quite a fog, but hazy. 67 degrees is what the thermometer read when we checked into our motel around 5:00 p.m. What a relief! We got a great deal on a third-floor ocean front room, and then ate clam chowder and salad at a restaurant on the river. Back at our hotel, yellow lupines lined the path to the beach.

After a long, hot day of mostly sitting,

we walked on the beach until

the sun turned the grey haze to a pretty pink

before it dropped into the water.


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