Gold Beach sits at the mouth of the Rogue River on Oregon's southern coast, a small town of about two and a half thousand people strung along Highway 101 and the harbour. The name comes from the gold that miners found in the black beach sands in the 1850s, and the town has spent the years since selling something less glittering but more lasting, the river itself. Jet boats run up the Rogue into the wilderness from here, carrying visitors past bald eagles, ospreys and black bears, and the river is one of the original eight in the national Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
The bridge that carries 101 across the river is the landmark. The Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge opened in 1932, one of Conde McCullough's concrete arch designs, and it is a handsome structure that you cross slowly and gladly, with the mouth of the river and the Pacific spread out beneath you. On a clear day the view is superb, and on a foggy morning the bridge disappears into white, which is also worth seeing.
The riding to the south is a standout. Cape Sebastian, a headland that climbs steeply above the sea, brings a series of long, beautifully cambered bends with ocean views on one side and forest on the other. Beyond it the road runs through Pistol River and on towards Brookings, past dramatic sea stacks and the long state park corridor of Samuel Boardman. To the north, Port Orford, thirty-eight kilometres away, is the next town of any size, with its own harbour and a view out to Cape Blanco, the westernmost point in Oregon.
Gold Beach itself has fuel, food and rooms in good number, so this is a natural place to stop for the night. Fog and wind are frequent on this coast, and the temperature can fall ten degrees in an hour, so keep a jacket handy even in July. Summer weekends bring caravans and campers, so early starts are rewarded. Autumn is quieter and clearer, with the best light of the year, and the first winter storms are worth a look from a window rather than the saddle.