Oregon Coast Hiking and Lighthouse Touristing
Feb 4 - Feb 6, 2010 |
Teri and I hadn't been to the Oregon coast in quite a few years and I foe one was kinda missing the home state. After our great hikes on the Washington coast a few weeks ago, we were still eager to get in some time away from Spokane and the chilly temperatures. What better place to escape to than Oregon with its projected 80 percent chance of rain?! The forecast didn't look so swell but hey - it's not Spokane so it gets points for that anyway. The plan (which we mainly stuck to) was to head into Portland after work on Wednesday where we'd spend the night before finishing off the trip over to Florence. Based from a camp site at Washburn State Park, we'd get in a few hikes on Thursday then pack up and head to Cape Lookout for Friday night before heading back to Spokane on Saturday.
We arrived at Washburn on Thursday to find an available Yurt - score! It was nice since the rain fell most of the day and returning to a small tent wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable.
Umpqua Dunes
After setting things up in the yurt, we headed back south through Florence to our first hike - Umpqua Dunes. This trailhead was right off of highway 101. The trail starts out as packed gravel through the trees before reaching sand at about a quarter of a mile. Within half a mile the trees disappeared and the dunes were spread out before us. We could see the ocean in the distance - between us and it were lots of tall dunes then a short stretch of small trees just before the water. We headed up to the top of the large dune next to where the trail ended. From the top we could see to the west that there were sporadically placed posts that could be followed to the beach. The posts had blue bands painted around them and we mostly kept them in sight as we stayed on crest of dunes running towards the ocean. The sand was packed firmly from the rain so the walking wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been on a dryer day. We spotted a large pool of water in the sand so took a slight diversion to check it out. Kinda weird how the water didn't just drain through the sand. It was pretty. We continued on until we found the marked (buoys hung from a post) trail through the trees. We wished for a boat. The trail was totally under water between one and two feet deep. We wasted lots of time trying to avoid the deeper stuff but got saturated anyway. Once we gave in, we made good time through the trail/river area. We ate lunch on the secluded stretch of beach before heading back.
Our next stop on the trip was Heceta Head Lighthouse but we stopped at a few other places along the way.
The Yaquina Bay lighthouse isn't operational and the lens has been removed but it was a worthwhile stop to tour the structure, which has several rooms decked out with antique furniture and household items. The lighthouse is manned by a nice volunteer. We could see the Yaquina Head lighthouse in the distance but decided to bypass a visit there due to the $7 entry fee!
The Umpqua River lighthouse isn't open to the public but we stopped too take a few pictures before continuing north to Heceta Head.
A bit south of Heceta Head we pulled off the road at an established overlook where we got a great view of the lighthouse in the distance. As we were gawking, we kept hearing noises on the rocks below - turned out to be a whole gang of sea lions. I tried to get some shots with the long lens but they all came out sucky. One picture of the lighthouse came out ok though :)
Heceta Head Lighthouse
The trail to the lighthouse is only half a mile long. From the parking lot, we headed up hill to the light keepers house. The house is a B&B but unfortunately it was closed for the season. We were going to ask for permission to look around the property for an old abandoned grave. Rumor has it that the grave belongs to the child of a lady ghost that haunts the grounds (Rue). Not feeling comfortable snooping around without permission, we took a few pictures then continued on to the lighthouse where we took a bunch more.
We arrived back at the yurt soaked to the bones and very grateful for the accommodations - especially the electric heater that came in very handy for drying out our soggy hiking boots.
Even with the rain still falling, we managed to keep a fire going long enough to cook up a few hot dogs. It was kind of demoralizing to watch the last of the fire starters and news papers fizzle out. The wood was barely touched by the flames. Being able to take a hot shower then retire to the yurt for brews made up for it though :)
Hobbit Beach Trail and Cape Perpetua Trails
The Hobbit trail is about .75 miles RT. It's located a half a mile south of the campground so we did it first thing Friday morning before heading towards Tillamook. The trail is nicely graded switchbacks through overhanging trees. It made for a great start in the day. Teri decided to hike south on the beach to the Washburn Park day use area. I headed back up the Hobbit Trail then drove back to the park to pick up her and her little collection of driftwood and sea shells.
Next stop was Cape Perpetua - the most relaxing part of the trip. We hiked the Captain Cook loop trail first. It's a paved trail that took us past a blow hole and tide pools before arriving at a tunnel to the visitor’s center. The visitor center is staffed by volunteers and had tons of stuff on display along with videos and a huge window overlooking the ocean. Comfortable seating lined the inside and it was tempting to sit and stare all day...but the weather was actually nice for a change so we moved on to the Restless Waters loop trail. There's a little coffee stand at the trailhead so we bought a cup of coffee, which we sipped on as we did the short loop.
Eventually we headed further up the coast to Seal Rocks for a short stop then on to Cape Lookout State Park. No luck with the yurts this time LOL. We found a nice spot for the tent then sped away towards Cape Meares Lighthouse.
Along the way we passed through the very awesome town of Ocean View. Ocean View houses are built on a large and steep hill -starting on the beach and running up to the very top of the hill. In the foggy weather, it is the quintessential ocean-front town. I am very jealous of the residents. I wonder if they take it all for granted after a time.
In January, vandals had shot out the windows and damaged the lens of the lighthouse and we were told that the road was gated. We arrived expecting to hike in and were surprised to see the gate open and a dozen cars in the parking lot. We grabbed the cameras and got out of the car just in time to have large man come towards us flashing a badge. I never had a badge flashed at me before so it caught me off guard. Teri took off running and I threw myself spread-eagled to the ground. Not really but that would have been cool to see his face if we had.....maybe. Anyhoo, the gate was accidentally left open. Since they were doing some investigation stuff, we all got ran out and told we could return the next day.
We spent the rest of the evening touring the cheese factory then trying to find a seafood joint. It appears Tillamookonians hate seafood but love Chinese and Mexican food. We had pizza then returned to the campground for wine and marshmallows before bed.
Sometime in the night, the clouds rolled in and the rain started dumping.
Cape Meares Lighthouse and Big Spruce
We woke early and came up with a game plan for loading the car in the downpour. The plan went off well - we got only slightly wet in the process. Loaded and ready, we headed back to Cape Meares for the short walk to the lighthouse. We had the place to ourselves. The view from the sheer cliffs to the open ocean during semi-stormy weather was awesome. I could have stayed for hours in not for the long drive ahead of us.
The lighthouse vandalism was much worse than I expected. Judging by the torn up grass along the pedestrian trail from the parking area to the overlook, the vandals drove down the path then got out and unload their gun(s) into about half the windows. They even went so far as to walk down the trail to get in a few pops at the windows on the ocean side of the lighthouse. Such a gorgeous and historical icon - makes the blood boil thinking about it. We stared out into the gloomy Pacific for awhile then headed back up to the car. Before leaving we decided to take the short hike to the largest Sitka Spruce in the country - it was indeed huge! And no bullet holes or chainsaw cuts so that was a plus.
From Cape Meares we drove straight back to Spokane. The end of yet another great coastal adventure. |
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