This post is brought to you by the generosity of my siblings, who felt an upcoming personal milestone of mine deserved some celebration. Thank you to Kathy, Patty, Brian, Colleen, and Beth. You're swell.
I reserved a hotel room for two nights on the northern Oregon coast, too far from Corvallis for useful day trips. I have been trying to relax my parsimonious ways and this seemed pretty extravagant but standards are escalating rapidly - I guess $100 is the new $39.99 - and I fell well short of utilizing my endowment. Those who wish refunds should speak up. Otherwise your gift will confer another couple of nights when I'm once more ready to venture out into the world.
My first stop was the Rockaway Beach Old Growth Cedar Preserve, a 46-acre patch of forest filled with large Sitka spruce and western red cedar, including one ancient behemoth. It also featured the hugest and healthiest skunk cabbage leaves I’ve ever seen. Just two blocks from the beach, in the middle of a residential and commercial neighborhood, it's a stunning revelation of what this entire coast once looked like.
Big Cedar
Skunk Cabbage
The Cedar Preserve was a fitting warmup for my main destination, Oswald West State Park, the site of a rare remaining stand of coastal old growth rainforest. The park is loaded with trails but I opted for a half-mile walk down a forest path past contorted Sitka spruce to Short Sand Beach, a wild beach hemmed in by coastal cliffs. Half the hikers on the trail were toting surf boards, though I didn't see many waves. Many of the surfers also had dogs which they left on the beach to guard their belongings while they were in the water. This made for unusually territorial and aggressive dog behavior, the worst I've ever seen on a beach. I was glad I didn't have Emmy with me.
Short Sand Beach
But I quibble.
I needed a more accessible beach to while away the evening and I found one in nearby Manzanita, a local beach with no facilities and barely any parking. Most of the people came by foot from the neighborhood to join me for a fine sunset in the shadow of Neahkahnie Mountain, rising 1680 feet above the beach.
Manzanita Beach
The next morning I hiked - up Neahkahnie Mountain! An early start and a lovely hike through Sitka spruce decidedly less mangled than those on the beach trail. I had been advised that there was a short scramble to get to the top but I was surprised to find myself grasping at roots and rocks while seeking to maintain a foothold beneath me. This isn’t scrambling, I thought, this is climbing, which I'd promised myself I wouldn't do anymore. Too late now, I was halfway up, all I could do was bear down to avoid a cruelly ironic backward plunge a mere month before the celebrated event. Happily I got to the top and immediately spotted the trail I should have scrambled up, saving me what would have been a precarious descent.
View From Neakahnie Mountain - Mouth of Nehalem River and beyond
Just noon now and I got to my next destination, Hug Point State Recreation Site, where low tide had opened up the beach to extensive cliff exploration. Sea caves, a waterfall, thick walls of mussels, and the delightful patterns the water forms in the sand as the tide begins its return.
Hug Point
I love the mussel visuals but wouldn't dream of plucking a few off the wall to enjoy for lunch. Apparently some do, as that very day the State of Oregon closed the entire Oregon coast to mussel harvesting after at least 20 people became sick after eating mussels from two beaches, one of which was Hug Point. They were experiencing symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning, which include "numbness of the mouth and lips, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness and in severe cases shortness of breath or irregular heartbeat." An unknown number were hospitalized, but the state health department said there were no reported deaths.
My northernmost destination was Ecola State Park, where I thought to spend the rest of the day at the renowned Indian Beach. Regrettably this entailed driving through Cannon Beach, a famously artsy beach town of narrow streets and pedestrian multitudes seeking to cross them. The whole place gives me a headache and I would forever avoid it except it is the only way to get to Ecola State Park and I wanted to give that one last try.
On my last visit I had driven to its famous ocean view, a great view for sure but then you pretty much turn around and drive out. This time I drove to its other vaunted destination, Indian Beach, like the viewpoint a narrow winding road through lovely forest but again no place to stop along the way. Before I put down my $5 parking fee I wanted to make sure it would be a good place to while away the rest of the day. It was not: crowded, lines for the bathroom, picnic tables practically in traffic, a long walk down to the beach. Signs pointed out the spots where scenes from various movies and TV shows were shot. I drove back out the lovely road and made my way back through Cannon Beach, very likely for the last time.
Rather than driving back on Highway 101 I left town on the coast road and soon stumbled into Tolovana Beach, and it had everything I wanted. Loads of parking, properly located picnic tables, a rest room and easy access to the beach. I arrived at about three and stayed until sunset six hours later. It also featured a seafood restaurant and I figured what the hell: think of all I'm saving on my $100 room. I ate my cod sandwich and a side of coleslaw out at the park picnic table, $18 and I was still peckish. That doesn't happen with a buy-one-get-the-second-for-a-dollar McChicken. Just saying.
The beach extended all the way to Cannon Beach and after a refreshing nap (OK, I was a little cranky), I enjoyed a long slow stroll on a beautiful evening up to Haystack Rock, the coast's dominant landmark. The beach was surprisingly quiet until just before sunset when people poured out of their hotel rooms to record their vacation memories, all devices pointed to Haystack Rock. (Perhaps they stayed inside all day because they hadn't heard that the apparently very busy Oregon health department had just removed its warning of high fecal bacteria levels at Tolovana.)
My northernmost destination was Ecola State Park, where I thought to spend the rest of the day at the renowned Indian Beach. Regrettably this entailed driving through Cannon Beach, a famously artsy beach town of narrow streets and pedestrian multitudes seeking to cross them. The whole place gives me a headache and I would forever avoid it except it is the only way to get to Ecola State Park and I wanted to give that one last try.
On my last visit I had driven to its famous ocean view, a great view for sure but then you pretty much turn around and drive out. This time I drove to its other vaunted destination, Indian Beach, like the viewpoint a narrow winding road through lovely forest but again no place to stop along the way. Before I put down my $5 parking fee I wanted to make sure it would be a good place to while away the rest of the day. It was not: crowded, lines for the bathroom, picnic tables practically in traffic, a long walk down to the beach. Signs pointed out the spots where scenes from various movies and TV shows were shot. I drove back out the lovely road and made my way back through Cannon Beach, very likely for the last time.
Rather than driving back on Highway 101 I left town on the coast road and soon stumbled into Tolovana Beach, and it had everything I wanted. Loads of parking, properly located picnic tables, a rest room and easy access to the beach. I arrived at about three and stayed until sunset six hours later. It also featured a seafood restaurant and I figured what the hell: think of all I'm saving on my $100 room. I ate my cod sandwich and a side of coleslaw out at the park picnic table, $18 and I was still peckish. That doesn't happen with a buy-one-get-the-second-for-a-dollar McChicken. Just saying.
The beach extended all the way to Cannon Beach and after a refreshing nap (OK, I was a little cranky), I enjoyed a long slow stroll on a beautiful evening up to Haystack Rock, the coast's dominant landmark. The beach was surprisingly quiet until just before sunset when people poured out of their hotel rooms to record their vacation memories, all devices pointed to Haystack Rock. (Perhaps they stayed inside all day because they hadn't heard that the apparently very busy Oregon health department had just removed its warning of high fecal bacteria levels at Tolovana.)
Tolovana Beach
Haystack Rock
I had hoped to spend the third day exploring a few of the many small rivers draining the coast range into the ocean, but as is becoming increasingly common my itinerary exceeded my capacity for itinering. I did poke around at a couple of them and then headed home, satiated.
Nehalem River
Wilson River
Thanks again everyone
Love, Terry
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