Oregon Coast 2013 Days 3 and 4

 

Days 1 and 2: The drive through Idaho, Multnomah Falls, and Arrival at the beach.

Day 3: Monday.

Started the day within a blanket of fog. I love fog so it doesn’t ruin the sunny beach vacation for me.

Ghosts on the beach.

We frittered most of today away relaxing from the long drive in our room, enjoying the sound of the ocean and the fog. After a while I finally decided we should do SOMETHING with our time here and I remember seeing a little forested area down the street and seeing a trail down into it. So we decided to go check that out.

Of course the fog lifted by that point. Kind of wish I had done it while it was still foggy.Oh well, so we walked down the street and found the trail.

It is named. Agnes Creek. Okay.

Really dense forest here. Would have been awesome in the fog! Look how thin the trail is? I would guess only locals and the occasional adventurous vacationer staying in this neighborhood use it.

Tall trees.

Random structure.

I think the creek is just beyond those bushes, but we couldn’t find a trail, and we were worried the bushes might be in the creek itself.

Pretty purple mushroom.

I love the way the moss hangs off the trees here.

This is coming back up. Do you see the trail? Yea it was really faint.

I just love being in the woods. I honestly think we may have spent more time tromping through various woods than frolicking on the beach this year, but that’s okay because I think I am much happier in the woods.

Thin trail over a mossy log.

We found a side trail that went the other direction. This after I suspected there was one that direction even though we had lost it for a second.

It didn’t go very far so we returned to the main little canyon.

I really like this view up.

Okay, very short trail system (or the trails just got too thin and we couldn’t pick them up again) but it is a beautiful little forested area.

After getting a quick hike in, we decided to check out the beach again, however we (I) really didn’t like the stairs so we drove down the road about 5 blocks to where the public beach access is.

The first thing I noticed is that I think this is where Agnes Creek lets out into the ocean. Okay, we saw the creek in the end. :)

And I thought our 175 steps were bad. This house has a ladder and then what? Run down the steep cliff? Meep!

I like this shot of Landis walking into the ocean.

View of the waves.

Oh look the eagle is back, and again I don’t have my telephoto handy.

Okay, today was a little too chilly and windy to play on the beach. We returned to the car before long.

The family decided to go out to eat, and after much deliberation we ended up at Dory Cove. I absolutely loved what Landis ordered (Shrimp Alfredo) but really didn’t care for what I got. (Beer battered Cod). We also showed up with a large group of 13 and they managed to accommodate us quickly during dinner rush and the service was great. So they are not completely ruled out and we might give them another chance.

We made it home just in time to see what might be the first sunset without a wall of clouds in the way.

Gorgeous glowing waves and wind swept beach.

The sun sinking behind the ocean. I finally, after what, 4 years, get to see this.

The whole family had gathered in the living room to watch this. When it started, I moved out to the porch to get a few shots that weren’t through the window. Apparently, they all got distracted by something else and hadn’t noticed it started. Quick tip: If yall are waiting for something pretty to start, if the guy who really like to takes pictures moves, it is probably starting. o.O. I do feel bad for not saying anything, I just assumed they were all paying at least enough attention to see it as well.

Awesome array of colors here.

Not as good, but this one has Venus.

Day 4: Tuesday.

Today I decided I wanted to get in the one thing I had planned on and was looking forward to doing. Since I didn’t get directions to a hike I had wanted to, this was my next best adventure. It is a short little trail system around a 400 year old spruce that is 35 feet around. The trail is called Regatta Grounds Nature Trail and is is on the north end of Regatta Park.

The trail starts out very pretty and green. We quickly discovered it to be a huge maze of interconnecting trails. I was hoping I was choosing wisely.

And there it is. I did choose wisely! This is a really large tree, although not as large as the Giant Spruce near Cape Meares.

Its pretty freakin huge though!

Couple different angles.

All of the trails I saw in the trail guide were marked moderately difficult, and I found them all to be fairly easy. I think they consider all of the roots in the trails as difficult. I guess if you don’t look down they are a hazard, but really, just watch your step and these trails are easy peasey.

Whoops, the trail I chose let us out to the road, okay, we’ll back track a bit.

Again, I am just so happy to be in the woods.

Holy spiderwebs batman!

These 2 trees have 1 giant root system.

Not nearly as big as the other one, but still pretty darn big.

More pretty forest shots.

There is a really cool metal dinosaur sculpture at the entrance to Regatta Park.

Another trail I thought about doing was the Spring Lake Trail. As we were driving back, I thought I had spotted the trail head. As Landis was trying to turn around, we spotted a parking lot by another trail head, so, why not we’ll check it out.

It’s pretty enough.

Paved even.

Loads of wildflowers.

Before long we determined this to be a neighborhood connector trail. I swear I saw a sign saying this was a trail, what gives?

Back at said sign, oh! there is a faint trail down.

Okay, this is more my speed.

And here is the lake.

A random crow.

Small lake, but rather pretty.

Pretty forest.

View up.

Trail back.

Butterfly.

Big trees, small pinecones.

Meh, short trail to Port Lake but its pretty and I am really enjoying tromping through the woods.

We decided to head back towards the hotel.

I had one last stop in mind though. I noticed there was a parking lot above the beach access down the road from us so I decided to check it out. Here is Agnes Creek in all it’s glory.

Look how clear it is!

WHOA! Bright red dragonfly! Look at that magnificent beast!

You know I have stayed in Lincoln City twice now, and depot bay twice as well, and I have desperately sought nearby hikes with no luck. And this year, I am just finding tons! So, they exist, you just have to know where to look for them.

Our next destination we were waiting on high tide as that is when it is best viewed.

So an hour and a half south to Cape Perpetua. We had done it before, but Ma really wanted to see it so we decided to do it again.

Again, the visitor center was closed. It closes at 5 and we always arrive after 5. But it did have this cool whale statue.

Foggy cliffs above.

The spouting horn is REALLY going!

Here it is with Cooks Chasm Bridge

Woo, that’s a good one!

Thor’s Well.

We decided to go to Devil’s Churn and come back in about a half hour for High Tide.

Fog and trees.

The trail down offers this gnarly tree.

Devils Churn. It is just a long narrow fissure that the waves go crashing through, but its pretty cool.

Here is the back end of it. Huh, even at high tide it doesn’t splash up as high as I thought it would.

Above the churn.

Ma couldn’t make it down and we didn’t want to leave her alone for too long so we came back up, and wondered back to the spouting horn.

Wow, crazy people! I would never use a log to cross a chasm next to a raging ocean here.

Decided to get a little creative with long exposures.

Thor’s Well.

Close up of the spouting horn.

Oh! I have video again.

Okay I always spend a lot of time here because well, this is probably the most fascinating thing in the area. But it is time to head home.

Pretty little bird.

I love these gorgeous purple flowers that seem to grow everywhere up here.

Bridge near Waldport. (DBP)

Bridge near Newport. Quite a bit higher. (DBP)

Foggy bend. (DBP)

I forget which river this is. (DBP)

I just love the Cape Perpetua area. So much to see and do, and this year I learned there is an old grove trail as well. Didn’t have time to hike it, but if we return, there is a new adventure to do.

Due to how late it was we just found some fast food for dinner and ended the evening playing poker with my dad and my brothers.

One last image, which came out terrible due to my lens fogging up. But this is the transistor just outside our building. It kept sparking and popping all night. I never saw this before so I don’t know if this is normal on the coast but it was very strange to see.

Wonderful day today was. Still a couple days left of adventuring to share, but this post is quite long so we’ll end it here.