On our fifth day travelling south along the Oregon Coastline, we visited Pacific City and their fabled Dorymen, renewed our vows at Proposal Rock, saw the waves breaking at Whale Cove and Government Point, checked out Cape Foulweather, viewed the Devils Punchbowl, drove past Yaquina Head Lighthouse, and eventually camped at Tillicum Beach Campground. It was a very busy day!
It was lightly raining as we headed south from our spot at Sandbeach Campground. We drove a short distance and noticed some small dirt roads heading toward the beach on our right, just off Highway 101. They promised Beach Access. Maybe this was my big chance to drive on the beach, I thought. And I was right! At last!
Well, I didn’t exactly tear up the beach, driving like a madman in the car, not wanting to coat the undersides in corrosive salt, so I guess my madman days are over. Or else I need to buy myself another old beater like I used to drive back then. Oh well. Maybe another time, I said to myself. And then we headed south in the drizzle toward Pacific City and Cape Kiwanda.
We parked in the beach lot where the famous Dorymen launch their small boats directly into the Pacific Surf. This can be extremely dangerous, depending upon the sea state and the weather. But they were a breed of tough and ornery fishermen, and they would be the first to tell you so. I was impressed with their courage, at any rate. We walked around in the mist along the beach, and eventually met a number of dorymen in their trucks. They were waiting for the morning mist to clear up. This is fishing, after all, and being patient is part of the game. They all had a great sense of humor, and we really enjoyed their company. Good men, all.
Just south of town, we paused for a break. Vicki got out and headed for Kiwanda Beach, through a deep path across the dunes. There was mist and clouds and fog, making the Oregon Coast exactly what you might expect it to be. Wet and wild, in other words.
Google Maps showed us a side road to visit the Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge, so of course we went there. Why not? There was a large meadow that was mowed by tractors. Supposedly, the tame cows and wild geese got along famously in this environment, each symbiotically helping the other in the refuge. Amazing but true.
After that, we pulled into the parking area for Proposal Rock. Luckily for us, it was low tide, so we were able to approach the forested rock easily. We day-hiked around, and eventually asked a fellow hiker to take our photo while I got down on one knee to re-propose to Vicki. Amazingly enough, she accepted! You’d think she would have learned by now…
The next spot along the coast was at Rocky Creek State Park. Whale Cove was just to the north of Government Point, and the waves and rocky shoreline were particularly beautiful. You don’t want to know how many photos and videos we took along this short section of coastline. We walked north to discover a viewpoint trail looking over Whale Cove, and headed south around the point to see yet more waves dashing themselves upon even more rocks. It was truly excellent.
Next stop: Cape Foulweather and the Otter Crest State Scenic Viewpoint. By this time all of the foul weather of the morning had burned off, leaving this area more like Cape Goodweather. But who am I to gainsay Captain Cook the intrepid explorer? I’m simply glad that I wasn’t on his ship that day. Views of the coast were fantastic from up on that viewpoint, with waves crashing and plenty of rocky sea stacks standing proudly just offshore in the distance. This was the type of thing we were expecting to see when we chose to visit the Oregon Coast.
Not much further south was one of the items that I really wanted to see: The Devil’s Punchbowl. This feature was a large, round, sea-eaten depression in the coastal rock, with eroded passages linking it to the ocean. The sad part was that we weren’t allowed to hike down to it for an up-close visit. You can’t have everything, sadly. We perched up above on the viewpoint, and wished for much larger waves and a seriously high tide. But we couldn’t wait that long.
The Yaquina Head Lighthouse was next on our list of must-see items. President Carter gave it the “Outstanding Natural Area’ distinction many years ago, and we agreed with him. It turned out to be a bit more crowded than we liked, so we didn’t visit the lighthouse itself, but we did check out the visitor center and the rock quarry. Then we continued south to cross over the Yaquina Bay Bridge, which was also quite outstanding, in our opinion.
The afternoon was getting on, and we realized that what we really needed was a proper campsite. Down in this part of Oregon, there were still a few regions within the National Forest, which was our preferred camping method (we had a Senior Pass that gave us a fifty percent discount), so we searched on Google Maps until we found a likely one.
We ended up getting one of the last available sites at the Tillicum Beach Campground, and our spot was also on the far end of the place, making it a bit more private and quiet. We were very happy. We took a walk out on the sandy beach and enjoyed the surf as the sun went down in the west, then headed back to camp for another tasty dinner. This west coast lifestyle was really growing on us, as we were mountain folks most of the time. We decided that camping on the beach was just fine.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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