Thursday, August 9, 2012

Beach Walks: July 29-August 3rd. 2012

Paul's photo of Cannon Beach
 Paul and I took frequent walks along the beach. Our ritual was to get coffee and a cinnamon roll at the coffee house/art gallery on Hemlock Street near our hotel, and then walk the short distance to the beach. Every morning, we started out wearing fleece jackets and stocking caps--and spent at least fifteen minutes talking about how great the weather was.
 There is Ecola State Park in the distance, just two miles from this beach--and me in fleece cap looking longingly towards it.
 On our last walk, we encountered these starfish clinging to a rock near the Haystack.  I heard a little girl who was photographing the starfish say, "I'm so happy right now!"
 This is Paul walking down to the first beach we visited after driving to the coast from Portland. Arcadia Beach turned out to be our favorite. You can take it all the way down to the resorts in Cannon Beach.

 On Arcadia Beach, we found this pentagram etched in the sand--and Barbie at its pinnacle!

 On our last night in Cannon Beach we made a fire and had dinner/wine while watching the sun set. All along the beach, there were small midsummer fires--some set by Cabana Boys at the nearby resort.  People were spread out all along the coast, covered in blankets or still braving the surf.  We saw a group of twenty somethings sitting on a log, one guy smoking a joint until he fell backwards into the sand, laughing.
 Paul made the fire--and I'll admit that I got sand in my sandwich--ha,ha--and in my wine.
                    Of course, this little gull was there to eat any scraps we didn't want. Haystack Rock is the big attraction in Cannon Beach. It is a marine garden protected by volunteers every morning--who put out signs at low tide to keep visitors from climing on the rock and disturbing the delicate balance of wildlife inhabiting the rock and waters nearby.

The Waterfalls

 After I returned from my Angels' Rest Hike, I found Paul waiting for me with coffee in the parking lot. He said he had to show me something, so we drove about a half mile to the incredible waterfalls pictured here. .This is Multnomah Falls, touted by Oregonians as the second largest waterfall in the United States, although that claim is "disputed by waterfall experts", according to Wikipedia.  The hike up to the bridge pictured above is steep, but very short.



Angels Rest Trail: Columbia Gorge, August 5th, 2012

 Even though Portland was experiencing its hottest day of the year (one day of 100 degree temperatures with no relative humidity--big whoop), the mornings and evenings were still incredibly cool.  We woke up early on Sunday morning and drove the 35 minutes it takes to get to the Columbia Gorge from Portland.  Thirty-five minutes and unbelievable hikes.  I chose the Angel's Rest Hike.

The hike is 2 and 1/4 miles to the summit, an exposed rock face that overlooks the Columbia River.  I admit that I didn't make it all the way to the top, but from the looks of this picture, I was getting close.  I noticed that I'd been hiking up for about an hour and a half--from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00--and I didn't want to leave Paul in the parking lot for too long (although he was able to find coffee and some cool waterfalls in my absence.) Each time I thought I'd seen the greatest view, I would hike a little more and see something even more spectacular.  This is a popular trail--and it started to get crowded on my descent, but since we arrived early enough, there were very few hikers other than me on the way up.  One couple with an awesome two year old labradoodle, a solo young woman and a solo older man.  These individuals passed me easily, which means that I need to hit the work outs even more.

Exposed rock face on the way up. . . .I admit that I am sooooo envious of people who live in Oregon. There weren't any bugs. No ticks!!!! No poison ivy!!!! Amazing hikes just thirty minutes from civilization. I'm pretty sure the story on the news about the scientists at the University of Oregon reporting that they have scientific evidence a terrible earthquake is going to occur in the Pacific Northwest in the next fifty years is just part of a conspiracy theory to prevent Midwesterners from moving to Oregon and overpopulating its pristine beaches and mountainsides.

Oregon Coast Trail to Seaside, August 1, 2012

 I hiked back up to the hikers' camp at Ecola the following day, Wednesday, August 1st.  But instead of just doing the short hike, I took the four mile trail to Seaside, which is actually part of the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT).  Back home in MO, a four mile hike usually takes me a little over an hour--but the conditions on this section of the OCT on this day involved mud--lots of it-- fairly strenuous ascents and pretty rapid descent at the end of the four miles. The total hike took about three and a half hours, and my GPS said I hiked a total of six miles. Just as I reached the Seaside Trailhead, I ran into two hikers wearing brand new tennis shoes--who said, "Is it really four miles to the next best vista?"  They eyed my muddy hiking boots but decided to keep going. I wonder if they made it or they eventually turned around. (Actually, there were amazing views through the trees all along the trail.)


After hiking  a mile and a half or so up the logging road in Ecola, you find yourself at a pristine backpacker's camp. No one appeared to be staying there; it was, however, as if park employees had set the camp up for display. Firewood was neatly propped in the fire ring; there was absolutely no trash anywhere.  Pictured above are the bunks inside the cabin (I think there were two or three little cabins, with four bunks each).  There were also restrooms although I didn't go inside them.



                                        Parts of the trail have stairs and walkways to avoid erosion.
                              As I hiked,  I could hear sea lions barking from the rocks in the Pacific Ocean.  But every time I tried to use the video function on my camera to record the sound, they would be quiet. Guess I'll have to rely on my memory like I used to do in the old days.
                                     Giant Sitka Spruce--alive and dead--are ever present on the trail.


At the end of the trail in Seaside is a street lined with posh homes. I called Paul to pick me up--and walked down the road to the beach. This cottage is located at the end of the strip of homes, right on the water.  I took a photo because I loved the stone chimney and walls. Paul found me very easily, using intuition.  I was sitting across from the ocean, on a bench near another walk that commemorates Lewis and Clark.  He had spent the afternoon drinking a few microbrews and chatting with a man from Texas whose wife is also a schoolteacher.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Tuesday, July 31st: Ecola State Park

Clatsop Loop Trail:  2 and 1/2 miles




Ecoloa State Park, just two miles north of Cannon Beach, Oregon.  "Ekkoli" is the Chinook word for "whale"--and this is the beach where William Clark and Sacagawea found "the monstrous fish" that had recently died. I have to admit, as a native Missourian, I've never paid much attention to the Lewis and Clark expedition. It's been like incessantly running background noise.  Until now.  Seeing the end of the trail in Oregon made me realize just how intense these explorers were.

 I hiked the trail on a cool Tuesday morning, the last day of July.  Couldn't believe I was wearing a fleece stocking cap and jacket at the beginning of my hike as the temperatures were in the low 60's. Back home in St. Louis, where L & C began their journey in the early 1800's, it was somewhere around 108 degrees. Every view of the ocean was breathtaking, especially for someone like me who has lived the majority of her life landlocked and oppressed by stifling humidity during the summer.  Paul and I couldn't believe how fresh and clean the air in Oregon is.  No wonder the population in that state has climbed two million since the early '90's.
 This is the remains of a World War II radar station near the top of the Clatsop Loop Trail. The metal remnants are covered with soft green moss.
 The hike up to the Tillamook Lighthouse Overlook is steep, but wide and flat, an old logging road. This is one of the flatter portions. Mostly, you are hiking uphill for one and 1/8 miles.At the top of the hill, there is a back pack camp with four or five rustic cabins and a fire ring. There are bundles of firewood on sale for 5 bucks apiece--on the honor system. No one was camping there at the time of my hike.

 This tree has "legs" because it grew over the downed trunk of another tree. Seedlings sprout from downed trees and take their nourishment from them.
Nifty tree-lined "tunnel" near the end of the trail
                                                                                         Lovely shamrocks everywhere.