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.
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