Central Coast of Oregon

We are now parked within walking distance of a beach.  Unlike Florida, where public beaches are few and far between, Oregon has a law that all of its beaches remain open to the public.  To get the the beach near us  we have a choice of either crossing Pacific Coast High 101 or entering Fogarty Creek State Park (which lies next door to us), following the creek by the same name under the highway and then walking unto the beach.  It just came to my mind this morning that since last September we have been on the beach in Rhode Island, Florida, Texas and now Oregon.  One of these day we should act our age and settle down!

 It was cool and a bit overcast yesterday morning.  Appropriately, our first stop yesterday was at Cape Foulweather.  Captain James Cook also experienced bad weather when he was there in 1778, which is how the area received its name.  Strong winds at Cape Foulweather have been clocked at 100 miles per hour.  Our tour of the coast yesterday was determined by where the rv repair shop is located.  After picking up a needed part for our motorhome we drove to Otter Rock.

The Oregon coast, as again pictured above, is quite rugged with high rocky cliffs.  At this overlook we took at trail to find the Devil's Punchbowl.

The large bowl pictured above is a basalt (a volcanic rock) formation which, when the ocean is in a storm mode, creates intriguing wave action in the hole.  No action going on when we were there, unfortunately.  Another place where freaky wave action also occurs is at the town of Depoe Bay.  The town has "sprouting horns".  There is an area along the sea wall where one can get hit with a strong spray of water from the ocean, it almost happened to us several years ago when we were there.  Coastal rock formations, like lava tubes, are flooded by the force of strong waves and sprout geyser-like sprays.   The town also is famous for the fact that it has the smallest harbor in the country.

While at Depoe Bay we stopped at the Whaling Center.  Information is given there about whales and dolphins, there are also observation decks and docents to help visitors do some whale watching.  Earlier in the day we had seen whale spouts off in the distance at Cape Foulweather.  At the whaling observation center we fortunately were able to see the fluke (tail) of a whale as it swam through the ocean.  It must have been a good day for whale watching- nine had been spotted at the center, a total of 12 since the beginning of September.  At the end of our day yesterday we did some tide pool walking. and saw only anemones