Hiking in Oregon

Well...I've been after Noah for 9 years now to take me back to the Oregon coast for some hiking and salmon eating & after all that nagging, I finally got my wish.  We left Cody in the motor home on July 5th, drove across Montana, cut down through Washington to Oregon, then made our way along the Columbia River to Portland and finally made the last push over the hills to the ocean.

We spent our first three nights in Garibaldi and were able to get in two great hikes.  The first was a  5.2-mile round trip hike to Cape Falcon; the second was another 5.2-mile hike to Cape Lookout (where a man-eating tree almost got Noah):

After three days in Garibaldi, we headed south to Newport. From there we went on a hike to Drift Creek Falls.  It was great to be able to hike without carrying bear spray and my 9mm!  The most dangerous thing I had to worry about was those sneaky tree roots...and wouldn't you know it!  One of them took me down hard.  We hadn't even made a mile when I suddenly found myself flat on my back, my right ankle throbbing with pain and my left knee cap bashed in.  (Noah didn't get the actual event on film, but here I am reenacting the accident for the cameras):

We also visited Yaquina Head while staying in Newport.  I was looking forward to climbing to the top of the lighthouse, but unfortunately, we visited on a Wednesday, and the lighthouse was closed!  Drat!  So we had to settle for a photo of the outside instead.  Here's Noah posing out front:

While Noah was posing for this photo, we heard a very loud and very strange noise.  Walking up behind the lighthouse, we saw hundreds of birds nesting on gigantic rocks right off-shore.  This isn't the greatest shot, but it gives you some idea of what was going on.  The squawking was unbelievably loud!

The beach at Yaquina Head is an unusual black cobble beach.  There's no sand, just piles of big, black polished rocks that are really hard to walk on...sort of like walking on a pile of giant marbles:

The beach also had some great tide pools which we explored as carefully as we could.  There were lots of big, plump orange starfish and purple sea anemones.

Noah was exploring over on some rocks, but then the ranger came and yelled at him to get off and put up a bunch of yellow signs everywhere telling us to stay off of everything, so we decided it was time to head out.  Here's Noah enjoying the scenery right before he was chased away:

So...after a quick five days, we had to head south to LA to catch our flight to Honolulu for the Hawaiin leg of our vacation.  All the details of that adventure will follow, so keep reading!

Talk to you REALLY soon,
Buckskin Lily