Central Oregon Coast

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Day 35

153 miles

Daisy and I originally planned to head east the day after meeting Chris Ward in Tillamook, then drive south on Interstate 5 to enter California and spend time in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. However, we found out about the Ferguson fire that was growing in size and severity west of Yosemite and that one of the major highways into the park had been closed. As a result, we changed our plans and decided to spend more time on the Oregon coast and then the Redwoods National and State Parks in northwestern California.  On July 19, we visited two lighthouses and enjoyed some great seafood. One of the advantages of our style of travel is that we can be flexible as conditions change.

The sights we saw included beaches and other truck campers, including those similar to ours.

Our first stop was at the Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint and National Wildlife Refuge.

The Oregon coast is very rocky. Because of the nature of the shoreline, nine lighthouses were built along the Oregon coast in the late 1800s. Each light had its own “signature” pattern of light times and colors to help mariners navigate. Lighting along the coast was designed to keep a ship within sight of a light at all times.

Cape Meares was named after Captain John Meares who first charted it in 1788 and declared it to be an ideal location for a light house. Easily seen from the sea, the outer point is below the fog line, making the light visible during conditions when it is most needed. The lighthouse served from 1890 until it was replaced by an automated beacon in 1963. The Cape Meares lighthouse is distinctive in that it is the shortest of those on the Oregon coast.

The French hand-ground Fresnel lens at Cape Meares is one of only two 8-sided lights in the US—the other is in Hawaii. Shaped like a giant beehive, the outer surface of the lens is made of prisms that bend the light into a narrow beam. The beam then passes through a magnifying glass, or bull’s-eye, at the center of each side that intensifies it, producing a brilliant sheet of light visible for 21 miles. The original light was a heavy bronze five-wick kerosene lantern that was turned by weights and pulleys. Four sides of this 8-sided lens were covered with red glass, which produced an alternative red and white beam as the light turned. The Cape Meares light is of the “first order,” which means it is the largest of seven lens sizes.

The photo below taken near the lighthouse shows the Three Arch Rocks. Both Cape Meares and Three Arch Rocks are National Wildlife Refuges. For you birders, this is the home of the largest breeding colony of tufted puffins along the coast. This area has a diversity of habitats from ocean to old growth forests that benefit many species of wildlife. 

A trail from the Cape Meares parking lot leads to the Octopus Tree, a Sitka spruce. The forces that shaped it may have been natural events or possibly Native Americans. The tree measures more than 49 feet in circumference and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning upward. It is 105 feet tall and is estimated to be 250 to 300 years old. It was designated an Oregon Heritage Tree in 2009.

Our truck camper is an important aspect of our travels, so I have to include a photo of it in some of the locations we visit!

As we continued south along the coast on Highway 101, we stopped for lunch at Mo’s in Lincoln City.  

We shared three “appetizers” and then a dessert, starting with a Caesar salad with bay shrimp, then these steamed Oregon oysters served in their shells. They were larger than usual and very tasty. You can get an idea of their size by the fact that they were served in a 9” by 13” baking dish.

Next we had clams steamed with garlic, butter, and chardonnay then topped with chopped green onions and diced tomatoes. The clams were tender and flavorful, and we had garlic toast to dip in the delicious broth.

Of course a little hard cider was needed to cleanse the palate between bites.

For dessert, we selected this Marionberry cobbler ala mode.  Doesn't this make you hungry just looking at the photo?

We saw more beautiful, peaceful sights as we drove down the beach highway.












Our final stop before arriving at our campground in Florence was the Yaquina Head historic lighthouse, which is a major feature of the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area.

In 1870, Army Colonel R. S. Williamson selected this treeless headland three miles up the beach from Yaquina Bay as a lighthouse site, partly because of its proximity by wagon road to Newport.

The Yaquina Head Light has been active from 1873 to the present day and is the second oldest still in operation. This beacon stands 162 feet above the ocean on a double-walled brick tower that is 93 feet tall, making it the state’s tallest lighthouse.  In 1966, the U.S. Coast Guard automated this light station and still supervises its operation.

At first glance the following photo may look like just another big rock along the shoreline, but if you look more closely with binoculars or a camera zoom lens, you see that it is actually an important habitat for seabirds.

Birds that frequent the Oregon coast include these common murres and also brown pelicans, Pacific loons, tufted puffins, double-crested cormorants, and western gulls. 







Marine mammals in this area are northern elephant seals, harbor porpoises, California sea lions, and Orcas (killer whales).

We enjoyed many beautiful views of the Oregon coastline, but I’ll include just this one!  I forgot to mentioned it earlier but this entire beach coast line is often called the People's Coast. That is because in 1967 the state legislators passed  a landmark bill that guaranteed that all 363 miles of beach would remain free and open for locals and visitors to enjoy. The sand beneath your toes does not belong to any one person here. That makes me smile!

Our destination that night was Florence and the Woahink RV Park. Florence is the northern gateway to the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Recreational Area, which stretches south for 40 miles and is a favorite spot for off-road-vehicles riders, campers, hikers, birders, and fishermen.  We arrived in Florence about 6 pm after a grocery and fuel stop in a local Fred Meyers.   

In this campground we were in walking distance to the dunes, a motorized sand box.  We could hear where the dunes were but were too tired to hike up the trail. We had dinner and called it a night. We knew the dunes would still be there the next morning!