Scenery overload today. Oregon is known for its gorgeous ocean scenery but there is one section that is particularly beautiful, where, no matter what direction you look, you’ll be awestruck. It’s so well known that many of its features have names: Thor’s Well, the Spouting Horn, Devil’s Chasm and the Big Spruce. It’s called Cape Perpetua, our destination for the day and we’re aiming for at high tide for the biggest bang for the buck.
The drive is no slouch either since we’re driving either through a tunnel of pine trees or next to the ocean with its beaches and rocky coast. Some nice villages along the way and another cool bridge. Can you tell that I was an engineering major when I entered college? Then I hit calculus and physics - my first quarter. I was out of that major fast. Oops.
We parked and took off on the St. Perpetua Hike, one of many in the park. This worn path covered with roots, rocks and a smattering of wild flowers,
I got out my camera to take a picture and, oops, the shutter didn’t open. Cripes, now what. Sure enough, the shutter had a definite crink in it which prevented all the little things from opening. (note my technical language. I sure wouldn’t want to confuse you with all my technical talk. Ha ha. ) I carry extra batteries in the camera case and, when I dropped the case earlier this morning, it fell just so - exactly so the camera lens fell on the battery edge and it bent it. Oh, darn. Now what. Drop the iPad into the Pacific Ocean, drop the camera on a trail. (And, then I lost my little Misfit activity tracker on a trail in the Columbia Gorge the next Tuesday.) Well, put the camera away and we’ll use the iPhone.
The trail climbs 745’ up a rocky cliff up to a Civilian Conservation Corps open stone shelter. We met a young couple who were celebrating their first anniversary with crackers, cheese and a bottle of wine. Cool place to celebrate.
It looks ancient with its weathered stone but was really made by the Corps back in the 1930’s. A simple stone and beam structure, it fits the setting, gives hikers a place to sit to relax and a beautiful 745’ view out over 150 miles of the Oregon Coast.
We then hiked back down and headed on over to the rocky ocean side lined with narrow fissures in the rocks through which seawater surges in and out. We were there at high tide for the frothiest of spectacles. Thousands of years of crashing waves have carved these inlets into the softer basalt shoreline, forming coves, inlets and cauldrons. When the water rolls in, there is a resounding WHUM-M-MP as each waves hits the rocks, a 15’ spout of water erupts above (the Spouting Horn) and then recedes, only to be replaced by the next wave. So cool. I could stand for hours just watching it roil, erupt and recede.
Then it drains out only to be replaced by the next wave. We stood there, checking out to sea for the next big wave, watched it roll in and WHUM-M-MP against the rocks as waves have for millions of years.
Around the corner is Thor’s Well, a collapsed sea cave about 20’ deep, that looks like a witches boiling cauldron when it fills from the bottom with each wave, boils over and then recedes. We were watching that hole when this tourist ran out to get a close-up of the waves. Here you can see him standing on the edge of the Devil’s Churn as it is filling up.
Note how close this guy gets to it as it fills further.
Very dangerous. Finally he realizes how close he is and how high the waves are coming and begins to fun away from it. In the background, note the bigger wave coming in. We were afraid that we might be taking pictures of a tourist falling into the cauldron.
But, he turns, steps quickly out of the way as the biggest wave crashes into the cauldron. Meanwhile his girlfriend, who was up where we were and had a better view of the whole scene, kept shouting and waving at him to move. Of course, she kept her camera rolling the whole time.
There are trails all along here to get you to the best viewpoints. Further on down the trail is the Devil’s Churn, another wider fissure in the basalt where seawater surges in, WHUM-M-MPS, erupts into frothy geysers and then recedes only to be replaced by the next wave. The trail down to this is called the ‘Trail of Restless Waters’ which aptly describes the roiling waters in the inlet.
So, at Cape Perpetua you’ve got great trails, fabulous views, pocket beaches with fine sand, tide pools, blowholes, old growth Sitka spruce and soem beautiful flowers. Oh, yeah, the CCC shelter on the top of the cliff. The views are delightful and they’ve got benches placed along here for some of the best views.
But, it’s getting late and we begin our journey home. 11 minutes after we get into our car, the rain starts. Whew. Just made it.
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