Our next stop – the North Oregon Coast. Long stretches of deserted beach, forested cliffs overlooking the ocean, tide pools filled with colorful sea-life.
We plan to spend the next several days hiking and touring around the quaint little beach town of Cannon Beach, and tide pooling near Haystack Rock. We are staying at the Astoria / Warrenton / Seaside KOA Resort. Happily we are on a tree-lined avenue the front section since the back area is more like a parking lot. After 10 days of mostly dry camping, it is a nice reprieve to be in a KOA with full hook ups. However, air conditioning is not needed here, not even in August! Elle is thrilled with its multiple playgrounds, marshmallow roasts and free pancakes.
Our first day we drive down the Oregon Coast. Temperatures are in the 70s, even though it’s August. We have lunch at The Big Wave Café in Manzanita, Oregon. They are known for their fresh seafood – fish tacos and salmon fish fingers are delicious and we top it off with a slab of marionberry (a type of blackberry) pie! We continue south to Otis to hike to Cascade Head on the Nature Conservancy Trail. As we drive up the mountain to the trail head we are nervous – it is a one lane mountain road with steep drop-offs. What do we do if we meet a car going the other way?! Fortunately, we only have to pass one car – and it is on one of the few wide sections in the road. A beautiful green hike thru mossy towering trees suddenly opens up to the coast – we get glimpses of the coastline as the fog rolls through. What a beautiful spot.
Next morning, we are up and out the door to go tide pooling at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. Low tide is at 8:30am and we have a half hour drive to get there. It is gray and overcast and, as we leave the Airstream, the rain begins. A steady cold rain. Not conducive to wandering along the beach. We continue on and hope for the best. On the upside, there is plenty of parking in Cannon Beach. As we pull into a parking spot, the rain stops! It is exactly 8:30 am and we scramble out of the truck and dash over to the beach. We see blue mussels, acorn barnacles and red, orange and purple sea stars. Giant green anemones with their slender fingers. What fun! As the tide starts splashing back in we leave and walk into town. Even though we had breakfast in the Airstream before we left, we are hungry. We walk through town to Lazy Susan for a big breakfast. We ask Elle if she wants to share with one of us, as it’s our second breakfast. No, no she insists she is VERY hungry and shockingly enough she does not want pancakes. She LOVES pancakes. But she insists she wants an omelet, not a child’s omelet but the regular menu omelet. So we go ahead and order her one. It arrives and it is ENORMOUS. And she polishes off the entire thing!
After our second breakfast, we drive to Indian Beach at Ecola State Park. We meet some friends from Portland and start off on the 2.8 mile Clatsop Loop Trail. It leads out to what we expect to be stunning coastal views. We have views of fog – but we can hear the waves crashing below. The trail is green and lush but the rain rolls in again and everyone gets a little wet. But a lovely hike. Then back to the Airstream where seven loads of laundry await our return.
Our final day in the area we drive over to Astoria and climb the narrow iron spiral staircase of the Astoria Column and drive along the coast in Warrenton, near the KOA. Then it’s time to restock our groceries and supplies and prepare to move on to our next spot….