Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Coastal Oregon hikes wrap up

Coastal hikes in brief: After camping at Cape Lookout last weekend we made our way south to Cape Kiwanda -- home of Haystack Rock. We headed out from the parking area into a tire-track rutted beach. But it was fifty degrees and sunny, so I tried not to let it get me down. But then I looked up to my right and saw these massive, nasty condos going up.
From MattStansberry

They’re calling them “fractional ownership cottages” in a huge multi-page ad in Oregon Coast magazine this month. From my standpoint, it blights an Oregon landmark -- and whatever Pacific City’s economic developers thinks they’re getting out of the deal, it’s probably not worth it.
From MattStansberry

Despite the nasty McMansions sprawling above us, we moved on to climb the cape for a better view of Haystack Rock. And I can say that after you climbed up the sandstone cliff and looked out over the coast, you could almost forget about Kiwanda Lodge looming behind you.
From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

From MattStansberry

After that we headed to the Devils Punchbowl. The hike down to the beach was closed, most likely because a storm had ripped the staircase leading down to the beach from its moorings. We ignored the signs and climbed down anyway.
From MattStansberry

We thought we were being pretty adventurous, until a big family with little kids made it down without the stairs just fine right after us.
From MattStansberry

The tide was too high to get into the “punchbowl” but I did get pretty close and took a fuzzy picture of some harlequin ducks.
From MattStansberry

Sunday was a big day for surfers -- we saw them at every stop.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great pictures! I'm hankering to get to the beach too! Happy Wandering, Celeste