Day 3
July 8, 2019
My Monday morning started with a morning pickup at 8:30 AM for a full-day tour of Oregon’s iconic coastline. I booked the tour through Viator for the Oregon Coast Day Trip: Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. The tour guide’s name was John and his co-pilot’s name was Dennan, who was training to guide this tour. It was a fairly small group, with around 10 people on the bus.
Klootchy Creek Giant
After picking everyone up from their respective hotels, we headed west to the coastline. On the way, we stopped at Camp 18, a restaurant and gift shop where we made a pit stop. We then continued until we reached Klootchy Creek Giant. Klootchy Creek Giant was a ginormous tree that was the largest Sitka Spruce in the US and was also the oldest in Oregon at 750 years old! It was over 200 feet tall and more than 17 feet in diameter!
Unfortunately, the tree had rotted over time and the top portion, above 80 feet, splintered and fell after being struck by lightning. To prevent visitors from being injured and to preserve the essence of the mighty tree, they cut the tree to a safely sized stump so visitors can still marvel at the circumference of it. The pictures do not do the tree justice, it was massive!
Oswalt Beach
It was a nice quick stop to see the tree, about 10 minutes, and then we were back on the road to see what we came for, the Oregon coast. Our first coastline stop of the day was Oswalt Beach. It is a short walk down to the beach, which is frequented by surfers. Many times during our short, but slow walk to the beach we had to move over to let the surfers and their boards past. Since the tide was out, me and a couple of others on the trip were able to explore the tide pools along the cliffs. I was not able to see any crabs, but I was able to see my first ever starfish! So beautiful!
Manzanita
Our stop there was not long, so soon we were back on the road again and drove south to an overlook of Manzanita. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit the town due to time constraints, but we were able to see if from such an amazing vantage point!
Cannon Beach
We then made our way to the infamous Cannon Beach where we had an hour-long break for lunch. A lovely couple from Pennsylvania noticed I was by myself and invited me to join them for lunch! I feel awful that I cannot remember their names, but they were incredibly friendly and kind.
They were out visiting their son who has an internship in Portland. But soon he will be traveling to China for 10 months for another internship! When I thanked them for including me, the mother nearly had me in tears. She said I was brave to be doing what I’m doing and with her son being the solo adventurer as well, she hopes one day someone will return the favor and ask her son to join them so she knows for a moment he is not alone. It is people like this that restore my faith in humanity and proves that kindness is out there.
After lunch, we all boarded the van again and drove a short distance down the beach to get closer to Haystack Rock. It was a bit of a hike and leg workout to get down there and back in the sand, but it was worth it.
The rock is a bird sanctuary, so you are not able to get very close to it and they have guards patrolling the area to make sure no one gets too close. The beach was very populated with tourists trying to get the perfect shot of the rocks, but I thought our next stop was the best place for a photo opportunity.
Ecola State Park
We entered the Ecola State Park and drove up to the Ecola Point Day Use Area. Ecola is a native word that means whale, so the name of the park references the whales that frequent here, not the similar-sounding and spelled Ebola! This is the view I wanted to see on the Oregon coast.
The final stop of the day was Indian Beach. This beach is where Point Break, as well as scenes from Twilight, were filmed. So the old Twilight fan in me had to go down and check out the beach! This area of Oregon is known for the many movies filmed here. Some of my favorites include The Goonies, Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop, and of course Twilight.
It was then time to pack up and head back to Portland. The night for me did not end there, as I was invited to Bev and Christine’s new hostel for a delicious dinner of potato and leek soup with olive bread. Delicious! The night ended with a few rounds of Monopoly Deal and a very helpful travel chitchat.
