Monday, May 26, 2014

Reflections on the Coast

 

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I bet we’ve walked more miles of beaches along the Pacific coast in the short time we’ve been here than we did along the Gulf coast beaches of Florida the entire time we lived in Pensacola. There is a lot to be said for retirement.

We find the beaches here are much more interesting to us, with the rugged bluffs, rocks, wild surf, and tide pools. I noticed a small day use state park, Floras Lake, just a few miles north of Cape Blanco. Suzanne and Debbie joined us for a drive up there to hike the trail to Blacklock Point, where we were hoping to find some good tide pools.

After 1.5 miles through the woods we came to the point. Unfortunately there was no way down to the beach.

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Nice views of the coast from the point. You can see Cape Blanco jutting out in the distance.

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We finally located the steep trail down and found what we were looking for. Lots of sea creatures.

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Yesterday we walked the beach just north of the lighthouse at low tide and found more and better tide pools.

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There were also a couple surfers, though not much surf.

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We continued walking down the beach and came to our turn around point, the mouth of the Sixes River.

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We interrupted the vultures having a nice meal that washed up in the surf. Anybody know what this is? Debbie was afraid the dogs would roll in it, but Rupert just walked up and peed on it. You gotta love dogs!

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We could not have picked a better place to spend this holiday weekend. It’s been very quiet, the weather has mostly been good, and we’ve enjoyed spending more time with Suzanne. Today we move on.

13 comments:

  1. Great tide pool pics. I love the variety of colors on the sea stars. And those dogs...what a pair - love to see them playing and having a great time. I don't know much about fish but from the teeth and long body, the first thing that comes to mind is barracuda.

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  2. I think it's a deep ocean fish. There was a photo just awhile back of one that washed ashore elsewhere. They seem to have a lot of teeth, eh?

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    1. I think I figured out it was a longnose lancetfish. Not a very handsome creature!

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  3. Wow! Very cool sea creatures!

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  4. Very nice place to wait out the weekend.

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  5. Well, you really did hit it lucky for a holiday weekend on the coast! I love walking the Oregon beaches--there's no where better, in my opinion. Just a word of caution. Be careful with the pups in the northwest. Salmon fever is deadly. Jack got sick while I was in Oregon. I had never heard of it until the vet saw him and said I can't be sure but I'd rather be safe than sorry and treat him as though he has it. It can be lethal within a week. This particular vet told me that a dog does not have to eat fish. He can catch it from smelling the feces of say a raccoon or other animal who ate fish. There's a lot about it on the web. Hoping you're headed to Pacific City, Cape Mears, etc. Glad you're having such a great time.

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  6. You're right, the California coast is very interesting. We saw many of those creatures on the pacific side of Vancouver Island many years ago.

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  7. Wow, your pics of the starfish came out GREAT! As did the waves! Mine just look like little orange dots, so I will just have to enjoy yours. I really like the close-ups where you can see the little suckers under the starfish tentacles.

    It was so much fun beach combing with you guys! Thanks for letting me tag along. What a great weekend!

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  8. The tidal pools are beautiful! I am so glad to see so many starfish and with all their arms. After hearing about them dying off in southern CA earlier this year, it is nice know they are hanging in there in the north. Gorgeous photos:)

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  9. Thanks for whetting my appetite for tide pools...simply my favorite thing about coastal walks. And you just don't get that in Southern CA beaches...it's got to be the Northern coast in CA or OR. I'll get to find out if WA has good tidepools this summer too!

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  10. Bet you had a great time at Cape Blanco. We thought it was a beautiful area. The tide pools were very interesting at Bandon Beach and at Yaquina Head. We enjoyed the Coast and are now in Portland but will head to Sisters, near Bend next week.

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  11. I tried to post this comment before, but I don't think it went through. I love the colorful sea creatures. You guys really did a great job with exploring the coast. It's been a pleasure tagging along.

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