Wednesday, May 30 – We visited Cape Perpetua this morning and highly recommend this area to anyone visiting the Oregon Coast.
It is absolutely beautiful. The Cape encompasses 2,700 acres of coastal habitat, offers 26 miles of hiking trails, and has a visitor's center.
One of the hiking trails.
Captain James Cook discovered Cape Perpetua. Why name it Cape Perpetua you ask? Perhaps because on March 7, the day he first sighted the headland is the holy day of Saint Perpetua – OR - was it because the cape was in "perpetual" sight? No one knows for sure.
Marsha enjoying the view.
You are able to drive to the top of Cape Perpetua Headland which is the highest viewpoint accessible by car on the Oregon Coast – over 800 feet above the rugged coast. It provides views of 70 miles of coastline and 37 miles out to sea. Today was very clear and I believe we could see these distances.
We hiked the Captain Cook Trail to visit the tidepools, Cape Cove Beach, Devil's Churn, Perpetua Overlook, Good Fortune Cove and Spouting Horn. The trail is accessible by car with many pull-outs, but it is an easy hike and we enjoyed the exercise. It's exciting to walk down on the rocks where the waves are breaking and throwing spray in the air. The tide was coming in so we were able to see some pretty exciting sights.
Devil's Churn.
Good Fortune Cove
Spouting Horn...it wasn't high tide yet, so no spouting could be seen.
We stopped at the Heceta Head Lighthouse about 12 miles north of Florence, OR. It sits 205 feet above the ocean and rises 56 feet above the ground. The automated beacon can be seen 21 miles out to sea and is rated as the strongest light on the Oregon Coast. Unfortunately, the entire lighthouse was encased in scaffolding and tarps and is closed for 1-2 years for extensive renovations. We were hoping to visit the lighthouse at night but that won't be possible – at least not on this trip.
Courtesy of the Internet…this is what it looks like.
There is a beautiful stream flowing into the ocean at Heceta Head Lighthouse that is interesting to see. Boy was that water cold! Also, the historic assistant light keeper's house sits on the hill and offers bed and breakfast rentals for group events.
Where the stream enters the ocean.
We found some interesting items while walking along the beach.
Just another day, sitting and posing for my photo.
While sitting outside this afternoon, Marsha was looking up at the sun. She couldn't figure out why the sun had a circle around it and rainbow colors.. She then took a photo and went to do her research. Here is what she found out…
These phenomena form when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere, and refracts to split up the colors, or when light bounces off the ice crystals and is reflected. If you would like to read more about this "Halo", click here.
Pretty cool photo.
After a great day, what better way to cap it off, but with a wonderful fire.
A bit more about Oregon…
All Oregon gas stations are REQUIRED to pump their gas for you.
Oregon offers an example of every geographic terrain on the planet within its borders.
At 1,943 feet, Crater Lake in Southern Oregon is the deepest lake in the US.
If you would like to see more photos of Cape Perpetua, please click here.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!
