Christine and I spent last week along the Oregon coast. We had originally planned to go to Jamaica for diving but changed our plans when Christine injured her ears (due to diving with an unknown sinus infection). They'll heal but the doctor asked her not to fly for a couple of months.
We spent 5 days in Manzanita, OR (about 20 miles south of Cannon Beach and 20 miles north of Tillamook). The weather was so-so but we mentioned to get out for some good hikes on Wednesday and Thursday. I also went for a bike ride almost every day.
On Friday we drove out to Bend, OR and spent two days hanging out with our friends Nate and Sam. Saturday Nate, Christine and I went up to Mt Bachelor for a day of skiing (Christine) and snowboarding (Nate and I).
Some of the good photos follow. There are dozens more that you can view.
On Sunday we head out from home to stay in a yurt at Fort Stevens State Park. I had a lot of fun exploring the old fort. I think that it is incredible and wonderful that these are left open for people to explore instead of boarded up and closed off from the public view. My favorite area was Russell Battery which is getting mossy and green and which was completely deserted.
On Tuesday we hiked the Cape Falcon Trail in Oswald West State Park. This was a great hike and since we were there in the off season we only saw a couple of other hikers. The hike goes along a bluff out to the end of the cape. You get great views of the Oswald West beach for the first half of the hike and then wonderful views of the rest of the coastline as you get out to the cape. The forest had early spring wildflowers (trillium mostly) and was very dense and lush from the rain:
Christine enjoying the view from the end of the cape:
and the view itself:
On Thursday we went to Hug Point just south of Cannon Beach and then to Ecola State Park just north of Cannon Beach. At Ecola State Park we hiked the somewhat new Clatsop Loop Trail. This is a 2 1/2 mile trail that climbs up through the forest, takes you to a nice view of a lighthouse, then drops back down closer to the coast, where you get the same view of the lighthouse. Christine and I were both disappointed in it, the Cape Falcon trail was much more scenic, less crowded, and much more enjoyable.
Hug Point was a really pretty beach and reminded me of Shi Shi Beach (although much less remote). It had a waterfall and a lot of interesting rock formations. Sadly we were there as the tide was coming in and couldn't stay long (you can get trapped on certain parts of the beach). The tide pools also didn't have very much wildlife at this time of year.
Here is the lighthouse that you see from the Clatsop loop trail:
Finally here are a couple of photos from our ski trip on Saturday. It was Christine's first time back on skis in about 5 years and she did great. It was my only snowboarding trip this year and I did okay, but still lack confidence sometimes.
It was a great trip. We had never been to Bend and hadn't been to the Oregon coast in 9 1/2 years. I don't think we'll wait that long to return to either area.