Cape Perpetua

Though the day began with cold wind and dreary rain, the day I spent at Cape Perpetua ended up being the first very pleasant day of the trip. By midday the rain had cleared, making way for sunshine throughout the afternoon.

I first went to Cape Perpetua because Donna, one of the women I was staying with, told me that there was some sort of whale watching event there. Around this time of year thousands of gray whales migrate up the coast. I did not end up seeing a whale. I only briefly stopped in for the event, but I did spend a searching from the top of Cape Perpetua.

I did, however, get to see the other side of the Oregon coast. The previous day at the beach the waves had been gentle and the tide low, but that day the waves were large and crashing violently on the rocks. It is a sight to behold.

Cape Perpetua is a good place for a visit because it has a number of interesting things to do. First, the coastal area has a spouting horn, a hole in the rock that blasts water upwards like a geyser when a strong wave comes in. Second, there is Devil's Churn, which is not as exciting, it is just a channel in the rocks in which waves crash very violently. I didn't get there until a little later in the day, when the tide had gone out a bit, so perhaps that is why I was unimpressed. The most exciting feature of Cape Perpetua, is the overlook at the top. There is an old, stone CCC overlook built at the top of Cape Perpetua, at a height of 800' above sea level. I believe it is the highest overlook on the Oregon coast.

I drove up to the overlook in the morning, but it was too cold and the wind too strong for me to enjoy it. In the afternoon, with the sun shining, I hiked up to the top and was able to enjoy the view for longer.

Here are some pictures. These are some of my favorite so far. Starting with the spouting horn.

And this is the Devil's Churn



This is the view inland:

And this is from a different part of the Oregon Coast that I went to that day, but I think it's a good picture, so I'm going to stick it with these:


And here's a picture of the beach near Florence, where they have sand: