Nehalem Beach State Park and Cannon Beach

Our first two days at Nehalem Beach (Oregon) state park were very rainy. I didn't mind very much because I am in the midst of reading Jane Kirkpatrick books about various women of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most of the stories are set in Oregon and Washington, but the last two I read were about a woman photographer who lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I particularly enjoyed the parts that took place in Milwaukee, because that is where I grew up.

On Monday, the sun finally came out!

When I was outside taking the above picture, one of the rangers came by. He commented on how nice our all-white Alfa looked. Of course it did, it had just been power-washed by several days of Oregon rain!

The sunny cool day called for an outing.

Taking the Jeep, we drove a few miles up Highway 101. We stopped at a parking area for a trail that headed to Small Sandy Beach.

The trail was about a mile long and went through some quite thick green forest. 

It seemed that every possible bit of ground supported a fern, bush, or tree. 

Even the stumps of old-growth cuts had new trees growing on or from them.

The beach itself was indeed small and sandy. It was a beautiful cove that was popular with surfers. We watched quite a few trying to get a ride from some small swells.  Well, at least "small" to those of us who have watched the surfers at California beaches.

Craig liked this tree on the overlook of the beach. He said it was really well supported against the gale winds of winter. I read that because the water table near the ocean is very high, and the ground is just a thin covering over the bedrock, the roots of the trees don't grow down very far.

After walking the mile or so back to the Jeep, we continued north to Cannon Beach.

We took a brief walk around the tourist area of town and the drove around until we found a place to park and walk down to the beach by Haystack Rock.

This picture was taken by a friendly couple. It is fun to trade cameras with other couples and do a "we will take a picture of you, if you will take one of us". It is not that often we get a shot with both of us in it. 

Although the sun was shining, it was very windy and the air was cool and damp.

Craig says I need to get new shoes because every time we walk on dry sand, my current shoes fill up. His don't.






















So far, after only a couple of weeks, we have had the kind of weather we expected. We wonder what the coast will be like in a few days when the temperature in Portland is forecast to be in the 90s.

We are here at Nehalem Bay until Thursday. We have nothing except doing the wash and walking on the beach planned.  

If anyone wonders where we will be this summer, I have put up a page on the sidebar listing the dates and parks where I have made reservations.  Of course anything is subject to change, but if any of you are near any of these places when we are there, let me know and we can get together.

Happy Trails ...