Road Tripping the Edge of the World Day 4: The final goodbye

Our final day was to be a lazy one. We'd get a late start and see just 3 things, the 3 capes Scenic Drive starting in Pacific City and ending at Cape Mears near Tillamook. We were already within half an hour of Pacific City, so we had no reason to rush.

We went down for breakfast with the operators and they had prepared a delightful 3 course breakfast, and we (and the other couple staying there) ended up talking about all sorts of things till 11. I want to thank them both for having us, they were wonderful hosts.

We got into pacific city around 1130ish, and we both wanted to try Pelican Brewing but sadly neither of us were hungry yet, and it was too early for beer. We decided to go further up to Cape Lookout, our major hike for the day, and work up our appetite.

Cape Lookout is a giant cape, the biggest we'd been on, just south of Netarts bay. You go up and up in your car and at the apex of the hill is the trailhead, which was packed. We found a parking spot and began our hike. Cape Lookout is a great hike. It's 2.5 miles to the edge with a lot of varied scenery. You walk through the lush jungle of the cape, and the trail winds around to both the north and south sides and you get great views in both directions. The air is quiet and slightly breezy. Along the trail lies a plaque in a rock commemorating a WWII flying fortress that crashed here. Some parts of the trail were pretty muddy, but they were alright. The final section of trail is along the southern cliff edge, with certain death mere feet away behind the bushy rim. The end of the trail is at the tip of the lookout, and apparently it's a popular whale watching spot. There were a lot of people there though and we didn't stay long. The trail is mostly level, but it does slope downhill on the way out so coming back wasn't quite as fun. It did give us a hearty appetite.

Pacific City, situated right on the coast by the giant rock

Looking back at the coast from cape lookout's trail

The trail on Cape Lookout and the expanse of ocean beyond

Looking north at Netarts Bay

We got back to Pacific City and it was mobbed. I stopped into Pelican Brewing only to find out the wait for 2 people was an hour and a half, which is outrageous for a brewery. We elected to skip it and try to find somewhere else to eat north of Cape Lookout, so we drove back. We ended up finding a cute little burger place in Oceanside and had a delicious experience overlooking the coast. Oceanside was much smaller than PC and more to our liking. From here, our final stop on the coast was just 10 minutes away.

Cape Mears is, well, another cape, in another state park, on the edge of the world. Down a short path was the stout lighthouse, and up a short path was a huge tree called the "octopus tree", a giant tree that had no central trunk, but 5 or six trunks that curved outwards before going up. We stayed for a bit, took in the sights, and drove home. We hung out with friends at 7 back in PDX and took a long, wonderful sleep. It was a great trip, and despite seeing so much, there is still so much more I'd love to see.

look at that arch

looking south from Cape Mears

coast

Something Erie about the neverending blue

two rocks, and my last picture taken on the whole trip. This is looking straight west from Cape Mears. 

Final Thoughts:

The Oregon Coast is straight out of fantasy. It goes on for so long, and highway 101 gives you a wonderful taste. It feels wild. It feels like people haven't found it, despite the fact that people have obviously found it. It contains a beauty I've never seen on a coast, and it just goes on and on. 3 days we drove along the coast, and that left out everything north of Tillamook (Which we've done on prior trips). I've now driven 101 all the way through Oregon, and it was worth every minute. There are sections, especially in the southern coast, that were breathtaking. Giant massive rocks and picturesque coves, you could take every turn off the highway and see something special. There are classic beach towns and isolated quiet beaches, sometimes right next to each other separated by a giant rocky cliff. On top of that to your west lies the ever blue expanse of the biggest ocean in the world. It truly felt sometimes like we were at the edge of the world.

Cape Blanco was probably my highlight. The coast works better with atmosphere, and on that cape, alone, with the wind howling and the sun setting, that's when the real power of where we were really hit. It hit other places too like Yaquina head, but at Blanco the fact that we stood there alone made it. My favorite surprise was the Sea Lions at Cape Arago, and I have a new fascination with lighthouses. We've seen all but one on the coast now, and I'm proud of that.

There was too much to see for one 4 day trip though. It felt like we left a lot behind. We missed the entirety of Samuel Boardman State Park and scenic corridor, outside what we saw on the move. There were so many turnouts and tiny beaches I wanted to see and walk around on, but we just didn't have time and I was set for certain highlights. I still want to hike Humbug Mountain, even if my desire is less so now. I wish I had spent more time in the redwoods. I just wish we had gotten more time. We also sadly never had a place right on the ocean, and we never got to see the sun set over the pacific. I'd seen that before of course at Cannon Beach(to be mentioned in a later post) but it felt like we missed one nice moment. You could really take two weeks and not see everything if you took your time. I took 300 pictures, the best of which are featured here.

Next year for our trip we have a few options. We've seen the coast now. We've seen the desert. We've seen Crater lake and Newberry Volcano. We've seen the cascades and lord knows we've seen the shit out of the gorge. Our next big plans? Likely Mt. Rainier, The Olympic Peninsula, and the one I personally want to see, the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon in far east Oregon. But those will likely have to wait till next year.

Because our last big conquest of the summer is coming next week, when we finally take on Table Mountain.