Beating the heat at Cape Falcon

Things were gonna be HOT on Sunday so we decided not being in Portland was a good idea. We went to the beach instead for a nice easy hike.

We hadn't been to the coast in over a year. Not sure why, we just never went last year. I figured now would be a great time to return and remember why it's cool. We decided on Cape Falcon, a place we had briefly sort of visited once, before I started this blog. We stopped at Hug Point, a neat little waterfall area on the ocean. We walked around Oswald West state park on a visit to Short Sand Beach in Smuggler's Cove, an amazing little beach tucked away between Neahkahnie Mountain and Cape Falcon. We hung out, got great photos, then went to Tillamook to eat cheese. A good day. Since I never posted the pictures here, I'll post them now.

Cape Falcon on a clear day

I fell in love with the beach the instant I got here. Pretty much exactly what I've wanted from a beach my whole life. Small, isolated, and despite plenty of people not a single feeling of being overcrowded. Surrounded on all sides by amazing scenery. When I think of what I want in a beach, this is the place that has come to mind for years, ever since I first set foot on it. I'm glad I got a chance to go back.

Cape Falcon is the rocky outcropping cape to the north of Short Sand Beach. It has a nice parking lot right off of 101. We parked at 10:30 and got moving.

The Cape Falcon trail is very simple. It is very level, very little elevation gained or lost. It follows a ridge to the cliffs overlooking the beach, curves back in to cross a creekbed, does the same thing once more, then heads out onto the actual headland of Cape Falcon. You get occasional views of the beach and Neahkahnie Mountain. The trail is mostly through underbrush and very large trees.

Neahkahnie Mountain

Neahkahnie Mtn. over Short Sand Beach

Once you reach the actual headland of the cape, it gets very overgrown. The bushes are higher than a human and constantly whip at your arms, and everything is incredibly dense. Then you pop out on the cliff and get to look at the ocean.

Now that is some thick underbrush

No more Neahkahnie Mtn.

Sadly the clouds had rolled in by the time we reached this point, so we didn't get much of a view. We hung around a bit then headed back. Halfway home, we decided to take a short spur trail down to a cliff overlooking the beach, and found an actual way down to the beach itself, allowing us to make a loop. We had fun on the beach for a while, found the connector trail back up to Cape Falcon, and called it a day.

Smugglers Cove and Short Sand Beach

Keeley Makes a Friend

Manzanita

Until we drove to Manzanita and got ice cream at a shop literally just re-opened from the rare F2 tornado that hit it last October.

Then we got back to Portland and it was 104 degrees, and we died. I wrote this from the grave.