Nehalem Bay State Park, Oregon

July 1, 2023

We drove north up the scenic Oregon coast a few hours to our next destination. It was a beautiful day for driving, and we passed several quaint towns and some lovely countryside along the way.

It was a beautiful day for driving

One of the several towns we passed

The surrounding countryside was pretty as well

The driver often had the best views (not always able to look at them though!)

Nehalem Bay State Park is situated between the Pacific Ocean and, you guessed it, Nehalem Bay. The campground is just barely sheltered from the cold breezes of the ocean by some dunes, but we could hear the surf from our campsite. Not that we were outside at our campsite all that much--the wind was chilly much of the time, with air temperatures rarely reaching much above 60. Plus, we had some trees that often shaded our deck, so it usually wasn't so comfortable sitting out there. 

We had a bit of an issue with some low tree branches while backing in --Rick had to temporarily remove the cellular phone booster from the roof in order to clear one of the branches. Hopefully, we'll remember to remove it again before pulling out!

The hill in the background always seemed to be blanketed in fog

Despite the chill, we scouted out the beach the first evening after our arrival.

It was super windy and chilly that evening, so we snapped a few pictures and headed back to the warmth of the camper.

The next morning was calmer, and we re-visited the beach for a nice 2.5 mile walk. It is fascinating how quickly the clouds/fog come and go here on the Oregon coast. We arrived in bright sunshine, but soon after some fog rolled in.

Fog starting to roll in

We saw several beached jellyfish --as if the cold air and water temperatures weren't disincentive enough to swim in the ocean

Horses!

The "smart" camera phone seems to have removed much of the mist that had surrounded Rick

By the time we were starting to head back, the fog was gone

There were surprisingly few shells, but we did find a couple of intact sand dollars

The next day we got on our bikes to explore (15 miles total) of the state park and the nearby town of Manzanita.

This was a first. We typically don't have to worry about airplanes while out riding our bikes

Sure enough--there was an airstrip right by the bike path

...and an airport camp--no joke!

Nehalem Bay--much warmer here than on the ocean side

The cute seaside town of Manzanita

The area was so pretty, we'd be tempted to live here --if the summers were about 20 degrees warmer

We noticed that many, many houses appeared to be vacation rentals here

Quite the unique house--and what a view they have!

On Thursday, we hiked the nearby Cape Falcon Trail (5.5 miles). It took us through an old-growth forest with the promise of amazing views at the end.

Our first glimpse of the view through the trees

The end is in sight--just a ways up to a big clearing where the views will be epic!

Nice plants along the last bit of the trail

And behold...the view...of fog! Not kidding, the fog rolled in that quickly and we couldn't see hardly anything at all.

It made for some artsy photos, though 😉

We sat and waited, and slowly (actually, quite quickly) the fog moved on

As we were waiting for the fog to move on, we saw at least one gray whale several times. We were bummed that it/they never graced us with a classic whale tail shot.

Short Sand Beach down below--our next destination

The sitka spruce usually starts life as a seedling on a rotting log or (in this case) a stump. Does anyone else see what looks to be a woman's face amidst the roots?

We sat for a while on the beach, watching all the surfers

None of the surfer action shots turned out (not surprising with a little camera phone) --but Julie got a picture of some guys with surfboards at least

The beach almost felt warm when the sun was out

On Friday, we headed a little further up the coast to the famous Cannon Beach, in search of the iconic Oregon beach experience. (Because we apparently had not encountered the iconic Oregon beach yet.)

Cannon Beach and the famous Haystack Rock

One word summed up this iconic beach experience-- frigid ! However, another word made it worthwhile (at least for Julie), and that word was puffins!

The only way to actually see the puffins was through a scope set up by volunteers 

Some of the birds you can see flying over the rock were actual puffins

Not everyone thought it was cold. A guy from Arizona in search of his lost flip-flop chatted briefly with us and mentioned how wonderful the weather was (as our teeth were chattering). It was 110 degrees where he lived, so it's understandable that a 45 degree wind chill might feel good in those circumstances. After thinking about it, we decided that we'd probably take the 110 (it's a dry heat, after all).

We walked along the beach almost 2 miles, hoping that the sun would come out more and warm things up a bit.

By the time we were ready to head back, the sun did come out, but the wind increased. So, it actually felt colder walking back, especially since we were now walking into the cold wind coming straight from the arctic circle.

Tomorrow we leave the chilly coast (beautiful as it was) and head inland for warmer weather--we hope!

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