06-21-2010 The Oregon Coast (The Rest of the Story)

As sometimes happens, I wrote many pages full of eloquent descriptions and exquisite details about the next few days that we spent on the Oregon coast, only to lose it all in the publish/review/draft/publish process.  After a big sigh, I just gave up and continued on to the next adventure. The problem with that plan, however, is that the next few days on the coast were filled with incredible kayaking experiences.  Now, instead of all the details (which I write for myself as much as anyone) this post will merely try to remember the best parts, the highlights of the rest of the week.

 

When we explored Pacific City, we saw the Little Nestucca River and Nestucca Bay, and made plans to return the next day for a kayak adventure.  On the Little Nestucca River, we put in at a boat launch east of Highway 101, about 3 miles upriver from the bay.  It was a bit exciting to put in on a new river, something unknown, and I was especially tickled to have five bars with 3G coverage on my iPhone.  I could zoom in on the Google Maps and see our route as we cruised down the river.  Fabulous. 

The river flowed through the Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge and into the bay.  We chose our paddling time well, with the current and tide taking us down and the tide turning and again taking us back upstream, with only a little bit of effort required the last mile or so as we returned.  Nestucca Bay was beautiful, with a long peninsula protecting it from the open ocean.  Our route took us to the mouth of the bay, to the surf, and to a small beach almost completely empty of people.  Across the river, a group of horsemen gathered on the beach, and some crabbers trolled the waters, but it was quiet and clean, and beautiful.  A perfect kayak adventure for us.

The day after that we returned to a park that we found on the Salmon River, near the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology south of the little community of Neskowin.  We were surrounded on three sides by reserves, conservation centers, Nature Conservancy preserves, and beautiful wildlands.  Even in the misty overcast, it was an amazing experience.  On this day I discovered a completely different relationship with rain, I loved it. 

We kayaked downriver, not a long way, to the breakers, and found a tiny tidal island where we docked and cleaned out our boats.  The island slowly disappeared with the rising tide as we stood there, and we pushed off again and headed upstream. Once again, we were very nearly alone on a gorgeous beach on the Oregon coast on a summer day.  Not many places where this kind of beauty can be found in the midst of solitude.  It was perfect.

We moved our camp to Beachside State Park for a couple of days, spent some time in Florence, in the old town part of the city, enjoying cappuccino and shopping, and had another great seafood meal at a different Mo’s. Mo and Abby and I had a wonderful time walking the beach and I took way too many photos of the gorgeous Solstice sunset on the 21st.

When we left the coast on Wednesday to head back home, the skies were really gray and dreary, but sunshine and hot summer temperatures waited for us as we traveled inland.

I wish I hadn’t lost what I wrote, but hopefully the photos will remind me of the very best parts.