After spending the month mostly by ourselves in Oregon, which was our favorite month of exploration so far, we made our way into Portland to see some friends. I picked up my buddy CJ and we headed south down the Oregon coast for 48 hours of adventure. Leaving Portland, we made our way down and caught sunset in Cape Kiwanda, a really beautiful spot of beach. Lots of people on the easy side of the bay but if you take a little extra effort over the sand dune you get a beautiful stretch of rock and ocean more to yourself. We topped if off with some dinner and drinks at the brewery right there after the sun went down. We then headed south with the intent of seeing The Devils Punchbowl at sunrise, which was supposed to be a very rare low low tide.
We got in late, slept in the parking lot and woke up a cool 3 hours later for a sunrise. I had only seen Devils Punchbowl one other time at high tide from above the rock. Walking inside this rock cathedral of sorts was so cool. And in the dark morning light you could see things scurry all over the ground, if it wasn’t the ocean I would have assumed it was rats or something but when the light caught one you realized that there were small crabs everywhere all over the ground - pretty weird but cool at the same time. We explored this area almost to ourselves for about 3 hours watching the tide come back in and reclaiming the small pieces of land and coast that we were inside.
We then made our way south to catch sunset again at a place called Thors well. I had just read a post where one photographer said it was one of the scariest and most dangerous photographs he had ever taken. I was hoping for one of these encounters but with a record low tide all you get is a bit of splash. Still an impressive sight to see but I hope to see it again under some harsher conditions. Then we pointed our way back toward Portland. We seemingly got caught in a storm with gale force winds, stopped and captured the crazy weather at the lighthouse as seagulls came by us at blazing speed in the wind.
The Oregon coast is so unique and beautiful. At first with the gray sunsets and sunrises you can get a little bummed but the coast is so pretty even when its a little gloomy its totally worth the effort. And when you do explore the area, don’t be afraid to stop off whenever you see something unique, you never know what you’ll find around the corner.
