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Yaquina Bay Bridge
The central section of Yaquina Bay Bridge, built in the DepressionToday is my single day in one of the more dramatic sections of Oregon,
the coast.
I had planned for it to be longer, but need some of the time to get my car fixed.
The Oregon coast consists of Pacific surf crashing against volcanic rocks.
Much of it resembles Queets Beach (see
The Hall of Mosses) in the Olympics, including the lack of development.
The Oregon Coast is unique in that most of it is protected by a
series of state parks.
They are the legacy of a far sighted governor in the early 1900s,
Oswald West, who did much to ensure the preservation of the Oregon landscape.
To get to the beaches, I have to drive through the coastal mountains first.
I did so on US 20.
For me, this road is highly symbolic.
In the 1930s, the US and state governments created the first formal coast to coast highways.
They were notable for being paved the entire way, the first paved highways in the west in particular.
The
Lincoln Highway, which later became US 30 and 40, was the first.
Most of these roads have disappeared.
When building Interstates, many
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse
The oldest lighthouse in Newport, built in 1871 and used for just 7 years. planners routed them right on top of the existing highways.
US 20 is the only one of these highways that still exists in anything close to its original alignment.
Sadly, the road now illustrates why the interstates replaced most of them, all hills, curves, and traffic jams behind huge RVs.
The highway ends in the largest town on the coast,
Newport.
The initial view is not encouraging.
It consists of the type of sprawl normally seen at a seaside resort, minus (thankfully) the expensive condos.
Things quickly get better.
The sprawl is the newer Newport, and the older original fishing village beyond it is quite picturesque.
The first major sight, believe it or not, is a bridge.
Newport was founded on Yaquina Bay.
As part of a New Deal project in the 1930s, the state of Oregon built a highway down the coast, with soaring bridges over the bays.
Designed by
Conde McCullough, they are all art deco steel masterpieces of the bridge builder’s art.
Yaquina Bay Bridge may be the best.
For those who can look, it offers long views into the old port
Newport Sea Lions
Sea lions on a floating dock on the Newport waterfront. on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.
Newport Lighthouse
The drive to the bridge passes an odd building that looks like a New England frame house with a small tower on top.
It’s the area’s
first lighthouse, which was only in use for five years starting in 1871.
Area residents fell in love with it, and successfully preserved it in the 1960s.
It’s now open for tours.
The lighthouse keeper and his family lived in the house.
It’s typical for a house of its era, wooden and cramped.
The most notable feature is a tight stairway in the center, which led to the light above.
The light burned whale oil.
The keeper had to climb the stairs twice each night to reload the light and light it.
The actual light is now in the house downstairs because the stairs are too dangerous to climb.
Newport Waterfront
After the lighthouse, I went to see the old port.
Unlike some historic ports, which have been turned into tourist traps, this one is still active.
Some of the old cannery
Beach at Devil's Punchbowl
The beach at Devil's Punchbowl park. The punchbowl is beyond the headland to the right. buildings are now restaurants and shops, but the rest are still active fish processors.
The smell drifts everywhere.
Several of the buildings have painted murals.
The fish processors are responsible for what may be the port’s biggest tourist draw.
They dump leftover fish products into the bay, and these have attracted a huge colony of
sea lions.
Many of them live on artificial jetties on the harbor.
Some of them, however, live on the lower level of a shore dock.
This dock is probably the closest place anyone can get to a sea lion outside an aquarium.
I saw several of them, sleeping on the dock, squeeking away, and diving in the water.
They move remarkably well for such a large animal.
Devil's Punchbowl
After Newport, I headed north.
For a while, the road runs near the sands, long stretches of empty beach backed by wild plants.
Eventually a hill appears in the distance, Cape Foulweather (guess where that name came from?)
Just before the road climbs, a tiny sign points to a side road with the words “
Devil’s Punchbowl”.
The side
Devil's Punchbowl
The Devil's Punchbowl, a collapsed cave that fills with waves at high tide road soon reaches a parking lot surrounded by little houses, with no feature in sight.
I figured it had to be on the beach.
A stairway sits across the road from the parking lot, so I hiked down.
It crosses a rocky outcrop and ends at a glorious stretch of sand backed by big rocks.
The waves and wind have carved these rocks into twisted shapes.
The beach had no development whatsoever.
On many coastal stretches, this would be a pretty special place, but in Oregon it’s the normal environment.
While the beach is pretty, it doesn’t have any feature worthy of the name Punchbowl.
I soon figured out it had to be on the other side of the rocks.
When the tide is low enough, people can walk from this beach to the feature.
Unfortunately, the tide was rising.
I eventually hiked back up the stairs and along the road.
It reveals a tiny park at the tip of the headland.
The park has a view of a huge collapsed cave in the rocks.
When the tide
Cape Foulweather
The spectacular view from Cape Foulweather looking south. The middle point holds the Devil's Punchbowl, and the farthest point marks Yaquina Bay is high, waves crash into the cave and create a huge pool of froth, hence the name.
Equally unfortunately, the tide was not high enough yet to produce the effect.
Cape Foulweather State Park
Back on the main road, it climbs high over the cape.
The entire road is forested at this point, so there is no view.
At the height of the headland, another
state park sign points to a road on the seaward side.
Five frighteningly narrow and steep switchbacks later, this road ends at a lighthouse with a view of the coast to die for.
The view to the south stretches all the way to Yakima Bay and beyond, including the Devil’s Punchbowl.
The west provides an endless expanse of blue, above and below.
During the famously stormy winters, of course, it will be a very different story.
Beyond the headland, the road passes through
Depoe Bay.
This tiny port town is worth noting for two reasons.
First, it sits on a tiny inlet that holds the
world’s record for tiniest harbor.
The harbor is just large enough for a marina and two boat docks, which hold
Depoe Bay
The entirety of Depoe Bay, from the coast highway bridge about thirty boats between them.
The bridge over the entrance is another New Deal masterpiece.
The other reason is that Depoe Bay has a really good
ice cream shop, where I ate after lunch.
Still heading north, the road gives a view of a flat section of coast with obvious sprawl.
This marks
Lincoln City, infamous as one of the few ocean side cities in Oregon that looks like a spread out mess.
Residents of the Willamette Valley flock here on summer weekends, and it shows.
Soon enough, I hit it.
It was just as advertised, an endless parade of traffic, shops, motels, and fast food joints.
World's Shortest River
Lincoln City is home to one of the most overhyped, yet irresistible, natural features on the Oregon coast.
Lincoln City sits on a flat section of ocean front.
A little lake, Devils Lake, exists here, separated from the ocean by a one hundred twenty foot strip of beach.
A stream runs across the beach from the lake.
This is the famous
D River, the shortest river in existence.
It’s so short that the length nearly
D River
People play along the D river, the shortest in the world. doubles at low tide.
The river is much less impressive than it sounds, running under the highway and then
across the beach next to a parking lot.
Without the world’s record label on the highway bridge, most people wouldn’t give it a second glance.
After Lincoln City, the sky is starting to get dark.
I have to drive to Portland, and prepare to stay for a few days to deal with my car.
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