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Published: July 31st 2013
July 30, 2013 - Tuesday A lazy morning and then went to Fish Tails for lunch. Marge had the Marionberry stuffed French toast – wow! She ate the whole thing before I could get a picture. She said she must go back for a repeat. I had the fish and chips and it’s the best I’ve had on the entire trip. A great place to eat and we’ll definitely go back. ***Marionberries are a cross between the blackberry and the raspberry – a wonderful taste.
Then we drove to So. Newport to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. So much to do and see there and it’s a great whale watching spot too. We saw puffins, cormorants, murres, pelicans, and harbor seals, who were taking a nap on the rocks. The flies were real bad but the smell from all the bird droppings on the rocks was worse. They approximate 25,000 birds on the rocks right there at the lighthouse. We were able to walk down to the ocean and since the tide was out, we could look in the little tide pools. Saw some sculp – small fish - and lots of little mussels. The ‘beach’ is made up entirely
of smooth black rocks – smooth from the ocean waves and black from lava that flowed long ago.
Back to the campground after a grocery trip and unloaded our food and then took our nightly walk to the pier. No sunset tonight, very overcast, like it was this a.m.
Another interesting day.
Yaquina Head Lighthouse Information The 93 foot tower, Oregon's tallest, is located on a narrow point of land jutting due west into the Pacific Ocean north of Newport, at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area.)
Winds and rain have buffeted this lighthouse since its beginning in 1872. It took approximately one year, and over 370,000 bricks to construct Oregon's tallest lighthouse.
The light has been active since Head Keeper Fayette Crosby walked up the 114 steps, to light the wicks on the evening of August 20, 1873. At that time the oil burning fixed white light was displayed from sunset to sunrise. Today, the fully automated first order Fresnel lens runs on commercial power and flashes its unique pattern of 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, 2 seconds on, 14 seconds off, 24 hours a day. The oil burning wicks have been replaced
with a 1000 watt globe.
The nightly vigil of watching the light is gone as are the resident keepers and their quarters, but the staff of the Bureau of Land Management, who are now responsible for the tower, guide you through the lighthouse with tales of yesteryear.
Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area The offshore islands are a year-round refuge for harbor seals and a spring-summer home for thousands of nesting seabirds. Gray whales can be spotted during their annual migrations to Mexico (late fall-early winter) and Alaska (late winter-early spring). During the summer months some gray whales take the opportunity to feed in the shallow waters around the headland.
Cobble Beach is compiled of millions of round basalt rocks that produce an applause-like sound as the waves roll in. When the tide is low a vibrant ocean floor is revealed—pools of colorful animals including orange sea stars, purple sea urchins, and giant green anemones. Rangers are at hand to answer questions and point out all of the amazing plants and animals that call the tide pools home.
Whether you want to see raging winter storms batter the Oregon coast, learn about the role lighthouses played
in the westward expansion of the United States, or watch peregrine falcons at play, visit Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area and experience something wild.
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George Welsh
non-member comment
Wonderful!
Very interesting journey to say the least. Still enjoying the pictures as well as the very informative narration of each daily event. Heat index here is 105F today so send some of that overcast and cooler temperatures to Texas.