Cape Lookout and Kiwanda

Saturday we set out to explore 2 of the three scenic capes in the area, Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. On our way south to Cape Lookout, we first stopped at a salt maker, the Jacobsen Salt Co. Not much to say but they harvest sea salt and process it in vats in this building, and have it packaged to distribute in their Portland facility.

From the trailhead at Cape Lookout, we stopped at an overlook and could see the Three Arches rocks that are at Oceanside, confirming that there is at least one arch that is only visible from the side.

The trail was pretty long and we did about the first 3/4 of it – toward the end it got very gnarly with tree roots that made careful foot placement necessary. We didn’t want to push John’s foot too much so we turned back but got some lovely views along the way. Here’s the view to the south.

The cape is very forested and the trees were sooooo tall! Here are some attempts to show the immensity of the trees, first using panorama in a vertical which I haven’t tried before and was tricky because the lighting up at the sky is so much brighter than the lighting at the forest floor.

Then a panorama in three pieces: looking straight out from the trail

Looking up

And looking down

After Cape Lookout, we drove south to Cape Kiwanda, where a very different scene was happening. The beach was really covered with cars (on the beach!) and there was a lot of development. We sat on the porch of the Pelican Brewing Company Pub and had a Tsunami Stout (me) and an Indian Pelican Ale (John) while looking out at another haystack and interesting rock formation –> sand dune to the right.

We stopped in the local grocery store to get some supplies and check out the wide range of Tillamook cheeses available.

And on the way back stopped at this overlook to see a sand spit that divides the sea from Netarts Bay on the right. We saw a lot of people out clamming on the way out, but the tide had come in by afternoon.