Seal Watching

Today we rented a kayak—have I ever mentioned how much I hate kayaks?—and paddled from Siltcoos Lake to the ocean.  It was an uneventful float, but when we stashed the kayak on a sand bar for a walk on the beach, we discovered a colony of seals (or herd or pod, I'm not sure).  Not being an ocean person, I didn't know that you could walk up to live seals without paying a zookeeper or concessionaire.

At any rate, after walking a bit further, we returned to the kayak to await the rising tide.  It was a really interesting moment.  We waited as the surf covered the sand and slowly turned our bar into a lake.  The seals swam up the inlet to look at us:  VSO said they were curious.  Slowly, the boat lifted, the current reversed, the wind picked up, and, without doing anything, we floated effortlessly back to the car.

Sweet Creek

Today, we went to Sweet Creek.  (Or, as EDO would spell it, Sweat Creak.)  At any rate, it was the other side of the "Oregon Coast" calendar.  On the one side are beautiful beaches and on the other side are coastal rain forests:  Dense, lush, and filled with towering cedars, hemlocks, and Douglas fir trees.  On the way to our final trailhead, we were waved down by a young lady driving a Prius.  She had a flat tire and needed help.  Actually, I think she knew what to do, all the tools were pulled out of the vehicle and properly deployed.  She could not, however, get the donut (spare) free from the trunk.  The "easy release" nut and bolt system built into the car was rusted shut.

I pounded on it for a few minutes but had no luck.  I asked her if it would be OK to break it?  She was desperate enough to agree . . . anything to get off the mountain without needing to call AAA.  So, I began to muscle the spare back and forth, trying to snap the bolt.  I was sweating and making slow progress when a stocky Mexican guy pulled up with his family.  He shuffled over and took a look.  Then he bent his legs, bowed his back, and hugged the spare.  He nearly lifted the Prius off the ground, but the bolt snapped and out came the donut!  Goddamnit, I wanted to hug the guy.  He saved me hours of labor.  We had the young lady fixed up in no time and were able to hike to Beaver Creek (below).

Heceta to Perpetua

We started in the rain at Heceta Head and walked from there to the Hobbit Beach.  (We saw some short people on the beach.)  In the afternoon, we wandered the tide pools of Cape Perpetua.

By then the sun was out, so we stopped at Ocean Beach for an afternoon walk.  All of it was classic "Oregon Coast," like you might see on a calendar.

Surf Beats Surgery

Last year, we postponed our summer anniversary celebration so that we could concentrate on cancer surgery:  Fun.  This year, instead of the inside of a hospital, VSO wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.  We left south-central Utah this morning at 8a and by 4p, we had our toes in the surf.

Pahvant Invite

This weekend, EDO invited me to the Pahvant.  Yesterday we climbed Pharo Canyon and today we went up Cutler Canyon.  Avenza said 9.25 miles, total, over two hikes.  It doesn't necessarily sound like a lot, unless you know the Pahvant.  It may be the steepest and most rugged mountain spine in central Utah.  Everything is straight up and straight down.  Over those nine miles we might have put four to five thousand feet of vert on the legs.  And that doesn't count climbing down.  My knees are sore.

Glyph Hunter

On Sunday, VSO noticed a blog post highlighting a collection of Fremont glyphs and graphs down around the confluence of Coal Wash and Ivie Creek.  It was a long way from town, and we arrived at about the same time as a towering thunderstorm, but after wandering around in the wash in a few rain showers, we found a faded glyph panel.  At that point, the wind and the rain truly started pounding us, so we turned and headed for the Chev.