I flew up to Portland on Thursday evening to spend a few days visiting with Keith and Melissa. After sampling some fine beers and restaurants in the Portland area on Thursday night and Friday morning, we packed up the car and headed to the coast. I've made a few trips to Portland, but this was my first time exploring the Oregon coastline. We made it to Seaside late in the afternoon, enjoyed a fine dinner at the local brewery, and headed to the beach to watch the sunset.
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| Seaside, Oregon |
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| Sunset at Seaside |
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| Enjoying beers and the beach |
Based on the forecast, we were expecting a very rainy weekend. I was surprised by the sunshine and blue skies when I awoke on Saturday morning and quickly headed back to the beach to enjoy what I thought would be a brief break in the rain. Even after we packed up our gear and arrived at the Tillamook Head Trailhead, the sun was still shining. We began our hike, heading towards Indian Beach, with Cannon Beach as a possible final destination.
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| A change of scenery from the deserts of Utah |
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| Melissa, Tonic, and Keith |
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| Flowers along the hike |
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| Tillamook Head Traverse hike |
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| With Keith and Tonic on the Tillamook Head Traverse |
After a steep climb from the trailhead near Seaside, we enjoyed several miles of rolling hills and excellent views of the ocean below. We ended up at Indian Beach after six miles of hiking. This was a spectacular little beach with some interesting rock formations and great views of the coastal cliffs. We considering continuing our hike to Cannon Beach, but a rock slide forced the closure of the trail beyond Indian Beach. Instead, we turned around and headed back to Seaside, with the hope of getting to Cannon Beach before sunset.
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| Tillamook Head Traverse hike |
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| Tillamook Head views |
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| Hiking to Indian Beach |
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| Indian Beach, Oregon |
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| Indian Beach, Oregon |
We made it back to the trailhead at Seaside with plenty of time to spare and drove to Cannon Beach for sunset. The famous rock formations on this beach were spectacular and we spent a couple of hours walking along the ocean before heading back to Seaside for the night.
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| Cannon Beach, Oregon |
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| Cannon Beach, Oregon |
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| Cannon Beach, Oregon |
We were fortunate to have such fantastic weather on Saturday, because the clouds and rain returned for Sunday. This wasn't a problem, though, because the plan for the day was checking out several wineries before returning to the airport for my flight back to Salt Lake. Thank you, Keith and Melissa, for being such great hosts and planning a fun weekend!
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| Montinore Vineyards |
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| Wine smiles |
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| Vineyards |
