I went back to Oceanside Beach once on Thursday and twice on Friday, but the conditions were not as nice as they had been on Wednesday, though it was still nice wandering the beach and trying to take it all in.
Saturday started out grey and dreary. It wasn’t quite raining, but the fog was thick enough that I still ran the windshield wipers on low. But to my surprise, it turned out to be a great day.
My first stop was at The Three Graces just past the city of Garibaldi. I saw them for the first time on Wednesday, but they were very backlit that afternoon.
Next, we headed to Rockaway Beach to see if the Twin Rocks Arch would be visible. It was foggy enough driving there that I wasn’t sure. To my surprise, I could see the rocks and there was even a small amount of blue sky showing through the grey.
Further up the road, we stopped at Neahkahnie Viewpoint for a dramatic (but still grey) view of the coast looking to the south. The cliffs here are very steep and it gave me the willies looking over the edge.
The next stop happened by chance. We pulled over one turnout before the Short Beach turnout. I thought Sam deserved a walk, so we hopped onto the Necarney Creek trail. It’s a beautiful trail through redwoods, along Necarney Creek.
I wasn’t expecting to see the beach at all, but at the end of the official trail there was a very well-worn trail that ended up leading us to the beach! At one point, there were two large trees across the trail that I thought would be too high for Sam to navigate. But to my surprise, he jumped right other both. So, okay, I guess we’ll go on.
Short Beach is very nice and there were a lot of people surfing. The walk through the redwoods to get to the beach really made this feel unique for me.
The final stop for the day was iconic Cannon Beach. The first thing I see after pulling off Highway 101 in Cannon Beach is an elk grazing on the side of the road! Elk, redwoods, beaches and sea stacks – what else can I possibly ask for?
Even though the conditions weren’t perfect for taking pictures, it was really neat to see the beach in person for the first time.
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