8/19 - Cape Arago, Shore Acres and Coquille Point

This morning we headed about 20 miles north to see three state parks. This whole section of the coast is famous for its rocks.....at least that what Bandon's Chamber of Commerce says.....and it is well-deserved fame.

The first stop was a brief one at Sunset Bay State Park.  This is a beautiful, calm, bay with no wind and very mild waves. The big breakers and the wind stop at the entrance to the bay.  This is the only place we've seen where it's comfortable to sit on the beach. It's also a great spot for children to play in the sand and water without being knocked down by the surf....if they can stand the cold water. Our Michigan cousins would love it.

The next stop was Cape Arago State Park.

The view from Cape Arago is stunning like most of the other ocean views on this coast. It was windy and cold as usual, but considering the weather just 60 miles east of us in the Willamette Valley, we really did appreciate it. Medford hit 108 today.

We headed over to the north side of the overlook area and started hearing a very familiar barking sound.

And here they were in their natural habitat.  Hundreds of California sea lions hauled up on the rocks, having a wonderful time barking and napping and shoving and carrying on. Everything except eating. It was interesting to see how they dealt with the surf. They just rolled around in waves which would have bashed even the strongest swimmer against the rocks. It's their environment and what they're built for but it's still amazing to see.

The next stop was Shore Acres State Park, just a little north of Cape Arago.  The entire area originally belonged to L.J. Simpson who was a very successful lumberman and shipbuilder in the early 1900's. He fell in love with the area and, bit by bit, bought 1600 acres which made up the whole Cape Arago area. He built a gorgeous home there which his wife named Shore Acres. The mansion burned to the ground a few months after Mrs. Simpson died in 1921. It was rebuilt and burned again when a fire swept north from the Bandon area. The only original building left is the garden house in the picture.

Between gifts and sales to the state of Oregon, the entire 1600 acre estate is now state parks. The magnificent gardens developed by the Simpsons have been rebuilt and are open to the public.  

They have a wonderful collection of dahlias, roses and exotic plants imported from all over the world.

Getting just a little back from the water with a buffer of trees made all the difference in the world in wind and temperature. Around 60 degrees here with no wind and no jacket!

We headed back to Bandon via Coos Bay which looks like an interesting town. It's only 15,000 in population but looks bigger. Its history is tied to the lumber industry and it still has big sawmills in operation.

One of the things I wanted to do on the Oregon coast was to go tide-pooling.  It can only be done at low tide which always seemed to be at the wrong time of day for us. Today's second low tide was at 7:53 pm so we managed to get out to the beach at Coquille Point in Bandon at 6:45. The fog bank we didn't have this morning had come rolling in this afternoon, so the beautiful, warm, sunny day we'd had earlier had disappeared.

We couldn't see much of the famous rocks of Coquille Point, and the temperature was in the upper 40's. We had mid-weight jackets but immediately wished we'd had our winter parkas and gloves. We saw a few people barefoot in the water, and others in shorts and shirtsleeves. They're either used to this or they're nuts. The wind wasn't too strong but any wind at all in the 40's is COLD.

The rocks are covered in wildlife waiting for the tide to turn (mussels, barnacles, anemones and many others). Someone who does not have waterproof footwear got caught by the water and had to step on a rock. Better a few cracked barnacles than Jim up to his ankles in freezing water. He got wet enough as it was.

Lots of green sea anemones waiting for the water to come back.  These two were still underwater. The ones that weren't had turned their tentacles to the inside and looked like mud tubes.

We found several ochre sea stars in purple and orange. (They come in lots of colors including ochre.)  We had seen quite a few of them at the aquarium and the marine science centers we've visited. I was very happy to find them in their natural environment.

This was sunset on the beach tonight....a beautiful pink glow through the fog.

Getting foggier and darker.......

The sun had set and the tide was turning.  The surf was getting rougher and the wind stronger.  We were frozen. Time to leave before we got so stiff we couldn't walk back up the 110 steps.

If the fog lifts tomorrow we'd like to go back over there to see what it looks like.