Welcome to Oregon...."Again": Day 4: Back to the Rocks!

Decision time again: do I stay inland and hit more waterfalls, or do I continue to head up the coast? The problem with staying inland is that I would not have another opportunity to get to the coast due to distances and travel time. I ultimately decided that the coastline was more interesting to me and offered photo opportunities that I might never encounter again. Besides, how many waterfall shots can one take? While I love shooting waterfalls, it’s not always easy to get a truly unique, dramatic perspective, and thus they can tend to look somewhat the same after a while. In any case, I likely would have an opportunity for some waterfall images at the tail end of my trip.

So, I headed north after waking up bright and early at the casino (6 am). But, I first needed coffee! I stopped at one of the ubiquitous drive-through coffee huts I have noticed (Oregonians love their coffee). The attendant was very friendly, and when she handed me my coffee, she asked if I wanted a straw. “A straw? For hot coffee?” She said I’d be surprised how many people had to have their straw. Um, no thank you…I don’t even like straws for water or other drinks!!

My target destination was Devil’s Churn, but I made a bunch of stops along the way. Once again I was rewarded with some great photo opportunities, partially due to the early morning light and ocean fog/mist. This included Heceta Head Lighthouse, Bob Creek (with some incredible tidal pools with abundant sea life), and Neptune South. I also stopped again at Thor’s Well: I was bound and determined to get a good shot of this location and overcome the salt spray & other challenges.

While the lighting was not ideal, I got to Thor’s Well at just about the right time, namely an hour or so before high tide. This is when Thor’s Well puts on its most spectacular display. But, you need to be careful since as the tide is coming in, so are the waves, and it’s easy to get splashed (which I did once). The other challenge on this occasion were the tourists, and mainly foreign tourists (no offense). Where the heck did they all come from? And do they really need all those selfies? Despite this I managed to stake out a good position, and this time, got some great shots...I think. All told, I took well over 200 images just to be sure I got the one good shot (part of was also the timing so as to get the best flow of water around and into the well). To combat the salt spray problem, I covered the lens with my hand and uncovered it just before I would click the shutter. Then, every 2 or 3 shots, I would vigorously clean the filter. I think this worked! In addition to a couple images, I’ve also uploaded a video so you can get a better understanding of what happens with Thor's Well (hopefully it displays properly).

In color this time!

And black & white of course, from a different angle.

Confident I had gotten “the shot” (which I verified by quickly uploading to my laptop), I decided to move on. But wait! There’s a traffic jam on the highway! And people are waiting in line to get a parking spot! GET ME OUTTA HERE!

Finally escaping the melee of tourists, I headed towards my final stop, Devil’s Churn. I checked it out from the elevated viewpoint, which was cool, but I wanted to get up close at sea level. It was possible to do so at low tide, which was approaching soon, so I decided to give it a try. The key is to cross some sand bars when the tide was its absolute lowest. The other important thing is not to spend too long there since the tide will quickly start to come the other way. Worst case is that you might have to wade through some deeper water. With this in mind I worked very quickly and immediately headed back. My timing was good, but I did end up submerging my “waterproof” hiking boots, causing the insides to get water logged. Oh well…it was worth the effort, and the boots would dry!

Now, where to camp? There was another casino north in Lincoln City, a 30+ minute drive. I decided to take a chance that they’d allow free RV parking based on my experience the night before. Unfortunately, they require you to become a member of their “Winners Circle” and accumulate 50 points before you could get a parking permit. I didn’t know what all that entailed and didn’t have time to find out. The end result was another 30 minute drive back south to a roadside pullout I had noticed near Devil’s Churn. Ugh! Oh well, at least I have a place to spend the night!