I had been watching the weather forecast for the coast, and today was supposed to be beautiful. I convinced my husband that we needed to take a family day and head over.
We started just south of Newport and explored a new trail for us. Our first stop was Old South Jetty Trail.
@2 miles (there and back)
Easy terrain
60 degrees
Sunny and clear
Hiking buddies: the whole family
Oregon Coast, buff sand, blue skies, lapping waves, arched bridge, historic lighthouse, narrow path, sea gulls, green shrubs, mud puddle, dry grasses.
Charming.
Yaquina Bay Bridge at the end of the trail:
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse across the way:
After leaving South Beach, we headed to the north side of Newport and visited Yaquina Head where Lola, Leif, and I hiked Salal Hill Trail.
Salal Hill is a short 0.7 mile hike with a moderate elevation gain of 130 feet. It felt great. The temperature had warmed slightly to about 65 degrees. The view from the top was lovely.
After the hill, we walked around the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and saw whales spouting in the distance.
Lola and I left Leif watching whales and we walked down to Cobble Beach to explore the tide pools. [Russ and Luke were on their way up and Levi was down on the rocky beach sketching the lighthouse.]
We saw sea anemones and urchins, a tiny crab, barnacles, and more. I ended up hiking down and up the stairs twice, so I felt like I got in a good workout in addition to the two short hikes.
We grabbed a late lunch and then headed just a bit further north to our favorite beach so the kids could play.
We are rarely on the beach for sunset, but I guess that’s the good thing about short winter days.
If we could ignore the bad attitudes and frustrations along the way, it was a perfect day.