50 miles of a West Coast Wonder

Hello from Washington, D.C.!

I got off my plane this morning excited and groggy as all get out. I think my internal clock is still pretty confused, but I'm all settled in to my apartment and I've even done some grocery shopping!

This post isn't going to be about D.C. though. (Sorry!)

I figured I'd combat the little pangs of homesickness and finally post some of the pictures from two separate adventures at one of Oregon's Seven Wonders - The Oregon Coast.

(If you haven't seen the Seven Wonders of Oregon video you can check it out here.)

Hiking Cape Perpetua

Located just a few miles south of Yachats, Cape Perpetua is definitely one of the don't-miss lookout spots on the coast. With a number of amazing views of the shoreline throughout the network of trails, this has got to be one of Oregon's prettiest hikes.

We had been planning on doing a different hike along the coast (but that didn't happen due to my notoriously terrible sense of direction - oops).

We decided on this hike after agreeing to pull over at the first sight of the little hiker picture on any of the state park signs.

Lucky we found this one!

As you may be able to tell from the pictures above, it can be a pretty steep climb to the top if you opt to park at the bottom like we did. 

One of the great things about this trail system is that there are a number of parking lots to choose from. We hardly saw anyone on the way up, but when we got to the top we found that a lot of hikers had parked at the second parking lot and hiked the shorter (yet equally beautiful) trails near the peak.

 

Tons to discover on this hike, like the old rock shelter pictured above.

It's a running joke that I could fill a coffee table book with pictures of the backpacks the hikers in front of me on various hikes.

So this one's for you, gang:

We were super happy to have the whole group back together -you might recognize Alan and Miro from the last post, but we were super happy to be joined by Allison, the cutie in the white tee shirt.

We finished off our beach day with bummin' around on one of the many day-use beaches the coast has to offer.

I also want to take a second to share some pictures from a camping trip I took with my mom about a week or two before this hike:

The 24-Hour Camping Trip

We were super hungry on the drive over, so we started off our 24-hour camping trip with a picnic at Roads End State Recreation Site. 

We set up camp at Beverly Beach State Park, which also has 21 yurts that I'm dying to check out this winter.

We finished off our overnight trip with a hike on the park's trail around the campgrounds and some saltwater taffy from a little shop in Depoe Bay, the world's smallest navigable harbor.

At this point, you might be wondering if this is going to be a blog 100% dedicated to hiking. If it isn't your thing, no worries! The next post is gonna feature some photos from a road trip my dad and I took down to California this past week, as well as some tips on how to keep "traveling on a budget" from meaning "boring trip."

(One thing I will say in favor of hiking though: as my dad put it, "Hiking is one of the cheapest thrills out there. All you need is a pair of shoes!" I agreed with him, but told him that I knew a few guys who didn't even need the shoes.)

Hope you're all finding plenty of adventure this summer!

Cheers!