The Oregon Coast

We took advantage of the long weekend and took a trip to the Oregon coast. We started with the John Dellenbach trail at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The trail starts with a short hike through the woods. The rhododendrons were in full bloom and the entire forest seemed to be filled with them. I'm used to seeing them as I walk through city streets, but I've never experienced them in the wild like this - it was so beautiful.

Next, the trail opens up to the dunes. There is no way to capture this place in a photo. The dunes are huge and rolling, scattered with grasses and flowers and, at one point, an entire forest buried among the hills.

Hiking over dunes is HARD - basically every step forward is a half step back. Our boots filled with sand, and we were thankful that it was an overcast day!

Then, rather suddenly, the trail is covered with wild coastal strawberry plants (above) and yellow seashore lupine (below). 

And then, back into the woods we go, down an boardwalk through the trees, filled with frogs and birds.

Until we reach the ocean!

On the way back, the sun came out, making the trek back over the dunes feel more difficult. 

After our hike, we drove along the 101 up the coast towards Tillamook, stoping to take in the views:

We stopped at Thor's Well - it was low tide, so we didn't get to see the well in action, but we explored the jagged coastline. As we were standing on the rocks, looking at a crab in the tidepools, a huge wave came over the edge of the rocks and drenched us! We instantly made friends with the folks around us who couldn't stop laughing at us - we couldn't stop laughing either! One of them took this photo just as the wave hit the shore:

So she took an "after" photo for us, too!

On Sunday, the trails and coastal towns were quite crowded, so we got up early-ish to hike the Cape Lookout Trail. The trail runs along a bluff, offering views of the ocean and the coastline.

It was a fun and fairly easy trail, but it was getting really busy by the time we left (the parking lot was overflowing)! Getting an early start is definitely a good idea. 

The rest of the weekend was mainly spent hanging out in the tiny home we rented and walking through the nature preserve nearby. We love the Oregon coast & definitely want to come back here some day!