3 Capes Scenic Drive south of Tillamook, OR

Monday, June 22, 2015

Today is another beautiful day.  We decided to take the 3 Capes Scenic Drive.  We packed a lunch and took off.

Our first stop was Cape Meares and Cape Meares Lighthouse

This fun welcoming sign greeted us at Cape Meares.
 

I find the massive rocks just off shore along the Oregon coast fascinating.  

As the waves come flowing into the rocks, they make fascinating swirls.  I really enjoy just watching the waves crashing on the rocks.
 

These are the cliffs just below the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

When we looked closely, we could see these pools at the bottom of the cliffs in the previous picture.  This was low tide, so high tide must fill it.
 

This is the Cape Meares Lighthouse tower.  It is the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon coast.  Its base if 217ft above the ocean, yet its tower is only 38 ft tall.
 

Here, at the Cape Meares Lighthouse, we see the 3 Arches Rocks.  From this point of view you can only see 2 of the 2 arches through the rocks.
 

This is the complete Cape Meares lighthouse.

At this same location we also see the Octopus Tree.  This is believed to the largest Sitka Spruce in Oregon.

Here we are at Oceanside in the parking lot for the beach.  It is interesting to me that the hills are so close to the beach.  You can see how the houses are built on the hillside.
 

From where we are parked, this is the beach.  There are a few people on the beach.  It is about 69 degrees.  I'm in long pants and a sweatshirt.  
 

These flowers are growing beside the parking lot we are in.  They are some kind of lilly.
 

Here we are at Cape Lookout State Park.  It is low tide.  So many sandbars.  Makes for a pretty picture.  We are looking southward here.


This is looking northward from the same spot as the above picture.

A little way further down the road, out on one of the bigger sandbars we saw these seals.

Now we are at Cape Kiwanda.  This rock is called Haystack Rock.
 

When we looked northward this was our view.  A sandstone cliff.  It had pretty colors that don't show up well in this picture.
 

Also there were these tall sand dunes.  The spots you see are actually people walking up the sandhill.

After this we headed for Munson Creek Falls.
 

It was a short 1/4 mile hike from the parking lot to the waterfall.  We saw a bunch of salmon berries along the hike.

Here is a short video of the waterfall as we could see it.  The trail to the bottom of the falls was blocked off.  Not sure why.

This video is a close up so you can see how pretty it was to watch.

After the waterfall and on our way home, we stopped in Tillamook at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

The Morning Star was built in 1855 so dairy products could be taken to Portland.  Overland wagons took too long, so the ship was build by local residents.
 

Inside the cheese factory was an area to purchase ice cream and other dairy products.  Obviously the ice cream was very popular.  There was also a self guided tour where you could see them packaging the cheese.  This Baby Loaf was just outside the gift shop.  Cute!