Proposal Rock
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes including this location:
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 45.10035, -123.98745
- Elevation: 65 feet
Description
This sea stack rises right off the beach at Neskowin, where Newkowin Creek meets the Pacific Ocean. A scrubby Sitka spruce woodland crowns the rock, those trees sometimes offering a perch for bald eagles. To south looms Cascade Head, and immediately to the south a low tide offers glimpses of a 2,000-year-old drowned or "ghost" forest, one of several along the Oregon Coast. It is generally accepted that these trees found themselves in the ocean as a result of sudden subduction caused by an earthquake. The tree remains only became visible after the fierce winter storms of 1997 and are better viewed at low winter tides.
Proposal Rock is part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The story is that Proposal Rock got its name when a 19th century sea captain rowed his fiancée out to the rock and asked for her hand in marriage.
More Links
- Neskowin Beach State Recreation Site (Oregon State Parks)
- Dragon's Teeth (Sheila D. Robertson's Blog)
- "Research on Neskowin stumps creates uproar" (OregonLive)
- "Sand Levels Revealing Some Ghost Forests On Oregon Coast" (Beach Connection)
- "Underwater Forest Reveals Oregon's Quake History" (Seattle Times)
- Neskowin Ghost Forest (Waymarking.com)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)