Oregon Hikers

Another sunshiny beautiful February day on the Oregon Coast today. Joan and I headed out to the only Oregon State park on an island, Whalen Island and then over to Nestucca Spit. Eagles, seals, swirly clouds , what a day! Here's what we saw...

Looking out over the Lilian Parker Craft Wetland from the Whalen Island Loop Trail


Along the Whalen Island Loop Trail


Sand Lake and the Pacific from the Whalen Island Loop Trail




Sand Lake with Cape Lookout in background from the Whalen Island Loop Trail


Bald Eagle along the Whalen Island Loop Trail





More of the canopy of trees over the Whalen Island Loop Trail


The trailhead map of the Whalen Island Area


Another empty parking lot, a new favorite parking spot
at the trailhead for Whalen Island


Joan heading south on an empty Nestucca Spit


A pair of horses out enjoying the beach too


Joan passing thru the dunes on Nestucca Spit. User type trails criss-cross though the whole area


We spent half an hour watching the seals play in the surf at the mouth of Nestucca Bay. They seemed almost as interested in watching us as we did them














Looking north on Nestucca Spit at Haystack Rock, Cape Kiwanda and Cape Lookout





Looking south on Nestucca Spit at Cascade Head


Sandpipers playing at the edge of the surf on Nestucca Spit





Swirly clouds made great patterns over Nestucca Spit





Haystack Rock and its reflection from Nestucca Spit


Haystack Rock, Cape Kiwanda and Cape Lookout from the observation deck at the end of a short trail at the Nestucca Bay Nat'l Wildlife Refuge


Lsat look south from the Winema Wayfinding Point


What a great day Album here http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/Wha ... stuccaSpit

Looks beautiful down there, alright. Enjoyed the extra descriptions you included this time, too.

Thanks!
I finally figured out how to do that without the screen jumping all over the place on me. As long as I don't make any mistakes it works great. Takes a bit longer but it's not like my schedule is all jammed with anything..
That's my first trip to Sand Lake so I've never seen it at low tide when it sounds pretty empty but today was the highest high tide 'til sometime towards June so it was pretty full today.

gene, this is just not fair

looks fantastic. your weather luck is awesome

Looks amazing!!

Adding this to my must hike list!

Hey, thanx! The coast has had some great weather this winter. We actually ran into a couple down in Newport on Tuesday that had moved there from Kansas back in November and they said they were amazed at the nice weather the Oregon Coast gets in winter and that it hardly ever rains. We did mention it's not always quite like that

My husband and I discovered Whalen Island on our last Anniversary trip to the coast. It was an amazing place and we spent several hours wandering around and had a nice picnic lunch at the trailhead. Your photos are a beautiful reminder and I had to go look at mine again.
Mine are posted on my facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/lori.cannon/me ... 814&type=3

So lucky to have such nice weather ... as I sit here gazing at the snow in front of my house!

wow - some mesmerizing pictures in there. well done

never heard of this island.... not very far from Portland...will explore when coast weather is good

There's a bunch of good food options right there in Pacific City too. It was easy to grab a quick lunch in town between the two hikes. Makes a nice break from the usual hiking food..