Shore Acres State Park Oregon

Journey to a Land of Water Wind and Fire


Part B: The Oregon Coast III e

On the Beach (Yet again)

Enough of worms and weather forecasting, it is already snowing outside for crying out loud! Back to Oregon and Shore Acres park.

When I last was posting about this spot, we were just leaving the Formal Gardens and headed for Simpson Beach. J. had talked about Simpson Beach in terms of "You really need to go. . ." and "You'll really like it . . ." and my experience with him has been that when he says that, listen. Still, as I caught my first glance on the trail down, I was not too impressed. It's a beach, yes, and it has rocks, yes. But to earn all this amount of concerted devotion that J. seemed to have for it?

And as I rounded the bend and got my first good look, I still wasn't sure that it was all that special. And then I took a second look and began to notice, well, . . . things are a little different here. The tear-drop shape of it, for one thing gave me a slight tip off. And over on the left side I noticed . . . a cave in the cliff. And then, . . . those rocks on the right. Well, . . . maybe there is something to this.

Upon arriving at the beach I walked over towards the right and spied these upthrusting bits of what appeared to be sedementary sandstone, with more evidence of volcanic activity in them. But it wasn't just the rocks, it was the whole scene that sparked my curiosity. And then I realized I had seen this scene several times before in promotional literature for the Oregon Coast. That was when I realized that apparently this is a favorite spot for people to come to watch the storms break onto shore. (It makes no sense to me that people would actually travel many miles just to watch a weather front come on shore, but people do. Then again, people Bungee Jump off the New River Gorge Bridge in WV on Bridge Day each October.)

Next, I walked over towards the left in order to get a better view of the rugged rocks.

Now this was mid-August and the storms were not coming in. However, the tide was, and so that meant that there was some wave action to be seen. Not as much as in the winter months, that is for sure. But still there was some wave action.

And then, I began to realize that the rocks were a lot bigger than I first had thought. "How big?" you may ask. Well to answer that I saw some boys standing along the cliff out aways from where I was. So I took a shot of them in order to provide some perspective.

Finally, I pulled back from my spot upon the ledge and just watched the waves roll in over the rocks. And I wondered: "What would it be like to be here when a storm came in? How big do those waves really break?"

And: "How far do they come rolling in on the beach? . . . And what damage do they do? What would it be like to be here and watch that ? . . ."

Oh my, what next, Bungee Jumping? (Note Bridge Day for this year is past and no way would you ever find me there. Which is to say, the spell broke.)