Friday, February 12, 2016

Coast Hike

Every year, I go to the coast for my birthday. It has been something of a tradition for years now. This year, there was a high surf warning. Basically, that means stay off the beach so you don't get killed by 15 foot waves throwing huge logs at you. I debated coming up with a different plan, but ultimately decided that there is a lot more to do on the Oregon Coast than just walking on the beach. My mom found a nice short hike at a park called Mike Miller, which is just south of Newport, near South Beach, the aquarium, and Rogue Brewery.

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The trail may have only been about a mile long, but it was through a beautiful coastal forest. Lots of ups and downs, and lots of tree roots through the trails.

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The park is through an old growth spruce forest. Spruce used to make up most of the forests in this part of Oregon, but when spruce forests were logged clear, they were replanted with faster-growing fir trees, causing fir forests to become the new normal.

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Part of the trail was closed due to danger of falling trees, so we only did one trail loop. I would like to go back in the future and walk the rest of the trail, because the part we saw was gorgeous. The whole time I was walking through it, I kept thinking what a classic Oregon forest it is. It looks and even smells like Oregon.

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Of course, even with the high surf warnings, we had to go take a peak at the ocean. We went to South Beach State Park and took one of the trails through the coastal pine forest along the land side of the dunes. It was low tide, so a good deal of the beach was exposed, and without anything for scale, the waves weren't all that impressive, so I didn't even really take any pictures of them. I did get one that I like (even if it is just a tad bit out of focus) of Koira headed toward the beach through the dunes, though.

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And a final shot of me and Koira on the beach. I turned 29 that day, and it marked 8 years since I brought Koira home as a tiny, 8 week old pup. I am hoping for many more years to come.

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Tragic news from one of my flyball teammates, who lost her young, active dog to a horrible accident yesterday, really reinforces my desire to spend time with my dog, do fun things together, and to make sure I have pictures of us together. You never know how much time you will have. But I know no matter what, I will want to look back on the great times we've had together.

10 comments:

  1. A belated happy birthday to you! What a place to spend it at. Lovely! :)

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  2. Glad you had a great time!! I love the oregon coast. :-) SO sad about the puppy!!

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  3. Looks like a fun time. Love the top pic too with the snow!

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  4. Looks like a cool spot for a hike, and I love your coat!

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  5. What beautiful pictures! I hope you got to go to Rogue Brewing, too! I love their beer, so I'm totally jealous if you got to enjoy it at the brewery! I've had several friends lose dogs recently and it definitely makes me want to hug my Barley girl a little tighter and have as many more experiences with her as possible.

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    1. And p.s. Happy belated birthday!

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    2. Yes, of course I stopped at Rogue! On your birthday, if you are a member of Rogue Nation, you get a free (and huge) beer at any of the Rogue locations. If you were really ambitious, you could start in Portland, hit both the bayfront and south beach locations in Newport, and then head to Eugene to end the day. I just stick to doing one of them for lunch or dinner. It is part of my annual birthday tradition.

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  6. Happy belated birthday! What a beautiful place. Love your hair! So sad about the pup. :(

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  7. Well said. That's such a sweet picture of you two :)

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  8. Happy Birthday! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the forest pictures you posted. I so want to go hiking there with my pups :-)

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