February Hiking

I didn't get much hiking done in February. But that doesn't mean no hiking happened.



For my birthday at the beginning of the month, I got together with a few friends and we went and hit a few different beaches as well as a super fun, short hike.

We went to South Beach State Park, which is one of the beaches I go to the most. It is easy to get to, not super busy unless it is absurdly good weather on a weekend (despite being near Newport) and is near plenty of other things to do.



Further south along the coast is another great beach that I love, Ona Beach. The picnic area near the parking lot is flooded pretty much every single time I have been there, to a greater or lesser degree, regardless of time of year. However, I have always been able to find a path that connects to the beach without having to wade. There is a river that runs through the picnic area here that I want to come back to this summer with the kayak.



Just south of the bay in Newport is the South Jetty. There are walking trails that go along the jetty as well as through the dunes to the south, and eventually connecting to South Beach State Park in multiple places. The photo at the top warning of waves was taken at the South Jetty. Obviously, it is not a good place to go during high surf warnings, and likely wouldn't be good for people with young children since there are some dropoffs as you get further out.



Again pretty near Newport on the south side of the bay is Mike Miller Park. Mike Miller Park is one of my favorites as a shorter hike that really shows what Oregon should look like. The trails wind through old growth spruce, and you can see a ton of different native plants along the sides of the trail.



A few different trails wrap around at Mike Miller park, and we only took one of the loops this time around because we were all hungry and ready to go hit Rogue Brewery for lunch.



Other than these three beaches and one hike, I did make it back out to Bald Hill a few times, both for a shorter training hike with a flyball teammate, and for a few longer hikes exploring the trail I discovered in January. But I haven't made it far enough into those for any new signs this time around.



How much did you get out in February?