Tuesday dawned reasonably dry so we decided to take the scoot and do a coast ride up to Cape Perpetua and back, with the primo stop to be the Sea Lion Caves near Heceta Head. 101 is a great road up here for two-wheeling. One “wow” view after another, nice banked curves, and relatively little traffic this time of year. The scoot seems to have self-resolved its surging problem, and ran smoothly. Just before the caves, we got our first distant sight of the Heceta Head lighthouse. What a setting. I think this is the neatest lighthouse setting on the coast. We visited it later.
But first, the “world’s largest sea cave,” according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Uh oh. Given the schlock which with Guinness usually associates, that’s not an encouraging bit of advertising. Double uh oh. It’s privately owned and operated. Faint alarm bells reminiscent of our "Blowing Rock" fiasco begin to sound. Oh well, we’re here, and it’s a must-see.
Our goal, of course, was to see zillions of sea lions crammed into one space. The promo copy says “You descend over 200 feet in an elevator to reach the cavern where the roar of the lions and the cry of the sea birds will greet you.” When we bought our tickets, the nice lady did say that we may or may not see sea lions in the cave itself, this being September when they’ve finished their whelping and nurturing and are mostly out at sea feeding. Ah, yes, timing is everything. She discounted the tickets a couple of bucks, to $10 each, so we bit. The first portent was the elevator, which discharged the returning passengers and then closed its doors so quickly that no one could board for the descent. One guy nearly got his hand smashed trying to keep them open. Hmm. When was the last state inspection of this thing? On the next go-round, the hand guy jumped in the opening before anyone got off and held the door open for the rest of us. Uneventful descent, then we were there. Hark! No bark! Not even a lousy bird cry. Just me whimpering about the lousy $20.
You don’t get to be in the actual cave, but rather in an antechamber about two thirds up the height of the cave. There’s a chain-link fence that keeps you from the cave itself.
As forewarned, there wasn’t a single sea lion in the cave, just a lot of waves crashing through. It’s a nice cave, and big, but I was surprised this was the biggest in the world.
The sea lions, when in residence, apparently occupy the rocks to the left and in the foreground. It must be a pretty noisy sight, as we would find out later when we stopped in Newport for the night. As for sea lions here, at the world famous Sea Lion Caves, well . . . . they were a very distant sight swimming around in the waters below. I’d need my astronomical telescope to see them close up.
We motored on up the coast to the Heceta Head lighthouse. Most of these lighthouse and “day use” areas along the coast have $5 required use/parking fees that you deposit in the iron ranger and put a receipt on your windshield. Almost all, however, honor the federal geezer pass, so we’ve been saving buckos. The lighthouse requires a bit of a hike from the beach parking up to the head, but it affords some great views of the inlet, beach, bridge, and rocks.
Those bushes in the foreground were berry bushes. I tried the only ripe-looking one we could find.
Ptuii! I had to spit the whole thing out. Very tart. Guess being purple doesn’t necessarily tell the tale. Heceta Head is named for Don Bruno de Heceta, who got this far in 1775 before an onslaught of scurvy turned them back. The lighthouse took two years to construct. The location was so inaccessible at the time that they sometimes threw building materials over the ship’s side and let the tide carry them into the bay. It went operational in 1894, with a Fresnel lens from England. It didn’t get electricity until the 1930’s, when US 101 was built. Now, that’s isolation!
The neatest thing about this lighthouse, however, is not the light itself, but rather the keeper’s house, which today has been converted into a bed-and-breakfast with perhaps the best view anywhere. This would be a great honeymoon or anniversary spot, as long as you didn’t need any “civilized” entertainment. The proprietors are ex-restauranteurs, and boast a seven-course gourmet breakfast.
Next stop, Cape Perpetua, at 800 feet the highest viewpoint reachable by vehicle along the coast, and home of the “Devil’s Churn,” tide pools, and the “Spouting Horn.” They have a nice Forest Service visitor center, and a host of hiking trails going up and down the coast as well as into old growth forests. We opted for the tidepools.
These turned out to be pretty spectacular, filled with anemones, starfish, and a zillion muscles and barnacles.
I tried prying up a muscle and it was impossible with fingers alone. According to bio-major Loni, they secrete a goo that cements them in place. Gorilla glue should take note. The tides weren’t right for any good action at the Churn or the Horn, so back on the scoot and we retraced our miles back to camp at Florence. A good day, even without the “beef.”
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