Cape Perpetua and Thor's Well
Hello my dear friends. Meili here. As you know, my human and I are living in Western Oregon, which means the coast isn't too far away. Now, you have heard me tell you some stories of very bad trips to the coast (Yaquina Head Lighthouse) and some very good trips as well (The Oregon Dunes). Most of the time, how good or bad the trip goes depends on how much I like the trip. Well, today I am going to tell you a story of a bad trip because of how it went for my human. Oh, and my brother didn't help either.
The trip I am going to tell you about is to Cape Perpetua and Thor's Well.
Captain James Cook found the cape on St. Perputua's Day in 1778 and therefore named it Cape Perpetua. The Native American name for the cape is Halqaik meaning "exposed place". It is a headland forming a high steep bluff above the ocean. At its highest point, Cape Perpetua rises over 800 feet above sea level. You can see 70 miles of Oregon coast line as well as 37 miles out to sea on a clear day.
My human puts some research into each of our trips. As you know, she walks with a walker, so she looks for ADA trails (ADA stands for American Disabilities Act) or easy trails. Her research told her Cape Perpetua had several ADA trials. Cape Perpetua also has Thor's Well. She was looking forward to this trip. We started at the visitor center. It has a trail supposedly ranked ADA that takes you down to the trail to Thor's Well. It started out as a lovely paved path through the forest. Then we rounded a curve and there was a very steep hill. Paved trail, yes. But so steep it was dangerous to go down when you rely on wheels. No wheelchair should ever use it. She would have fallen if she had tried. They should have made a trail with more switchbacks to make the trail less steep. We had to go back to the car and drive down to Thor's Well.
The trail to Thor's Well was fine. It switched back through trees and bushes. Both my human and I were enjoying it. Then we got to the overlook to Thor's Well. That's were things changed for me.
Now most of you know Meili is the Norse God for travelers. But did you know that I am a son of Oden? Oden has another son who is a little better known. He carrys around a big hammer and makes a lot of noise. Of course I'm talking about Thor. He always did like a lot of attention. Even if you are unfamiliar with Norse Mythology, you might have seen him in those Marvel movies. Yea, he's a big star now. Something he really likes to brag about. If you saw them, you will notice I wasn't mentioned in even one of them. NOT ONE. Talk about a dysfunctional family. They replaced me with Loki. LOKI! And they completely denied my existence. And I'm not a bad guy! Really. I'm not.
Anyway, this Thor's Well is a hole in the rocks off Cape Perpetua.
It probably started out as a sea cave dug out by waves. Eventually the roof collapsed and created openings at the bottom and the top through which the ocean sprays. It is probably 20 feet deep. At high tide, the ocean washes over the rocks and funnels into this hole. It looks like a drain hole for the ocean. Of course, when the ocean hits these rocks, it makes a very loud noise. Kind of like my brother when he uses that hammer. Hence the name Thor's Well.
If you couldn't tell from this story so far, my brother and I are not the best of friends. I REALLY don't care for loud noises, and he is rather fond of making them. When the trail got down to Thor's Well, all the trees and bushes were gone. It was very open and loud as the waves crashed onto the rocks. It was NOT a happy family reunion. I wanted out of there, brother or not.
We didn't stay long and moved on down the trail. Soon we were back into trees and bushes. I was much happier. Then we turned a corner and there it was again. Not my brother, but another very steep hill. Very dangerous for my human. She was so unhappy. This was supposed to be an ADA trail. We had to turn around. AGAIN. By this time, she was so upset, she wasn't interested in checking out anymore trails. We just headed home. We had only walked about a quarter of a mile. Maybe. Anyway, I was glad to leave my brother behind. Other than that, I didn't have any complaints. I was upset at whoever graded those paths as ADA, however. That person really upset my human. I DID NOT LIKE THAT. SHE IS MY HUMAN. DON'T YOU MESS WITH HER!!!
Even though we were only there for a short time, my human did get some lovely pictures of the ocean and the rocks. Peruse them, but remember the ordeal we had that day. They may be beautiful, but these are not happy pictures. Not for us.
As I have said in the past. Not all trips turn out good. But there is always another one, and most of our adventures have been fun. So I will say it again, keep wandering, my friends. Keep wandering. The next trip just might be a great one!
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