Heceta Head Lighthouse

Hello, my friends. Hope all is well with you. This past weekend was beautiful here in Western Oregon, so my human and I took a trip to the ever lovely coast. We decided to visit Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Now you all know I'm not the best with wide open spaces (they clear all the trees away from lighthouses so limbs won't be blown into the lighthouse, taking out the light) but the path to this lighthouse goes through woods, so my human thought I would like it fine. She was right.

Heceta Head has a small sandy beach with Cape Creek emptying into the ocean on the south end. There are tall hills and cliffs on each side of the beach, with the lighthouse perched on top of the north hill. There are several large sea stacks that sea lions like to sun themselves on. It is a lovely little beach if you like that sort of thing. Personally, even though I do enjoy digging in the sand, I don't care for all that water. There were a lot of canines there and they were loving the water. Crazy canines. Plus, my human has difficulty walking in the sand with her walker. We skipped the beach.

Next to the beach, a trail starts up the hill, taking you to the lighthouse.

It is half a mile up to the lighthouse, going up, leveling off, then ascending again. Half way up is the keepers house and a gift shop.

We didn't visit either. No pets inside. They were both lovely, however. 

Along the trail is a very small creek gurgling down the hill. Rushing water is beautiful to hear. We also found a few mushrooms, making my human happy.

Some flowers.

Plus lots of moss covered trees. It is Oregon after all.

And ever so often, the trees would thin out giving views of the ocean down below. Nice.

Now part way up, I just sat down, not wanting to go any further. My human sat me on her walker and pushed me the rest of the way up the hill. Maybe it was a little sneaky, but I got a free ride up that hill. Remember, it was half a mile. UP HILL. Don't judge me. If you could get a free ride, wouldn't you take it?

Once we got up to the lighthouse grounds I was fine. It was level up there. In fact, I felt so good, I did something I have never done before. I made friends with two canines. That's right. TWO canines. 

They were there with their humans just chill'en on the grass. My human sat on a bench close by to rest after that climb, and I walked over to them. Yes, I initiated the contact. Brave of me, right? Maybe I was trying to make up for hitching the ride up the hill. Or maybe I could just tell they would respect me and not try to chew my face off. Whatever, it was pretty cool. Their names were River and Rosie. We touched noses and just hung out. Rosie did try to lick me, which I didn't care for. But she respected my wishes, and didn't try again, so no harm done. I actually enjoyed the encounter. (Meeting the dogs, not getting licked. UCH!)

 

                             Me with River

                                Me with Rosie

I even got lots of petting from their humans. 

The views up there were beautiful too. I actually checked them out.

Waves crashing on rocks. The sounds of the surf. Kids laughing down on the beach. Views of the Cape Creek Bridge on Highway 101.

It was nice. The fact that the sun was out with very little wind certainly helped as well.

A truly lovely day.

Now I know what you are thinking. Was I too lazy to walk back down the hill? No. I was not. It was downhill!! Easy stuff. In fact, I practically pulled my human back down. (She is really slow going down hill and I get a little impatient sometimes.) But we arrived back to our car without incident. 

After Heceta Head, we headed down the coast a ways till we got to Cape Arago State Park. We parked at the Simpson Reef Overlook and watched the sun set over the ocean. So pretty.

We are going to miss those beautiful sunsets!!!

Another wonderful day trip. I'm sure there are some great day trips near you too. So I say again, keep wandering my friends. Keep wandering.