One afternoon on the Oregon Coast we were looking for a new trail to explore, something we haven’t done yet. We’ve done some tidepooling in the morning, but we still had plenty of sunlight and weren’t ready to call it a day yet. By chance, we found one of the most beautiful trails I could imagine, a Nature Conservancy trail, between Otis and Neskowin.
The trail started off in a forested area but soon followed a road for a short time. Though I realized that it was going to be relatively long and uphill, for a while it looked like we’d take a stroll through a small forest to the beach. At least that was our intention since we planned on heading back within an hour.
But we got to a denser, older forest and we slowed down to enjoy it…
It seemed like we walked through the forest for hours. We stopped often, hoping to see wildlife, but other than robins and other birds, we didn’t encounter anything else.
The trail was going uphill, which was becoming increasingly noticeable. Since we weren’t sure where we’d end up, I thought of turning around soon. It was getting close to dinnertime, though we knew the sun would be up late. Finally, the trees were parting and I noticed the end of the forest. The sun was still bright, though it was late afternoon.
We found ourselves in a meadow, on a high cape above the Pacific. We walked a bit farther…
And then we saw the postcard view I didn’t anticipate…
It made the long hike worth every minute. Of course, we enjoyed walking in the forest just as much. But this was one of those moments where I just stood there, transfixed, hardly believing that I was actually seeing this.
Moments like this make me want to hit the trail every chance I get.
