Bayocean, the "Silver Beach"

Once the site of a resort, the development that was Bayocean was reclaimed by the sea.  Located at the south entrance to Tillamook Bay, north of and at the foot of Cape Meares, it's a beach we like to visit for its beauty.

 When we first "discovered" it, many of the logs lying on the beach were still standing as dead snags, silvered by the sun and the salt air. The combination of the trees and the driftwood and the rocks caused me to name it the "Silver Beach" You can still see some of that today. 

 We looked for heart rocks.  Found some!

Old Growth Forest in Oswald West State park

If you want easy access to a primordial forest, this is it.  Right on Hwy 101, it's an easy walk on well maintained paths through the big trees and amazing bio-mass that is a temperate rain forest.  And at the end of the trail, you get a beach and more ocean views!

Let's take a walk.

 Since you can't very easily see the tops, you can tell the kind of tree by the bark.  These Sitka spruce have scaly bark. 

 Cal you tell it gets wet here?

 We were following the McAllister Creek Trail. 

 This huge spruce will soon be a host to other life, as it is now dead, as you can see from its crown. 

 Just like these dead-wood hosts. 

 Peek-a-boo.  This tree originally grew on a nurse log.  The log rotted away and left this living sculpture. 

There are choices. 

Of course we had to walk on the beach too. 

 And then we selected another trail to take us back through the forest. 

 Someone had fun.  When trees fall naturally, the trails have to be cleared, so you see cut ends of logs. 

 I do love big trees!

I hope you enjoyed the walk!

Garibaldi

Garibaldi is a small coastal town on Tillamook Bay.  It was once the site of a huge lumber mill, and still has a busy hardwood mill. It is also a fishing village, with salmon trawlers and shrimp boats still tied at the docks, and many private and charter boats as well.  Fishing in the bay is done in small boats and the larger boats go out across the bar into the ocean to fish.

Because of the decline of fish, the fisheries have fallen on hard times. The old work boats are not so active any more, but they are still full of character. 

 Out on the docks, in this old boat shop, is a business we love to check in on.  This is where we bought our Wind Spinner.

 We stopped by to tell the elderly gentleman who still makes them how much we love ours. He only sells them here, and they are precision made stainless steel works of art. 

The apple fritters at the Bayfront Bakery are works of art too.  Yum.