Above the Wide Pacific

Tillamook Head Trail near Seaside, Oregon ~ June 27, 2009

A short drive from Astoria begins the trail over Tillamook Head. Click here for earlier blog posts using images taken on this remarkable trail.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

"Terrible Tillie," Tillamook Rock Light, or Desolation Row

Tillamook Head Trail, Oregon ~ June 27, 2009

You can see Tillamook Head Lighthouse, or Tillamook Rock Light from several places along the Tillamook Head trail. It helps to have binoculars, or in this case, a camera with a zoom.

"Terrible Tillie" was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1881 as a lighthouse. In 1980, it was purchased privately and turned into a columbarium (mausoleum). There were some problems with record-keeping and regulations, and after about 30 burials the license was revoked in 1999 and was not renewed on reapplication in 2005. You can read more via the link above.

Here is a view from farther south on the trail. Notice how the vegetation has changed due to the southern exposure.

What an amazing place this would be to watch a storm. The lighthouse was damaged over the years due to storms, including rocks thrown up by the waves and hitting the side of the building.

January 16, 2012: I am revisiting this post today to take part in Taphophile Tragics. Please take a look!

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

On the Tillamook Head Trail

Tillamook Head Trail, Oregon ~ June 27, 2009

This is one of the views of vegetation along the Tillamook Head trail (you can see Tillamook Head from Seaside in yesterday's post). This is what the vegetation looks like in one spot. The amazing thing to me is how much and how rapidly it changed all along the trail of several miles. I'll show you more later, and I'll also show views from the top. For much of the trail, you're encased in dense forest, but there are points where you can look out over the ocean. The orange berries are salmonberries, found along the coast from Alaska to California. By the way, here is a fantastic aerial overview photo showing the trail. You can also see that this is one of the places to see undistrubed old-growth trees, because you'll see the brown logged patches in the photo.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Searching for dragons on Tillamook Head

This enchanting photo is courtesy of our first guest photographer, Daryl Moore. Among other things, Daryl is President of Astoria FOG. More about that organization in a minute. Daryl posted some pix on Facebook a few days ago from a hike he and his small son, Benton, took on the incredibly beautiful Tillamook Head trail, hunting dragons, as the captions said on Facebook. (Daryl didn't say what they planned to do if they'd found any.)

The north end of the trail starts about 25 minutes from Astoria on the coast just south of Seaside. Lee and I took this hike a few weeks ago, and on that day it looked less like a site of a dragon's lair, as the sun was shining brightly without the mist. If you hike over Tillamook Head and don't continue on the southern extension along a bluff overlooking the beach, you have walked about a five and a half miles through exquisite deep forest that is very little changed since the days when the Louis and Clark Expedition found it and made notes that are now part of our country's history. This is one of the most beautiful forest trails I have ever seen.

Whether you take the entire trail, or just hike in part way from one end or the other and come back out, it is a truly memorable place to visit. The forest floor is covered with ferns, the trees stretch to the sky, and you can even see a few old-growth trees that have escaped the loggers. The trail rises steeply from sea level to the edge of Tillamook Head, overlooking the ocean. The views through the trees are few, but breathtaking. We watched at least three bald eagles cavorting in the air above us, while the rocky beach was hundreds of feet below.

Now, here's the promised info about Astoria FOG:

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Astoria FOG is a consortium of individuals and businesses that work to promote and market the arts and crafts industry in the Astoria, Oregon area.

We believe that a strong arts community is a significant benefit to the community at large. Because of this, we work tirelessly to promote and market the arts to benefit both the businesses that participate in FOG and the community in which these businesses participate.

FOG works hard to help promote and market its member businesses and artists by: providing group marketing efforts; producing educational seminars for members to help them better market their art and businesses; encouraging new arts and crafts businesses to establish in Astoria; providing additional channels for members to market themselves, including FOG’s Facebook Page, Twitter Feed, and website; and more!

Participation in FOG is available in several forms: Business Membership, Artist Membership, General and Program Sponsor.

Contact FOG for more information:

Astoria FOG

PO Box 966
Astoria, OR 97103

Daryl Moore

info@astoriafog.org
503.338.8799

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Earlier, when I had asked about the acronym, Daryl wrote: "You nailed it Sheryl. Astoria FOG was originally conceived by a few galleries in town, so the name Astoria FOG stood for Friends of Galleries. But although we loved the name (since it's often foggy in a beautiful way around here) we instantly recognized that FOG is not about just the galleries, but it's about the business of Art in all forms. That includes music and crafts. So we kept FOG, but added the tagline 'Friends of the Arts' -- because that is what we strive to be."

So, there you go. Any questions? :)

I'm submitting this lovely photo as my entry for Watery Wednesday. Please see that site for more pix about water in various forms. Not to mention, it's drizzling again today while the rest of the country bakes! It's a tough job living here, but somebody has to do it!