June, 2021
After this morning’s drive to that super high hill with the Column on top of it and the views of the surrounding countryside and rivers of just a tiny bit of Oregon … after that, and then after lunch back at my campsite, I drove to the beach, the ocean beach, the Pacific Ocean beach. Some of you will know what my goal is, but others of you won’t have a clue. I’m not going to give it away. 🙂
And neither is this fellow below who trotted along beside my big white truck for a little bit on my drive to the beach. I finally stopped the truck, opened the passenger window, hoping to get a photo. He stopped too!
The photo below is a portion of the photo above, cropped and enlarged. Notice that there are TWO horn knobs on each side of his head in the photo below. I’ve not seen that before, though there are lots of things that I haven’t seen before. Is this usual? Is this unusual?
He’s a handsome fellow that’s for certain.
Approximately a nano-second later, he noticed something behind him and turned to look.
I zoomed in with my camera lens to get a detailed look at him. The photo below is not a cropped section of the photo above … you can prove that by looking at the shadow of his ear that shows up on his back in both photos … it’s different in the photo above from the photo below. He really did stand there for several seconds staring at the roadway behind us. I liked that he was more concerned (or maybe just more interested) in what was going on behind us than he was concerned about me.
What a gorgeous guy. As always, click on photos to enlarge them.
And then he trotted off into the trees, and I continued on down the road in my truck. During this 15 minute drive this afternoon, I was completely inside the campground/park of Fort Stevens State Park (it’s huge). I was driving from my campsite and heading to a parking lot that was right next to the ocean beach … in fact, it was ON the ocean beach. Even the last bit of roadway out to the beach had beach sand all over it … and the parking “lot” was solid beach sand.
Here’s a video (below) of the last 5 minutes or so of my drive.
I’ll apologize right off for the reflections on the windshield of the truck in the video. It’s the top of my dashboard that’s reflecting. I’m not sure how to stop that but I think if I get a soft black cloth and cover the top of the dash with that cloth then that reflection won’t happen. I’ll give it a try.
But otherwise, the video below is the last portion of my drive from my campsite out to the ocean beach.
The road took me through acres and acres of Pacific coast trees, all of it inside this huge state park. Eventually you’ll see vehicles parked directly in front of me, but I don’t go straight out there to where they are parked. I had scoped out that area before-hand to find that the road into that parking lot takes a nose dive down into a large dip in the sand and then stops at a concrete wall, so I turned left instead and drove up onto the beach that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Wow. I wish I’d had my truck windows open so that I could share the sound of the ocean with you. But I hope you enjoy the view.
About half way through this video, notice the separate walking/biking trail off to the left of the roadway. This place has been so well planned and executed and is so welcoming to everyone.
AND, at the very end of the video, you’ll see what attracts so many people to this particular beach. The tide was in, the tide was high, so the attraction is partially submerged. But I will return another day this week at low tide and get lots of photos to share with you. As usual, click on the large square in the lower right hand corner of the video to make it play in full-screen mode. Turn your sound on, but please ignore my grunts and groans, ha! 🙂
Watch the video first … then you can read the following paragraph here. But watch the video first.
That ship is an old, old steel-hulled sailing ship (built in 1890) that ran aground here during a massive Pacific Ocean storm many years ago (1906 actually) and it has remained buried in the sand in this “graveyard of the Pacific” ever since. As mentioned, I’ll be back out to this beach in a day or so, when the tide is low so I can get right next to the bow of that ship. Stay tuned.
A lovely drive. I was surprised the deer let you get so close. I’m looking forward to hearing about the old sailing ship. There must be quite a story!
Thank you, Henry. I was surprised as well. When it did finally head into the woods, it seemed to me it was avoiding whatever it saw behind it. He seemed comfortable with me alongside. Yes, quite the story of that old sailing ship coming up.
A beautiful drive. I’m surprised about the little deer too. Maybe he’s too young to realize he’s supposed to stay away from people and big white trucks (and any other color vehicle as well). The ship is interesting that it’s been there so long and still has so much shape. It’s been under the sand, right, so much of the beach has washed out this year?
You are paying attention! 🙂 Ok, I’ll share just a little info about the ship here. Yes indeed, as time went on, more and more of the ship was buried in sand, and of course more and more of the steel/iron structure was worn away. When I was at the ship later in the week this week, at low tide, a fellow who lives there locally and who grew up there told me that maybe 12-15 years ago, a LOT more of the ship was buried than what we see today. And then a Park Ranger later in the week also told me that because of global warming and rising sea levels, the action of ocean waves here has increased and .. no it hasn’t brought in more sand .. in fact it has removed sand so more of the ship shows now than has shown in the past several years. I have lots more to share about this process in the next blog, but I had to say at least this much since you mentioned it Dawn. My readers are the best! 🙂
If you can enlarge that fourth photo on your device enough, the deer has gorgeous eyelashes. 🙂
Ha! I hadn’t noticed that! Indeed, he’s a gorgeous lad. 🙂
I think many animals have a sense of who’s safe and who isn’t. Although, for you to come to a complete stop, with your engine running, and still he simply stood there next to your truck, that’s amazing. Maybe even your big white truck communicates with animals. I wouldn’t be surprised. 🙂
Ha yes! I think my big white truck does that indeed. 🙂 She’s a very courteous truck, and very safe to be around.
Love the drive, even with the reflections. It’s so relaxing.
Janey
Thanks, Janey.
Wildlife seem to love you, or at least be comfortable around you … so many birds and deer and elk and rabbits and even fish seem to just hang around whenever you are near. Lovely drive.
Thanks, Ruby. I love to hang around them too, and feel strongly that I’m the interloper, so maybe they sense that and feel safe.
Love the deer. Am amazed by the ship, more please!
More coming soon, I promise! 🙂
A nice little excursion; handsome deer! Very cool to get so close to him.
It was such a sweet drive/excursion, really special.