Most of my geocaching adventures occur on the Oregon coast where I live. Today’s excursion takes place along a beautifully rugged segment just south of Gold Beach at Cape Sebastian.
I have lived, worked and played on the Oregon Coast since 1979 and thought myself highly familiar with it. That is, until I started geocaching! A common saying among geocachers is “I would have never known about that great spot if someone hadn’t placed a geocache there”.
One of my favorite portions of Oregon’s coastline is the rugged and generously trailed section between Gold Beach and Brookings. It’s a place I come frequently to hike, explore and geocache.
One memorable excursion in this area took me to the Cape Sebastian trails just south of Gold Beach. My wife dropped me off at one of the scenic vistas where one can see north to Humbug Mountain and south to Meyers Beach below. After a short time of taking pictures and watching brown pelicans cruise just above the ocean surface, I headed south down the trail in pursuit of four new geocaches placed since my last visit here. My ride would be waiting for me at Meyers Beach culminating in a total hike of approximately 2.5 miles and dropping 600 feet in elevation.
The first cache was just a short one quarter mile stroll down the trail lined with short, wind-blown spruce trees and thick brush. The trail came very close to the cliff edges in several places providing spectacular views. The cache was a pretty easy find – a small plastic container nestled near a…. oops, nearly gave away the hiding spot!
Continuing around the next bend in the trail I entered a forest of very dense, taller spruce which blocked most of the sunlight leaving me with the feeling I was entering the realm of hobbits. Short, gnarly tree trunks lined the path as I began descending towards the ocean edge. Another third of a mile brought me to the second cache, a medium-sized army surplus ammo can located just an arm’s length from the thick huckleberry-lined trail. Two down – two to go.
The trail dropped pretty quickly after this point, zig-zagging down a steep slope and onto a flat area where the forest gave way to a rocky outcrop about one hundred feet above the ocean. I found the third cache placed in this vicinity poised above a steep cliff with a great view of the broken and rocky edge and was appropriately named – RockyView Point. Before continuing, I checked on another cache nearby that I had found on a previous hike – still there!
As I was leaving this area, I spotted a huge flock of brown pelicans perched on nearby rock outcroppings! I crept towards them for a closer look but spooked them. They scattered quickly.
Proceeding to the fourth and final cache, the trail now hugged the cliff edge around to the east and towards Hunters Cove. This last cache of the day was a fairly easy find just off the trail – a plastic 5-gallon bucket with branches and moss for cover. Getting that darn lid off was way harder than finding it!
The final leg of this trek was about a mile long walk on the beach around Hunters Cove south to a parking turnout at Meyers Beach where my bride was patiently waiting.
Great hiking, awesome scenery and geocaching – one of my favorite ways to spend a day!
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