Birthday Camping Trip

To help celebrate Dana’s birthday we went on a camping trip up the Gorge. We started our adventure out near The Dalles on the Washington side. In Horsetheif SP is a wonderful collection of Native American rock art. Back in the day this area was a great gathering place for people from the coast to Idaho. They all came for the salmon. Near this spot was a canyon with lots of rock art on it representing many different cultures and styles. But when The Dalles Dam was built that canyon went underwater. Some of the art was saved, but most of it was lost. The pieces that were saved were placed here, near some art still above water.

Here are some of the petroglyphs that were saved:

We then went on a hiking tour to some other petroglyphs (art carved in the rock) and pictographs (art painted on rock). To take this hike you have to be on a tour that only runs twice a week.

Here is the River Spirit (a salmon).

Tsagaglalal or “She Who Watches” is the main attraction. Legend says she was once a great chief that was chosen to watch over her people forever.

It was something very neat to see and we are glad we took the time.

Magnus hiking the bluffs.

Next we went to Catherine Creek to see the Arch. It was pretty cool.

We found this little western skink:

That night we camped at Panther Creek. My good friend Brian came out to camp with us. We had a good dinner of shashlik and toasted marshmallows for dessert.

The next day was Brian’s birthday. We went up to Panther Creek Falls

I was also able to get down to the lower falls, which I had not seen before.

Brian then took us to a place he used to swim a lot. The area behind us was once a lake, but the dam that created it has been removed, so the river been returned to its original course.

We also found this little newt. Magnus thought it was very nice.

We had a good time camping and we saw some new places. Good times in the Gorge.

Yaquina, Devil’s Churn and Thor’s Well: Beach trip Day 2

The second day of our beach adventure started with Anton and Elina meeting up with us and a little trip to Yaquina Head. This is a very beautiful place with lots of great views and a lighthouse.

The rocks there are home to many different animals, especially birds. We also got to see a group of harbor seals and a very large sea lion.

Ivan and Terry had to head back after that to catch an airplane. The rest of us went further south to Cape Perpetua. We stopped first at Devil’s Churn, a narrow inlet that is a great place to see some crashing waves.

Here is the view from the tip of the Churn. Watching the water inside you can really see where it got it’s name.

Elina silhouetted by a wave:

This is also my favorite place to see tide pools. We had fun finding lots of animals including this sea urchin and some fan worms. Magnus thought the urchin was pretty cool and kept wanting to hold it.

Next we went to Cook’s Chasm. Here you can find Thor’s Well, a collapsed cave that still has an opening to the ocean. This lets the water fill it up and often makes waves shoot out of it. It was very cool.

Here is Little Thor and his well:

Also, this is the spot where you can sea the Sea Spout go off if the tide is high enough. We wanted to see it, but we had to wait:

Eventually we did see it go off once before we had to leave:

We had a great time on the coast and it was fun to hang out with some family as well. Thanks Ivan and Terry for inviting us out there.