Day 5. Cape Perpetua


Darlingtonia State Natural Site

Our first stop was a field of cobra lilies. These plants are pitcher plants that can catch and "eat" insects. Super cool to see so many of them.


Sea Lion Caves

This is a place where you can see sea lions on the rocks and inside a cave. It was a super foggy day, so there was not much scenery outside to see besides sea lions. Then you take an elevator to go down to a cave to see more sea lions. It was about $20 per person for entrance, and I am not sure it was worth it. 


Cape Perpetua Visitor Center - Siuslaw National Forest

We went to the visitor center, paid $7 to get a parking permit since I threw away the previous one at Ecola Park. The ranger there told us the tide information and the cool places to see. Since we were at low tide and many areas nearby were better at high tide, we decided to visit the Heceta Head Lighthouse first. 

Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint

While the road Summer St looked like a path to the lighthouse on the map, it is a private road. The correct direction is to drive to "Heceta Beach Parking" on Google Map, park there using our parking permit, and then hike to the lighthouse. 

The beach was nice and had picnic tables. We had lunch there (we bought lunch from a grocery store in Florence earlier).

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area 

We waited till high tide to visit this area. There are three super cool spots.
  • Devil's Churn is a narrow cut in the coastline where waves push ocean water churning forever. You really have to be there to hear the sound and feel the power of the water. 
  • Spouting Horn is a blowhole where waves push water to spout like geysers.
  • Thor's Well is a sinkhole that is near the Spouting Horn. It is closer to the ocean than the Spouting Horn. I went there to see it but Claire and Ethan thought it was not safe. It was really majestic. With each wave, the well would fill up and then drain quickly. 

Florence

We then drove back to Florence and had dinner at Los Compadre's. I had Camarones a la Diabla and it was good. We then went back to the hotel to sleep.





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