We were here for four nights with mostly good weather. At times a bit cool (we were by the ocean) but nice enough for walks and bike rides. Susan was agreeable to ride to the town of Manzanita and back for about a 12 mile ride — avoiding hills (almost).
The beginning of our ride was along trails from the park to the road that led us to Manzanita. First look as we entered the trail was a rather eerie looking forest.
Be Aware!
Susan rides on down the trail…
…waits for me to ride toward her. Sure does look like autumn has come upon us.
We reached Manzanita for the ride along the shore line for a bit of ocean ogling.
I can never get too much ocean viewing.
The route took us up a rather steep hill to another steep hill which we opted out of ;’-) One was enough for this ride, which was far from flat!
The route took us up a rather steep hill to another steep hill which we opted out of ;’-) One was enough for this ride, which was far from flat!
We met Penelope and Barb as they were (as we were) searching for library wifi, and had lunch at a place they had suggested before our return to camp.
Susan could not help but give me some more time on unpaved trail…
Thankfully that trail was short and brought us to a close up view of a Manzanita Bay shoreline.
Later in the day we invited Cara, another camper, to join us on a walk on the beach. She said yes and we trudged up the soft sandy hill to reach the wide, hard sand of the beach.
Sand dunes of course.
And beach sand hard enough for vehicles to drive on.
The following day, me not having enough bike riding 😏, I took off for another ride. The beginning was basically the same as Susan and I had done the day before, but I continued on for the ride through Newhalem and then my turn around point, the town of Wheeler.
As I again skirted the shoreline of Manzanita, I stopped for the Drifting Sands photo ;’-)…
…and the leaving Tsunami photo.
Not a sign you often ride up over!
Departing town, I had a couple of mighty hills to climb that I know I would have achingly trudged and pushed without my pedal assist. I made it to continue my ride on Rte 101. It is often a busy highway, but it had enough shoulder and only intermittent traffic to make me feel safe and comfortable enough to ride. I crossed the bridge over Nehalem Bay.
Fishing boats coming through from the other side.
I found this true Nurse Log — more a Nurse Tree — out in the bay.
A couple more bayside shoreline shots.
And then the old fishing village.
This was my U-turn spot where I fortunately found a public restroom ;’-). There was not much to this town, and as I started out of town I mused how these small towns on the west coast are old and weathered and sometimes with abandoned buildings and boarded up businesses. This is unlike some of the small shoreside towns on the east coast which are often charming and attract many tourists; or the unique little villages in Europe that seem to maintain their charm and beauty. Perhaps the rough weather and the hard life for those who live here on the coast make it less likely to maintain charm and vitality as tourist a town. Many of the small fishing villages are just that and may always be that.
This would end my (our) adventure at Nehalem State Park as we began our goodbyes to those we have met. The PW club had a farewell continental breakfast for us, and we joined Penelope and Barb at their site for farewell morning coffee/tea and shared breakfast time with them.
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