Saturday, November 10, 2018
Greg and I drove to the coast today for a three-day weekend and WOW did we luck out with gorgeous weather! We have hiked the trail up Neahkahnie Mountain’s south side several time (most recently in January) but today decided to hike up the south side. Lots of other people had the same idea and we had to lurk like vultures in the trailhead parking area and swoop in to take a spot as someone left.
The first stretch of trail has some open areas that allowed us to see the ocean:
That’s Cape Falcon, a hike we did in January:
The trail is in pretty bad shape. It’s badly eroded with lots of exposed roots:
And in places where people have cut the switchbacks, the trail is eroding down the hill:
After a 2.3-mile hike up the mountain we made it to the top, where we scrambled up the last little bit to the rocky summit. On this beautiful day we were definitely not alone. There were so many people up there it sounded like a crowded restaurant. But the view was fantastic. This is the iconic view looking south along the coast at Manzanita, Nehalem Bay, and beyond:
After hanging out on the summit for awhile we headed back down. To our surprise we passed several groups heading up, probably to watch the sunset from up there. I would NOT want to hike this trail in the dark. It is just too rough. As we neared the end we were awash in golden light from the sinking sun:
We headed south on Highway 101 and found our Airbnb, and octagonal-shaped cabin between Nehalem and Manzanita. This place was great! What a perfectly cozy place to hang out with a book next to the fire. We would definitely stay here again.
