Turkey Day Adventures

Tip of Cape Falcon

Last Christmas, my grandma gifted the whole family a weekend at the beach for Thanksgiving. Two thanksgivings ago, she took the whole family to Timberline Lodge. Unfortunately for us, they got barely any snow at Timberline by Thanksgiving on that trip. Can’t say the same this year! As my sister, mother and I headed over to Rockaway Beach on Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t help wishing that Grandman had reversed the order of these trips because it was dumping on Mt. Hood. Oh well, the show must go on and there are many fun things to do at the beach as well. I had hoped to go trail running on the Wilson River Trail off Hwy 6 on the way over, but as the storms rolled over the coastal mountain, it was clear that trail running would not be an option. So instead I planned on busting out the snowshoes for a little jaunt in the woods. However, on the way over, the snow levels were not high enough to warrant the appropriate usage of snowshoes so we all suited up for snow winter hiking. We did a little OAB on the WRT heading west. After one difficult creek crossing and fading light, we headed back to the car and finished the drive.

Rockaway Beach

The following day part of the family headed to Cape Lookout State Park to go on a hike or trail run. See the previous post for more detail. When we got back from this trip, it was time for the kite flying contest. While everyone else began flying kites, I donned my wet suit and booties and headed out for some November skimboarding. On my previous skimboarding adventure with Adam in July, I had the misfortune of cracking my skimboard pretty bad. My grandpa and I tried to fix it in time for this trip, but in the end, I had to borrow Adam’s nice foam board. His is suited for deeper water, bigger waves with its surfboardish design, while my Victoria Woodie is completely flat and is perfect for Oregon skimming. The skimboarding went alright, and I got some good rides. The beach however was not as ideal as Google Earth made it seem. While it was perfectly flat in most parts, the beach was plagued with small speed eating pebbles so I had to stay in a small pebble free zone, which limited my distance. That night we had a wonderful thanksgiving meal and spend the evening playing games and taking a stroll on the beach.

On Friday, the weather was pretty stormy in the morning, but I got cabin fever and convinced my father, sisters and uncle to head to a secret beach in Falcon Cove. We jumped in the car during a break in the storm and headed north. I directed them to the gravel pullout for this beach and led the way into the forest. It had been a few years since I had been there so when I saw a spur in the trail I decided to take it to see if there was an easier access point as my route required a rope decent. We ended up finding a complete network of roped trails leading down the side of a cliff on the point of the cove. At first it looked to steep to descend in the wet weather, but eventually I summoned the courage to climb down. This was the kind of adventure that I had been looking for. In the end, Lauren, J and I made it all the way down the ropes and came out on rocks below. We took a few pictures then headed home as the Duck game was on soon.

Cape Falcon Descent

The next morning the Mullaney family got up early and headed back to Portland to go to the Oregon vs Duke basketball game. All in all, it was a great weekend. Relaxing at times and exciting at others.

UNT

Bryan

Uncle J and I

Cove Beach

The Descent