On the Coast with Brendan

Today Brendan and I drove south down the coast to Sunset Bay and Cape Arago to
hike along the shore in the state parks there.  It was a beautiful
day in the sun and I think Brendan really enjoyed getting out of CorVegas for the weekend.  We stopped at A&W for a burger before starting our hike because we were on empty stomaches.  The ocean was blasting the cliffs all day which made for some unbelievable pictures.  We also saw hundreds of Sea Lions
lying on the beaches and out on Simpson's Reef getting trashed by the surf.  We came upon really neat terraces of sedimentary rock
that were eroding around more resistant clusters of rock  in them leaving the land looking like something you'd see on another planet.  Check out the picture.  We ended up hiking a strange trail inland out to Cape Arago and then followed the Oregon Coast Trail along the shore back to the truck at Sunset Bay. 
    After Sunset Bay we drove to the Umpqua Sand dunes.  I can't wait to come back here in a month or two with my buddies from Corvallis for a weekend of ATV rentals and bbq's.   There are also shops for sandboarding, a new sport that is blowing up on
the coast and on sand dunes around the U.S.  There are actually boards made specifically for the sport with special slick coatings on the base to help them rocket down sand dunes faster.   We stopped at one store and heard about some local guy named Josh that throws 50' backflips in the dunes.  Crazy!  Anyway, Brendan and I
found a cool trail that took us over some of the largest sand dunes in the park.  We climbed up the first one and were amazed at the site from the top.  It really did look like we were suddenly in the middle of a vast desert.  We took off our shoes and started hiking over the dunes towards the sea but it was 8:15 already so we decided to head back so that we could leave before the gate was locked and we were stuck in the parking lot.   Before we left the dunes we got some funny videos of me cartwheeling down them and then climbing up the steep slopes.  We had a long 2 hour drive back to Corvallis from the coast and I don't plan on doing anything tonight besides writing this blog... :)

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