Heceta Head Lighthouse, a Classic Bridge, Kayaking, and Dunes… Pacific Coast Series #21

/ Curt Mekemson
Like a moth to a porch light, I’ve always been attracted to lighthouses. There is something about their remote, often scenic, location that I find incredibly romantic. The Heceta Head Lighthouse is one of many located along the Oregon Coast, and is among the most beautiful. At one time or the other, I’ve been to all of them.
It’s hard to beat the lighthouse’s front row seat on the Pacific Ocean. Imagine watching the giant waves crashing ashore from here during a major storm. Or being here when the sun was casting the nearby islands and lighthouse in a warm glow, as it did during our visit.
Naturally, we had to photograph the lighthouse from a number of different perspectives. (Peggy was taking the photo featured on top.)
Heceta Head Lighthouse was built in 1894 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The two islands located next to Heceta Head added to the scenery. The top of the islands hosted nesting cormorants, murres and California sea gulls. We were surprised (and pleased) with how the camera depicted the ocean behind the islands.
A closer look.
The scenery changed to crashing waves at the bottom of the islands.
That left behind hundreds of cascading waterfalls.
This was the head lighthouse keeper’s home. Not bad. It now serves as a B&B.
Calla lilies cascaded down the hillside off to the right of the house. We have found them in every location we have camped at along the coast on our journey north.

Just above the picket fence there was a small gift shop. I’m not sure Peggy has ever found one she didn’t want to visit. Besides, she was on a mission: Looking for octopuses. She’s been searching for them ever since she read a book on their intelligence. She found one and named it Octo.
Leaving Heceta Head we took two more photos. One a beach level photo of the two islands…
And two, this iconic Oregon bridge built over Cape Creek, which flows into the small bay just beneath the lighthouse. The bridge opened in 1932. It was designed by Conde McCullough who was also responsible for designing a number of other classic bridges found along Highway 101 in Oregon.
Back at camp, things got a little strange. Octo immediately climbed up on Bone as a convenient perch for keeping track of what was happening inside and outside of our tiny trailer/house. We thought Bone would go crazy and toss the presuming octopus into the nearest ocean…
But Bone, being Bone, merely thought of Octo as a rather unique new hat he could wear on formal occasions.
While Eeyore, the donkey, moderated a discussion between Bone and Octo about their new living arrangements, Peggy and I prepared to try out our new boats, a pair of Aquaglide, Deschutes 130 inflatable kayaks. I was bit nervous. It wasn’t about the kayaking. We had owned a pair of Innova inflatable kayaks for 25 years and kayaked in such diverse waters as Alaska and the Florida Everglades, the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and the Gulf of California off of Baja. My concern was how our new kayaks would handle. Plus it would be our first time setting them up.
We chose to head out to Cleawox Lake at Honeyman State Park, which is just south of Florence. We had kayaked there before in our Innovas. Setting our new kayaks up turned out to be relatively easy and they handled beautifully.
Here, Peggy is checking out some water lilies. Knowing how much I always enjoy them, she called me over with my camera.
Having got my water lily fix, we kayaked toward one of the coastal sand dunes located at the upper end of the lake. The Oregon Dunes are world famous for their extent and for their appeal to the dune-buggy crowd. I don’t think that the dune buggies are allowed here, but the spots you see a third of the way up the dune are people sand boarding, which is also a popular sport.

I learned a fun fact about the dunes when I was getting my haircut in Florence. The barber, who was a sci-fi fan, noticed me reading a sci-fi book. “Did you know that Frank Herbert was inspired to write Dune by a visit he made to the Oregon Dunes in the late 50s researching a magazine article he was writing about how people were trying to control the flow of the sand over roads and trails in Florence.” Researching the story when I got back to camp, I found several articles that confirmed the fact.

That’s a wrap for today. For our next post we will be in Tillamook, Oregon which is the home of Tillamook ice cream and Tillamook cheese. We will take you to the factory where it is produced. Plus.
This large cow photo, which must be at least 20 feet tall, stands above the entry to the Tillamook Creamery.

23 thoughts on “Heceta Head Lighthouse, a Classic Bridge, Kayaking, and Dunes… Pacific Coast Series #21”

  1. I love that lighthouse! The close up photos are great. We saw it from a distance when we visited the sea lion caves. The Oregon coast is so beautiful Thanks for taking us along on your travels.

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    • One of my favorites! Glad you enjoyed it. The long distance photos we took were from close to the Sea Lion Cave so they would have been close to what you saw. Happy to have you along! Thanks.

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  3. What a wonderful visit to the Oregon coast. I’ve always liked lighthouses because of their remote locations, I think. Maybe I was a lighthouse keeper in another life?

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  5. Gorgeous lighthouse, Curt. Are these your new kayaks? Love the colors and great shots you got. Can’t wait to explore all of Oregon I missed in your next post. I was going to refer everyone to your Big Foot post in Oregon but scrolled and couldn’t find it. I’ve been a little undone. hugs and love ❤️

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  6. I don’t know if there’s a more picturesque site for a lighthouse. It’s impossible to pass through that area without stopping.

    Octo looks to be an excellent addition to the menagerie. He’ll be well armed to contribute to stories, much like Bone and Eeyore.

    I’ve only done a little kayaking. I’ve liked it, but it’s not like I need yet another hobby…

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    • It could serve as a Platonic model of what a lighthouse should look like, Dave.
      Octo fits right in although there have been some questions of territory between the three.
      We’ve enjoyed kayaking ever since we took a year off in 1999-2000, Dave. Peggy loves it, and, at 81, it’s a good sport. We do stay away from serious white water, however. Grin.

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  7. I know that light house! What a beauty! I also love the one at Cape Disappointment in the Long Beach area! We had a great little trip and Marrowstone Island is a beauty with many parks, old houses and wonderful scenery. And by the way, my friend writer Bill Ransom was a great friend of Frank Herbert. Bill is a sci-fi writer. You might look him up! Onward!

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  9. That is such a pretty lighthouse, Curt. It’s one of my favorites along the Oregon Coast and I’ve visited most of them. You got a great shot of the lighthouse overlooking those cliffs. And I’m glad you had fun kayaking. It looked like the perfect conditions for lily pads. Dune? I didn’t know that the Oregon Dunes inspired the book. That’s very cool, but I’m glad we don’t have giant worms. 🙂 Happy Travels, my friend.

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