June 24, 2011 – Tillamook Rock Lighthouse & Young’s River Falls

It rained during the night but Friday morning the sun was shining once again.  We drove back south to the Cannon Beach area to see the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.  When we were there last week it was too overcast and rainy to get a picture of the lighthouse.  Today was clear and sunshiny and we got a great picture.  We had to hike a short distance to an overlook to see the lighthouse. The beach along the way was beautiful.




Tillamook Rock Lighthouse sits 1.2 miles off Tillamook Head and stands 133 feet above sea level with a 62 ft high tower.  Built in 1881 it was called “Terrible Tilly” because of its exposure to storm waves.  This lighthouse is privately owned and was once used as a columbarium, a storage place for ashes of the deceased.  It is currently not being used and looks in need of some TLC.


We have now seen all 9 of the Oregon state lighthouses, 2 in California and 2 in Washington.  We found we really liked seeing the lighthouses, touring the ones we could and hearing their stories.

We took a scenic route back to Astoria on the Young’s River Loop Road.  This area was beautiful – lots of forest and small farms.  We stopped at the Young’s River Falls.  This little cave among the tree roots along the trail was interesting.







The falls were beautiful.  A hunting party from the Lewis and Clark Expedition found these falls while elk hunting.





When we got back to Astoria we went east on Highway 30 and followed the Columbia for a ways.  We stopped at the Twilight Eagle Sanctuary but were able to find only one eagle flying around.  We stopped at the Bradley State Scenic Viewpoint and watch a ship traveling upriver.

After our drive we took the dogs back to the dog park in Warrenton.  They had a great time running around and playing with the other dogs.

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