Looming over tiny Yachats is the impressive bulk of 800-foot-high
Cape Perpetua, the highest spot on the Oregon coast filled with views
of the cape's rugged beauty and diversity of natural habitats.
Waves
and tides are a year-round source of fascination along these rocky
shores, and Cape Perpetua's tide pools are some of the best on the
coast. There's good acces
Below at the Devil's Churn waves boil through
a narrow opening in the rocks and crash back upon one another
in a tumultuous churning, exploding with a resounding WHOAMP into
colossal cascades of spray that send wave-whipped foam flying in
all directions. The foam is made up of millions of minute skeletons
of microscopic plants that live in the sea and is caused by the increased
wave action created by stormy weather. Even if you know this intellectually,
it still looks like soapsuds.
Nearby lies Cooks Chasm and a Spouting
Horn which is caused by waves crashing into a narrow fissure in the
basalt shoreline sends geyser-like plumes of water skyward lies below.
Today we were treated with clear blue skies and massive waves (swells
almost 20ft) crashing on shore. All the benefits of storm churned
waves without the weather. The air was filled with a salt-mist and
sights and sounds before us were captivating. |