Hiking Cape Lookout on Mother's Day
HIKING CAPE LOOKOUT ON MOTHER'S DAY
My wife decided that she wanted to spend the day at the Oregon Coast for Mother's Day. We decided to head out early Sunday morning and start our day at Cape Lookout State Park hiking the 2.5 mile trail to the end of the cape. While hiking probably wasn't her first choice for relaxation that day, I encouraged her that it would be a beautiful hike and would be worth the trek in. When we arrived at the trailhead, there was still a cool mist in the air and the skies didn't seem to promise sunshine anytime soon.
The first half of the trail was great, however the last mile of the trail was a muddy, slippery mess. My kids absolutely loved it though and could not resist the temptation of jumping in every mud puddle along the way.
As we slowly trudged through the sloppy mess of mud, I could tell by the look on my wife's face that I was going to probably regret my decision of taking her hiking on Mother's Day. I was really hoping that somewhere along the trail we would catch a glimpse of a whale, knowing that would at least offer some payoff.
It was a good hour and a half hike before we finally made it to the end of the cape. We all plopped down on the rocks and took in the beautiful view and soaked in the warmth of the sun as the clouds began to part. As we we sat and enjoyed our lunch, I caught a sound off in the distance that offered a flash of hope. I jumped to my feet and began scanning the water below. Much to my surprise, there was a large gray whale basking in the water below. It's no wonder why people say that whale watching at Cape Lookout offers some of the best opportunities to see whales along the Oregon Coast. They were beautiful and so large and majestic. Definitely the closest we had ever been to seeing whales.
We must have watched two or three gray whales for half an hour before we decided to head back. Just before we were about to leave, we heard a helicopter approaching from the other side of the cape. A Coast Guard helicopter buzzed around the corner and was amazingly at eye level with us. It was pretty cool!
We made it back to the car and decided to drive down to Newport, OR and see if we could catch one of the great Oregon Coast attractions, the tide pools in Yaquina Head. Unfortunately, the tide was too high to enjoy any of the tide pools.
We decided it would be fun to go play on the beach since the sun was out. The warmth of the sunshine felt amazing! We soaked in as much of it as we could while we watched our kids play on the beach.
It was such a rewarding day to know that my wife enjoyed her Mother's Day, even though it got off to a rocky start (more like a muddy start). The highlight of the day was watching the whales and she definitely said it was one of the best hikes in Oregon that we've done.
