Middle of the winter in Portland can mean a warm and beautiful day. When that happens, there’s nothing better than getting in your car and heading out to the coast for a little hike and magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean. My intention for this day was to go around Devil’s Cauldron and then track back, cross the highway and head up Neahkahnie Mountain. What made me change my mind was a low cloud hanging around the top of the mountain that would have obscured any possible views. It still ended up being a great day. We started from the Oswald West State Park following the trail to the beach where we could see some surfers enjoying the waves. From there, we hiked to the edge of the park were a hanging bridge gets you to the trail that stats climbing the head pretty fast in a dense coastal forest. On that trail we passed one tree that I’ve like. In the pictures you’ll see that the trunk is divided and lands on both sides of the trail. From the distance it looks like a dinosaur crossing the trail. Soon after we were up on the head with more than a couple of nice views of the ocean. After passing the second forested area we came to the meadow that sits around the Devil’s Cauldron. Most hikers go to the left where you end up at a view point with a fence that overlooks the cliff and the ocean. We, trying to experiment a bit, followed a very trail to the other side that climbed to the tree line on the other side. Right at the edge, we found a small flat area that had amazing views view of the ocean a couple hundred feet bellow and the cauldron to the back. Rather than stop there for a bit and then continue, we decided to stay there and spend a couple of hours relaxing in the sun and enjoying the views before heading back… and all this in the middle of winter!
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