Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area

8/1
We left Bullards Beach State Park heading north to South Beach State Park, just south of Newport, OR.

Somewhere  on 101 heading north toward Newport OR. 

Camp site at South Beach State Park.

Our reason for stopping here was to visit Steve and Laura, the couple we met dry camping at China Creek as Plover hosts. They were guiding kayak tours out of a small welcome center called Beaver Creek just south of Newport.  We had dinner together Friday evening at a Pizza place in Waldport OR, a few miles to the south.

8/2

The next day our friends were busy so we headed into Newport to play tourist.

Art-Deco Yaquina Bay bridge.

Our first stop was the Newport visitors center where we learned of a few places that might be of  interest.  There are two lighthouses in and around Neport, the Yaquina Bay lighthouse...

 ...and the Yaquina Head lighthouse just north of town.

Since our campground was south of town, we decided to start at the northern most point and work our way south. That meant our first stop was the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area.

Yaquina Head is managed by The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the word "Outstanding" has a special meaning in their hierarchy of natural areas.  Our first stop at Yaquina Head was the Interpretative Center.

Yaquina Head Interpretative Center from atop Salal hill.

It had become my practice to seek out the local volunteer coordinator, introduce ourselves and find out what sort of volunteer (work camping) opportunities there are.  I walked up to the info. desk and asked if there was someone available I could talk to about volunteer opportunities..  The lady behind the desk, a volunteer herself, got a big smile on her face, raised one finger and said "... wait right here!"

A few minutes later, Kath (the volunterr cordinator) walked out with a paper in her hand.  As it turns out, they had someone leave unexpectedly with a health issue and they had an immediate opening. We had a short meeting with Kath to find out about the duties then said we'd think about it. The camping area only had 3 sites for the volunteers on a high bluff overlooking Agate beach and Newport to the south.  This was a great opportunity.  We could spend a month experiencing a new area that usually required a 3 month commitment and the job sounded like fun.  A half hour later we signed up.  We walked in as tourists and walked out with a job!

The next day we checked out of South Beach State Park and set up our new home site for the next month at Yaquina Head.

All setup at Yaquina Head.

Agate beach overlook from camp area.

We'd be on duty 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, just like our last job with Oregon State Parks.  Our duties consisted of 3 basic activities.
1- Man the front desk. Answering questions, signing up people for light house tours and guiding guests to various activities in the park.
2- Assists visitors navigating the Tide Pool during low tide, helping them identify all the creatures and keep them and the creatures safe.
3- Kit Scope Rove.  The key word here was rove.  We'd walk the more populated areas of the park answering questions, sometime with binoculars, sometime with a telescope and various kits that identified charicteristics of various animals like Harbor Seals or Gray Whales.

We were given a 124 page book detailing the history, geology, wild life and just about anything you'd want to know about the area. The book was usually sent to hosts a month or so before they started. We had a lot of studying to do!

Here's some pictures from our time a Yaquina Head....

Joan and Laura on Cobble beach.

Looking down on Cobble beach.

As part of our training, we were assigned to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Hatfield Marine Science Center and some local museums, on a work day.

Looking down on our camp from Communications Hill.

View from Salal hill.

Stegosaurus Rock!

Beginning lighthouse tour with guide in period dress.

Alligator rock

Us on the information desk.

Here's some of the critters we found in our Tidepools...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Foulweather

Corallinales  (Coralline Algee)

Gumboot Chiton

Orange Sea Star

Purple Sea Urchin and Green Anemone

More Critters found in the Oregon Tidepools.

On one of our days off, we took a short 10 mile drive north to Depot Bay, famous for Whale viewing.

Along the way, we stopped at Cape Foulweather

Last Sunset before we leave.

All Hooked up and ready to go in the morning.

9/6
We really enjoyed our time at Yaquina Head!  The entire staff and other volunteers were a joy to work with.  If the opportunity presented itself, we'd love to do it again.

We worked through Labor Day, but now we were behind schedule as we had an appointment on 9/15 in north eastern Wyoming to get Solar installed on the camper.

The predominant summer weather on the Oragon coast was dry, but on the day we left is was cold gray and drizzly.

Coming next, Heading East and Glacier National Park.