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.

Plover Host at Bullards Beach State Park, Oregon

6/30
We arrived back at Bullards Beach State Park and setup on our new campsite. The first house we bought back in 1978 was on a corner lot.  After that we vowed to never live on a corner lot again, but here we were on the corner of the entrance to the "C" loop.

Oh-well, we'll only be here for a month!

7/1
Today was orientation day.  The morning was full of information about the park and the general area.  At 1PM we took charge of the "Plover Mobile" and headed out to the China Creek overlook where we'd be spending 4 hours a day for the next month.  Steve and Laura (the couple we met that got us the gig) were still on duty, dry camping in the parking lot.

They would become our primary trainers over the next few days till they moved on to another assignment. This was an unusual benefit for us, the on-coming host usually never spends any time with the people they relieve.  Steve & Laura explained how the Western Snowy Plover is an endangered shore bird that laid their eggs on the dry sand just above the high tide water line.  We were to educate beach goers about the birds so they would be aware and not disturb the nests or the parenting birds.

Another tough day on the beach.

Looking north for beach goers, with dogs. Dogs not
allowed in the 12 mile protected area to the south.

We had some interesting visitors to the China Creek beach assess.

This fellow was touring the US, riding from the east coast, near New York, to the west coast.  He stopped at China Creek on his way up the coast  to Canada for the return trip to the east.

There were many people cycling down 101 from Washington to it's southern terminus south of San Diego.  This couple was only going a few hundred miles.

7/21

A beach goer told us about some eggs amongst  the drift wood just north of China Creek. Joan and the girl went down to the beach to see if they could find them again.  Sure enough, they were Snowy Plover eggs. The location on the beach was not typical and there didn't appear to be any adults around so we thought the eggs had been abandoned.  The next morning the biologist examined the eggs and found they WERE viable with an adult nearby and should hatch a few days before our tour as Plover Host was over.   A new perimeter was set up to keep people away and we were excited that we might see some chicks hatch after all.  When we arrived there were two nests and 6 eggs just below our overlook, none of the checks survived. 

Close up of actual nest as we were marking it for the biologists.

They really do blend in.

A few days before the hatch date, we learned a Raccoon had found the nest and eaten the eggs. We were very disappointed.

7/25
On one of our days off, the weather was unusually warm (low 70's) and the wind calmed to a gentle breeze so we decided to go down to the beach near Devils Kitchen and play tourist.

The end of a pleasant afternoon.

See Joan sitting on rocks.

The businesses in Bandon OR had some interesting names, here's a few examples...

The Oregon coast has a fault line just 10 miles off shore.  If there was an earth quake, everyone is supposed to immediately seek high ground via a Tsunami Evacuation Route. One afternoon Joan and I hiked the short trail to the only high ground in the campground.

Here's some pictures from the Bandon area.

A frequent visitor to the China Creek overlook.

Our month as Plover Host over, we left Bullards Beach State Park on Aug.1, heading north to Newport OR to visit some new friends.

Coming next, Newport OR and Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area