Cape Falcon Hike

My sixth marathon was on Sunday and Curt rode his bike on the course with me.  It was so fun.  He also took the day off on Monday.  Time together been hard to come by in this current life season of graduate school.  Hooray for a date day.

#selfie.  I really should get a lightweight tripod for hiking.
all photos copyright Jodi Stilp Photography LLC

We did a post-marathon recovery hike at the Oregon coast.  The Cape Falcon trailhead parking lot is located right off Highway 101 a few miles south of Arch Cape.

The five mile round trip hike is rated "easy" in my hiking book, so we expected it to be mostly flat.  Curt and I were both a little surprised at the amount of up and down involved in getting to the top of the cape.  I think we'd rate this hike at the "hard end of the easy" scale or the "low end of the moderate" scale.

The old growth forest we hiked through was stunning.  There's even a hidden waterfall that was really fun to discover.

old growth forest
copyright Jodi Stilp Photography LLC 

Oregon has the strangest trees.

hidden waterfall and creek leading down to the ocean

Once we hiked out of the forest, the trail took us through bushes and brush taller than Curt.  It felt like we were hiking through the inside of a magic garden.

The picnic spot at the top of the cape was sheltered from the wind by the brush and was incredibly beautiful and relaxing.  We could have stayed there all day watching the sea lions (or were they seals?) playing in the water off the end of the cape.

Can you see how muddy my shoes are?

#thuglife #boothang

The only thing I didn't like about this trail was the mud. 70% of the trail was thick, squishy, wet mud - the kind that would suck your shoe off if you tromped right through it. The dogs LOVED the mud.  Kimber laid down in it like a frog, all sprawled out, but I REALLY didn't like it.  We wasted a lot of time picking our way around giant mud pits.  I had just washed my trail shoes, my legs were SORE, and I just wanted to walk on the trail without thinking about it too much.  (I know - #whinypants).

MUDDY dogs!

There were some drop-offs at the top of the cape that would lead to definite injury and/or probable drowning so we kept the dogs on the leash once we got out of the woods.  If we brought our kids, we would establish tight parameters in that area as well.

On the way back, we took a short detour down to the beach and had the dogs wash off in the water before loading their muddy selves into the back of Curt's car.

Cape Falcon was a relatively easy hike with clearly marked trails.  I would recommend it in the summer when the chances of the trail being dried out are greater.

On our way home we drove straight into a fierce thunderstorm Midwest style.  Dark, ominous clouds.  Torrential downpour.  Hail pounding the car.  Roads flash flooding with no visibility.  Then gorgeous, peaceful skies and calm after the storm.  It was awesome!

Happy hiking.