Fifty Plus (50+) - Yesterday's (6-14) Oregon Coast ride

Yesterday was another nice day, 2nd in a row, sort of unusual lately. The northwest wind was coming up early today, so a fellow rider and I headed north this morning on Hwy 101 (to get a free ride back later).

We were heading up over Cape Foulweather (ride shown here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=304057) to a small coastal town named Depoe Bay about 15 miles north of Newport, Oregon and a state park a few miles further north.

Depoe Bay is known for being the “world’s smallest harbor”, and is basically a small inlet about 150x250 yards directly connected to the Pacific Ocean by a short channel cut through the rock cliffs. It has a small fleet of commercial, sport and charter boats. The charter boats take people on whale watching & fishing trips. We could see a whale spouting about ¼ off-shore from the harbor.

Pictures follow...

Here is a view of the whole harbor. The channel to the ocean is at the far back left.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbharbor1.jpg

This is the highway bridge over the “hole in the wall” outlet to the ocean, only about 100’ past the bridge.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbbridge1.jpg

This is a better view of the bridge. The ocean is just on the other side of the rock walls. Notice you can't see the ocean under the bridge.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbbridge2.jpg

There is a Coast Guard station here to render aid to the sports and commercial fishing boats on this area of the coast. This is fairly new high-speed 47’ boat.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/cg47footer.jpg

This is a view of the harbor back towards where the first picture was taken. Not a very big place.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbharbor2.jpg

This is Fogerty Creek state park. Though it looks like a really nice day (it was for the coast), it was maybe in the upper 50’s. However, there were some people in shorts and tank tops. The water is WAY too cold for swimming, perhaps 48-52 degrees. Some people try to wade a bit but don’t last too long.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/fogertycrk.jpg

This is a view north towards Cascade Head (middle left of picture), about 10 miles farther north, and Cape Lookout (far background, left), about 30 miles north. This is a long “spit” like landmass that juts straight out into the Pacific about 1.5 miles.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/cascadehead.jpg

This is the channel through the rocks out to the ocean from the Depoe Bay harbor. It is perhaps 50’ wide. The whale was spouting out near the point of land on the left.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbchannel.jpg

View back into the harbor from the ocean side of the bridge. The entrance channel is out of sight below the fence. It comes in from the ocean (previous picture) and makes a left-right turn to get under the bridge into the harbor.

http://webpages.charter.net/skip_h/6-14-07/dbharbor3.jpg

That is all...

Once again you have brightened my day and given me new material for my computer desktop.

This is a view of the harbor back towards where the first picture was taken. Not a very big place.


Beautiful, but it looks a lot bigger than some harbours in Cornwall, England.

Another nice set of photos. Thanks Skip. What camera are you using?

Another nice set of photos. Thanks Skip. What camera are you using?

Thanks for the compliment.

It's an Argus DC-6340, a relatively inexpensive ($89.00) 6MP camera that has a viewfinder on it so I'm not dependent on the LCD screen, which you usually can't see outside on a sunny day. 3X digital zoom, uses an SD memory card but I need to get a 1GB card, otherwise it can only take about 22 pictures on a decent size/quality setting.

Just got it from buy.com a couple of weeks ago. It does seem to eat batteries though, so I carry 4 extra AA's, but it's fairly small, fits in a jersey pocket, or in the back pouch on my vest. I didn't want to get an expensive camera in case I lost it or dropped it (or crashed on it). Seems to work OK so far. The quality of the originals are better than the ones I upload, as they are re-sized to fit the forum pages.

I had no idea that Argus was still in business. My first "serious" camera was an Argus C3 (1962). I always try to use the viewfinder unless the camera is on a tripod. It makes it easier to hold steady. (helps to have a big nose to brace the camera against :D)

My Canon A620 has a healthy appetite for batteries too. I use the rechargeable NIMH but always carry a 4 pack of alkalines just in case. Keep your eye on buy.com and buydig.com for specials on SD cards. I think it's always wise to shoot at the best quality/largest size and carry extra cards.

I don't know if it is the same Argus, but some web sites I was hitting for info seemed to imply that.

I've got a dozen HiMh batteries but they are older 1800 MaHr ones from about 5 years ago. When I went looking for new ones, I see they are up to 2800 MaHr now. When a local store gets some back in stock, I will pick up a 4 pack for the primary batteries and also carry 4 of my smaller ones. It uses 2 at a time so having 6 extra ones should work. I shut off the LCD screen as much as possible and keep the flash off also (not much need for it outside). That helps some. If it's in auto mode, the camera keeps it charged up even if it will never be used.

I've got a 1GB SD card on order, hopefully it will be here next week. I'm getting by OK for now.

Ah, the Oregon Coast is a special place! Thanks, what a beautiful place for a bike ride.

Nice! Thanks for the photos.