Oregon–Neskowin Beach

Our first full day in Oregon was cloudy, all day.  After our lengthy drive we didn’t much fancy going too far plus the local beach was going to have its lowest tide of our stay on that first day, which would enable us to see the Ghost Forest.

The village of Neskowin is a small sleepy hamlet on the Oregon coast road.  Hidden from the road is a long expanse of flat sandy beach forming the Neskowin Beach State Park, sat right in the middle and accessible on foot at low tide is Proposal Rock.

It’s clear the direction the wind usually blows by the direction of all the vegetation and trees on Proposal Rock, which was named after a local couple got engaged here right back in the early days of the settlement in this area (I couldn’t easily find a date online but I’m guessing late 1800’s).

Views South along Neskowin Beach towards Cascade Head.  Our rental house is situated on one of these small peninsulas.

The advantage of visiting this beach at a low tide is that it exposes an ancient forest, often called the Ghost Forest, far down the beach.

The Ghost Forest is an ancient forest preserved by sea water.  It is believed approximately 2000 years ago a giant earthquake shook the coastline and either dropped the existing land level significantly and sharply, or that an enormous resulting tsunami topped the trees and covered them in sand and silt.  Either way it happened a long time ago and tree trunks that would normally have long since decayed and disappeared have been preserved.

They are really a quite fascinating sight.

However, Mojo is quite unimpressed that this forest’s stick-making capability.

Luckily, we brought one down to the beach with us.  ‘Someone throw it !’

Parts of the tree trunks are covered in seaside lifeforms but in parts the actual wood is clearly visible.

Annabel demonstrates the size of some of the large tree trunks.

Views North along Neskowin Beach

We pose for a photo

Then get wet feet (or a wet butt in Mojo’s case)

This huge landslide apparently happened around March of this year.  Not sure I’d want to be the owners trying to get property insurance on that house left perched at the top

North along Neskowin Beach with Proposal Rock on the left.

Natural arches forms in the basalt rock

Final views to the South before heading off the beach.

After our walk along the beach we visited the pub in Neskowin for lunch before driving the few minutes south to Lincoln City where the allure of cheaper prices (than either Canada or UK) and no sales tax combined with a Tanger Outlet Mall were too great a temptation.