We launched at 8:00 AM and headed directly west, perpendicular to our path, to visit the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse one mile off the point. It is completely abandoned and is the abode only of birds. It is isolated and now it is difficult to imagine living on this small offshore rock back in the heyday of the lighthouse system. We returned back past our camping beach to look at Indian Beach. It had surf exciting enough for board surfers to come out this early in the morning so we didn’t land to replenish our drinking water.
Just south of Indian Beach we paddled through some very interesting rock gardens. This is an area of large offshore rocks and we found the first passable arch and cave of our trips. Between clusters of rocks like the ones around “Haystack Rock” (one of several with that name) we paddled through more of the 20% rain. Usually gentile but occasionally blown around by a gust of strong wind. Contrary to the expected northwest direction of weather the wind was coming from the south and in our faces all day. It was a good thing this did not happen to us on a day when we had a long distance to travel like the day before.
Most of the day we paddled past long sandy beaches with nasty looking surf. We were close to a small bump in the shoreline called Arch Point around lunch time. I assumed that we would eat lunch on the water but Dick asked if I thought we could land here. To answer that question I started working my way close to shore and saw a green window in the waves just north of the point. I had to backpedal over two huge waves, then ducked into the calm area and paddled to shore. I only needed to brace once more while passing over the edge of a sand shoal trapped by the offshore rocks. Dick was still far offshore and showed no indication of following my example, so I launched and went back out. It was easier than our Fort Stevens launch the day before but Dick’s confidence was not helped by noticing I had put on nose-plugs before this launch! So we ate lunch on the water and continued on.
With the wind in our faces it was a long day on the water despite the short distance to Cape Falcon, our goal for the evening. We paddled up to the south edge of the point looking for a wind shadow. This mostly worked but the wind sometimes turned and blew in our faces again and headed west long the point (never at our backs, of course). Rather than go all the way around the extreme rocks of Cape Falcon, we went through another slot with a narrow margin for bad timing. This worked OK for us again.
On the Terraserver images I had seen a large cove with a beach on the west end of Cape Falcon. I hoped it would be out of the wind and not too rough to land on. Dick asked me “I hope you have some nice cove nearby picked out for us”. I suggested that while we were asking providence for favors, we should also ask for the wind to turn around and push us the rest of the way, the waves in the cove to be mild and to find a hot spring there! When we came around the last corner the cove had one other feature we needed and forgot to order: a waterfall to replenish our drinking water supply. The waves were manageable, the berm above the high tide, but no hot spring. Because of the 20% rain all day I set up my parabolic tarp and we huddled under it to eat dinner, do chores and write in our journals.
For some reason this beach was the collecting spot for lots of flotsam, including over a dozen golf balls! We couldn’t imagine how all these balls ended up on this one beach. I even tossed one into Dick Ryon’s tent just to hear the roar of indignation later when he found it and exclaimed that these things are everywhere!