Visit to Harris Beach State Park

One half mile from where we are staying is a state beach called Harris Beach.  This beach and state park was named for George Harris, a native of Scotland who settled on the property in 1871.  He raised sheep and cattle and his descendants donated the land to the Curry County in 1925.  Since then state of Oregon acquired the land and is now part of the Samuel H Boardman State Scenic Corridor.  Many beaches, sites to view sea stacks, points of interest are part of the 12 mile corridor along the coast. 

View from the entrance

Since the park is so close, we decided to see what the draw was, and because we can see people from our balcony in that direction, let's see what it looks like from the beach to us.

Lots of driftwood

Dropped down to the water' edge and walked north taking pictures as we went.  We could see how busy this particular park would be on weekends - there's camping with full hookup, day use, picnicking.  And very close to town.  Not too busy.  Many families with small children.

Fatty

This one was about an inch big (or small)

Of course, I got my sea star fix.  Tide was low so we were able to wade in closer to the sea stacks. Saw a group of children with live crabs - an older brother was catching them and bringing it to them - sorta a hands on training session for children.  Nice to see that.

Brrr - someone snorkeling

Sea stars everywhere

So peaceful on the beach

Found some redwood driftwood, lots of shells and rocks, but no sand dollar.  This beach is known for that, but I guess I'll just have to keep looking. After awhile we turned back and walked more south and we could see our place from the beach.  How cool is that! Look where point of arrow ends - that's where we are staying.

When we left the sun had burned the fog away so we drove back to Natural Bridge to see that.  When we were there the sun was not up high enough to show both arches.  Very cool.  Glad we went back.

View from other day

Much better

Tsunami July 29, 2025

 Rut-roh!!!!  Tuesday afternoon we had come back to our place and were relaxing when Dave got a text from our neighbor, who had lived in California for years, back in Oro Valley, AZ about 4:30pm - are we affected by the tsunami?  What? Wait!! What???   I jumped on the news and sure enough, there was a tsunami watch going on due to a 8.8 earthquake in Russia.  We had been in tsunami informed areas before when we were in coastal Washington and the northern coast of Oregon years ago but nothing happened at that time.  Little did we know that we would experience one first hand.  We had such a beautiful sunset that night.

So pretty

We got a message from our AirBnB host to let us know about the watch, but we did not know what that meant, so I googled it and found the 3 stages of tsunami.  In Arizona we have a READY, SET, GO alert system which is pretty self explanatory.  Ready - gather your things, get pets and meds ready, stay tuned to local forecast.  Set means be alert - conditions have deteriorated and be ready to go at a moments notice.  Go simply means - get out of Dodge.  Get, go, gone.  I think the tsunami levels are not that clear.

The 3 stages of tsunami are WATCH, ADVISORY, and WARNING.  We read as much as we could and stay tuned to the news.  We got concerned by 6pm not hearing from the host, we started packing up if we had to get to higher ground.  I also found about the tsunami of March 2011 from Japan's earthquake that destroyed Brookings Harbor - showed that video to Dave and we became really nervous. Granted, we are sitting 128 feet above sea level, but still.  Concerned.

By 9pm, we had 90% of our stuff in the car and then we waited.  We were supposed to be 'hit' by 11:50pm, we were definitely not going to bed, we were going to do a tsunami party watch.

And exactly 11:50pm we could see (the moon was a partial and reflecting off water) the water coming in.  Brookings only had a surge of 1 1/2 feet.  And it was low tide which was terrific since the water was already out.  The waves came in 3 waves, and then it subsided.  

When we got up yesterday morning (when to bed at 12:30am) we saw where the beach was wetter higher than we had ever seen it.  We did find out that Crescent City had a 4 1/2 foot surge.  Google Brookings Harbor March 2011 to see the tsunami that destroyed the harbor.  Very humbling.

Visit to Redwoods National Park

Since we did 'water' the day before, we headed to land stuff.  Redwood National Park is located right near where we are staying.  Redwood National and State Parks are cooperatively managed by the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation. The 3 state parks as well as the national park are a World Heritage Site and an international Biosphere Reserve that protect resources.

The redwood is the world's tallest living tree, a living link to the age of dinosaurs.  The tree can stand taller than the Statue of Liberty, can weigh over 500 tons. The bark is 1 foot thick which makes it immune to fire and insects. In 1800 redwood forests covered over two million areas.  But logging started and by the early 1920's people became alarmed that the redwood was going to be totally eliminated.  In 1968 Congress created the Redwood National Park to protect the world's tallest trees. Today only 5% of that original two million acres remain, but are now protected.

The giant sequoia, which is the same family of the redwood, is located inland in the central part of California, may be shorter but is wider at the base, 40 feet wide.  The cone size of the redwood is a size of a large black olive and the cone size of the sequoia is the size of a chicken egg.  Huh.  Height of the redwood is nearly 380 feet tall and the sequoia's height is to 311 feet tall.

CA state park with most trees

We spent time a number of years ago in Sequoia National Park and were blown away by their size but these redwoods are indescribable.  So so tall.  You have no idea where the top of the tree is.  Just walking through the forest you feel like an ant.  Saw the "big tree", not bad but if you saw General Sherman tree of Sequoia, it's a biggun'.

The redwood trees grow only on the coast, not inland.  The moisture from the ocean fog and the cool temperatures make for ideal growing.  The fog hits the trees, drop moisture on them, which the wetness trickles down to the floor.  Because the coastal mountain range is about 10 miles inland, the fog dissipates by the time it hits the mountains.  The trees typically live to be 2,000 years old.  As air warmed by inland heat passes over the cold nearshore waters, fog forms, typically twice a day in the summer.  I have to say that I had a sore neck the next day, looking up at these bad boys.  Logging is still done, but it is done on private land.  We constantly see large logging trucks moving up and down the coast highway here.  Two wood processing plants are located here in Brookings, one for making plywood and the other for making laminate wood.

 

Natural Bridge and Sea Stars

Monday we decided to be outside, enjoy the coast since we had been cooped up in a car for 2 days. Was treated to a beautiful, if not foggy morning from our place. 

Foggy (normal) morning

Headed to Natural Bridge which is a large sea stack (rock) where the ocean has carved natural openings in it.  We got there at 8:45am which is almost low tide, wanted to see the full arch/bridge.  Because the sun had not reached it to where it was lit up, we waited until we got a full view.  People hiked down and over the bridge and we knew that if you were not sure footed, don't attempt it.  People have slipped and fallen to their death.  Nope, we'll watch from above.  Beautiful.

Little hike down to viewing platform

Natural Bridge without sun on it

And with sun

While waiting for the sun to shine on it, we talked with some folks and one lady, visiting from Phoenix!! said she heard about a beach about a mile up called Gold Beach.  Heard it was worth the trip.  So, off we went.  However, did not find Gold Beach but found Meyer Beach.  Lots of folks walking the water line - looking for sea stars, shells, rocks.  What an amazing find.  At first we could not find the sea stars, until we watched folks bending down and looking.  Once we found the first one, bang, bang, bang.  So many of them.  We absolutely loved this beach.  The tide was beginning to come back so we had to stop.  

Meyers Beach - lots of driftwood and sea stacks

Rut-roh. Tide coming in.  Got our shoes wet.

Anemones

Found first sea star

Some natural arches - lady to left - see how big they are

And more - now we learned where to look

If saw anemone, probably find sea star

Tide coming in - head back to car

The next stop on our way back was called Arch Rock.  Walked the brief path to the edge and there was a nice view of an arched sea stack.  Nice - we have seen more impressive, but nice the same. 2 Docents were telling us that in the winter Puffins nest on the rock, but right now only osprey were there with their young.

View to see Arch Rock

Arch Rock

Did big grocery shopping to stock up for the week (I make all our meals since we are both Vegan) and by the time we got back - it was 4:30.  Very exhausted from being outside for hours.  Then was treated to a great sunset.

Panoramic view from living room

Sunset Monday night

Sea Lions (whitish) on rock