Day 464: Sea Lions and Concretions

We woke up to a cloudy and windy day at the Coos Bay South Jetty:

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We had some pretty good wave action:

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The jetty extends out into the sea:

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From here, we continued south on Cape Arago Highway to Yoakam Point State Park, where an unmarked trail led us down to the beach.  It’s hard to tell from this photo, but the last 100 yards were steep and slippery to get onto the beach, so much so that we relied heavily on a rope a previous visitor had tied onto a post above:

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Looking north, we could see the Cape Arago Lighthouse on Chief’s Island in the distance:

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The beach here is as beautifully rugged as any we’ve seen in Oregon:

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In a secluded beach alcove, we found a little waterfall:

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We found all sorts of shells and smoothed pieces of driftwood:

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The primary reason we came to this beach was to see the concretions.  Minerals accumulate over a nucleus, much like the creation of a pearl.  The precipitated material here is more resistant to weathering than the host material, so erosion exposes the concretions. These concretions are roughly grapefruit-sized:

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Eventually the host material weathers away so much that the concretion falls out, leaving a socket:

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Concretion in sand:

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A stratum of shell-rich material:

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Quick geology lesson:

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Moss on the rocks:

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Despite the rain, it was a great experience:

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We found an interesting mushroom on the trail back:

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Continuing south, we stopped in at Shore Acres State Park to visit, in the rain, the formal gardens built here by timber tycoon Louis Simpson in the 1920s on what was then his private estate:

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Continuing south, we arrived at an overlook for Simpson Reef and Shell Island.  As soon as we got out the car, we could hear the barking of the Stellar Sea Lions:

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Using binoculars, we could clearly see the seals and sea lions laying out on the rocks.  The seals are the silver objects seen on the rocks in the foreground:

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The light brown “pile” on the beach below the rock is in fact hundreds of Stellar Sea Lions.  A few are swimming in the water to the right:

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Continuing to the end of the road, we arrived at Cape Arago itself.  Here’s the view to the west:

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…And to the south:

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There’s a one-night stay rule for the BLM land we were camped on last night, so we drove out onto the North Jetty where the normal 14-day limit is in effect.  Trish made jewelry out of some of the shells we collected:

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We set out our collected driftwood to dry:

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M worked on completing his online OHV safety course so he can ride his motorcycle here on Sunday.  It took him about 90 minutes to read the 11 chapters and complete the 11 end-of-chapter quizzes and the 50 question final exam:

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Good Shabbos from the Coos Bay North Jetty!  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 463: More lighthouse sightings
Day 466: Beach Sports, All Kinds

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