Whale Watching, Wildlife, & Waves, December 2023

Trip Report:
Group Leader: Mark Hougardy | Organization: Eugene-based hiking group | Date: December 27-28, 2023 | Duration: 2 day | Walking Distance: 7 miles | Participants: 4 | Elevation Gain/Loss: 300 feet

The end of the year is a great time for whale watching on the Oregon coast as migrating Gray whales pass just offshore. This year, the wave heights easily exceeded 18 feet, which made whale watching difficult. The trip focused more on looking for wildlife and watching gargantuan waves strike the coastline.

In the distance, the Blow Hole at Depoe Bay.

We arrived at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area Interpretive Center as heavy rain arrived. We explored the picturesque Quarry Cove Trail and Quarry Cove, then hiked to the beautiful Cobble Beach where the incoming waves created impressive acoustics among the thousands of fist-sized cobbles. We continued to the lighthouse and kept watch for whales in the distance, but they remained elusive. A Peregrine Falcon kept watch on the adjacent Colony Rock. We continued to Salal Hill and saw a deep blue wall of water and wind approaching from the south. As we made our way off the hill, the wall of water hit – we were thoroughly soaked! Returning to the interpretive center, we explored the exhibits and then retreated to our hotel to warm up.

In the evening, we enjoyed a superb dinner (shown) at Local Ocean Seafood as we overlooked Yaquina Bay.

The following morning, we met at the Oregon State Parks Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay. After viewing the exhibits, we walked past the impressive blow hole on the coast and up the Sunset Street Access Area, where we watched waves pound the rocky cliff-lined peninsula. Even crashing against a cliff, the wave splashes exceeded the rooflines of nearby 2-story houses. Just after noon, we walked back to town and ended the trip.

Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail: Waldport to Heceta Head

Trip Report:
Trip Leader: Mark Hougardy | Organization: Eugene-based Hiking Club | Date: August 2021 | Duration: 3 days | Distance: 25 miles | Participants: 6 | Type: Hiking & Camping | Trip leader and participants were fully vaccinated against Covid; masking precautions were taken as needed.

The trip began at the Cape Perpetua main parking area at noon on Sunday. For logistical reasons, we switched the day 1 and 2 sections with each other. We arranged several shuttles to Yachats and walked through town, then on a side street, then a pathway next to the highway before venturing inland to the Amanda statue. After that, the trail had an unrelenting elevation gain. Finally, we reached the top at just over 1,000 feet and descended to 800 feet to the shelter at Cape Perpetua for amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and Oregon Coast. We walked down the switch-back laden trail, with some continuing to the group camp while others retrieved vehicles from the nearby visitor center parking area. The evening was quiet and we were able to enjoy a campfire in the cool ocean air.

The next day, we broke camp and arranged several shuttles between Yachats and the Governor Patterson Memorial State Recreation Site, about 7.5 miles away from where our hike began. The fog quickly returned. We passed the Big Stump, a relic of a “ghost forest.” The card attached to the tree says this is an ancient redwood tree that died about 1,200 years ago. The associated website for additional information is not active at the time of this writing. A second, seeming ancient redwood was found about a quarter-mile top the south on the beach. The group made several creek crossings. The wind kicked up. Entering Yachats, we walked on the 804 trail along the rocky coast and through Yachats to where our car shuttles waited at the Yachats State Park Recreation Area. The group split up, with those in town finding some lunch with several shuttled back to pick up our vehicles. Near the parking area, we watched several whales just off the coast. That afternoon, we returned to the group camp, where we relaxed and hiked local trails. BTW, on the interpretive display at Perpetua about the CCC camp from the 1930s, a Thanksgiving Day menu is shown. One of the items is “Goat’s Milk,” which is code for beer. That evening, a juvenile bard owl visited the camp. The owl sat on a prominent dead, broken tree about forty feet away for about 45-minutes. The owl looked at us and was very curious about some rustling in the nearby grass. The owl departed, and we enjoyed the evening.

On the third day, we broke camp and drove south by-passing several hard-to-access beaches or areas with a hazardous shoulder for walked to the Heceta Head parking overflow lot. We arranged a shuttle to the Muriel O. Ponsler Memorial State Scenic Viewpoint. We walked south to the Heceta Head, where we observed an osprey and briefly two bald eagles. We traversed the hobbit trail and over to Heceta Head Lighthouse. Just beyond the lighthouse, there were two possibly three juvenile gray whales playing and having lunch. We continued under the Cape Creek Bridge to the picnic area, where we ended the trip. Over three days, we hiked 25 miles and saw some fantastic wildlife.

Back on the beach just south of Waldport.
Big Stump
Crossing a creek.
Walking the 804 trail in Yachats.
The hike is nearly done for day 1 of this section. Yachats, Oregon.
Creative Covid awareness signs in Yachats.
A Barred Owl visited our camp for 40-45 minutes. The owl flew off and I snapped this photo.
Back on the trail in Yachats.
The Amanda statue. Her story is saddening, yet her legacy inspiring.
On the trail up the Cape Perpetua.
Cape Perpetua
Cape Perpetua
The CCC shelter at Cape Perpetua
Sunset at the coast, Cape Perpetua.
Day 3: Crossing a creek.
South on the Oregon Coast Trail. Heceta Head in the distance.
An osprey
The Hobbit Trail
Looking north on the OCT, and where we just hiked.
A Sitka Spruce with ferns.
A Gray Whale
A Gray Whale
The Heceta Head Lighthouse
The Heceta Head Lighthouse
The end of our hike at the Cape Creek Bridge

Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail: Depoe Bay to Newport

Trip Report:
Group Leader: Mark Hougardy | Organization: Eugene-based Hiking Club | Date: July 2021 | Duration: 3 days | Distance: 19 miles | Participants: 7 | Type: Hiking & Camping | Trip leader and participants were fully vaccinated against Covid-19
Note: For logistical reasons, the trip was split into three sections with the second section being on day one and the first section on day two.

Day One: The trip began at the Yaquina Head Interpretive Center. Very windy. We explored Quarry Cove, the lighthouse, then rested out of the wind at Cobble Beach. We saw lots of common mures and several sea lions. Close to 4 pm we drove to the Beverly Beach State Park and stayed in a Group Camp. That afternoon, we attempted a walk south on the beach to the Mooklack Beach, but the wind was unrelenting, so we stayed more inland. We hiked the Nature Trail around the park, then later spent the evening around the campfire.

Day Two: We departed camp at 9 am and drove to Depoe Bay to explore some of the small parks and hidden lookouts adjacent to residential areas. We saw several grey whales feeding close to shore. At the Big Tire overlook, we saw lots of cormorants and a great view. The group enjoyed a coffee at a local coffeehouse. We departed for the Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint 2 miles away. This was to avoid a dangerous stretch of highway with no shoulder. We walked the Otter Crest Loop. A short walk down the road revealed several people walking a slackline suspended between two sides of the cliff and high over the ocean. If we were driving, we would not have seen them. We watched them for a time from the roadside. We continued to Cape Foulweater, curiously being re-branded as Otter Crest State Scenic Viewpoint, and looked at the magnificent view. We had a short bite to eat and rest. We continued to Devil’s Punchbowl State Natural Area then walked on the beach looking at fossils. We continued south, then under the Hwy 101 bridge into Beverly Beach State Park to our group site. We spent the evening around the campfire.

Day Three: The group broke camp and drove a short way to the Agate Beach State Recreation Area and we arranged a shuttle to the endpoint. We walked north a bit, but the high wind returned. At Nye Beach, we walked into town and the group descended upon a small bakery. Afterward, we continued on Elizabeth Street to the Yaquina Head lighthouse. We ended our trip overlooking the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

We encountered: bumblebees, grey whales, sea lions, common murres, cormorants, pelicans, humans, crows, robins, one pigeon (emerging from a small cave at the Big Tire overlook; interestingly, the bird’s pigeons descended from before they were domesticated lived in seaside cliffs). We also saw deer and a ground squirrel.

Exploding Whale Beach Hike


This hiking trip was to the site of the “exploding whale,” one of Oregon’s most prominent stories of local lore.

Trip Report:
Volunteer Leader: Mark Hougardy | Organization: Eugene-based Hiking Club | Date: June 2018 | Duration: 1 day | Participants: 6 | Type: Day Hike

In 1970, near Florence, a 16,000-pound whale carcass the length of a bus washed ashore. After 3-days in the sun, it became so foul smelling that locals wanted it gone. An idea was hatched to dynamite the odorous mass into tiny bits. A local TV report of the incident is classic web viewing. In the clip, a massive boom launches putrid blubber into the sky. As the blast ends, behind the camera, a series of cheers and laughs ring out. One woman’s voice is heard, “All right, Fred, you can take your hand’s our of out of your ears now … here come pieces of … my G-” No one was injured, but viewers were covered in goo and a car was nearly totaled. Our group located the approximate location of the detonation. The day included a pleasant 5-mile beach walk where we viewed a number of shells. We also observed a memorial to 41 sperm whales who mysteriously stranded themselves in the area in 1979. One whale spout was observed just offshore.

The Power of Nature Adventures (Why I Guide)

I’m an outdoor guide because traveling and nature experiences can be powerful teachers. Here is one such story about how an encounter with a whale helped others (and myself) to grow.

Gray whale calf. Photo: Nature Picture Library / Copyright Todd Pusser.

Two dozen people slammed themselves onto the starboard railing of our small whale-watching vessel. It listed uncomfortably sideways as people gawked. Just feet away, a baby gray whale –the length of a long kayak– floated in the rough surf. Its large black eye seemed to study each of us. Everyone was absorbed in the experience. They had forgotten their discomfort in the previous hour and a half. Up until then, it had been a bad day to be on the water: we had not seen a whale – not one! Our ship sickeningly rolled side to side in the deep troughs, the smell of diesel and vomit permeated our nostrils, cold January weather nipped our skin, the sky was oppressively overcast and the wind-chapped our lips. Worst of all was seasickness. I heard participants simultaneously cursing my name as they barfed over the boat’s edge. Some made multiple trips to the side. As they staggered back, a sick yet relieved look crossed their faces. I received several vexing glances. The words were blazed in their eyes, “Why did you make me come out here?”

It was a hard day of whale-watching. My camera had broken too, then again maybe it was for the best. This was the first whale-watching tour that I had organized for a group and it was going horribly. I secretly wanted this trip to be over, to slink home and erase it from my memory. I wanted the trip participants to forget about it, too.

When the young whale appeared the trip was born anew. A marine biologist shared her commentary: the mother was likely on the seabed feeding and would be returning shortly. The juvenile was not lost, just hanging out at the surface.

Amazingly the whale stayed parallel with our ship for about twenty minutes. Then several hundred feet away from a large mass the size of a city bus rose to the surface. She dramatically announced herself by ejecting a plume of air in a geyser-like spray. This was the mother! The smaller whale joined her and they swam off together.

The people were seasick and green in appearance and happy to return to port.  I had organized the outing as a way for overscheduled tech workers to connect with their families in the outdoors, but had I inadvertently turned more people off that helped? This was the first of several trips where unexpected situations and hardships caused me to question my outings and slowly I became disillusioned.

I stopped leading nature adventures.

Fast forward five years.

I was at an outdoor market selling youth-in-nature backpacks. A man approached and we talked for a minute, then he said, “Hey, you’re that guy who led the whale-watching trip.” He briskly shook my hand and said, “Thanks.” I wondered if we were talking about the same excursion. He told me about that day, I listened with interest and then in dismay. He and his mother-in-law despised one another, and for spite, they created ever-increasing hardships for each other, often to the detriment of family members. One day, he saw my whale-watching trip advertised and suggested a pleasant outing for the entire family. But his coyness was masked with a desire that his mother-in-law have a miserable experience. In fact, she hated that whale-watching trip and wanted nothing to do with him again. To his glee, she stopped visiting altogether! Eventually, her lengthy absence spoke to his better nature and he felt guilty for his childish behavior.

Almost a year later she returned for a holiday visit. The conversation at the dinner table was palpable; everyone in the room knew the two were enemies. As the serving plates moved about she looked at him and said, “Remember that whale-watching trip?” He suspected a trap but replied, “Yes.”

She looked directly at him and with a heartfelt voice said, “Thank You.” The man’s mind was blown.

She shared her story:

The mother-in-law suspected the man invited her along so she would get sick on the boat, but she went anyway. It was a most unpleasant time. But, when she viewed the whale up close and looked into the creature’s eye, she saw there was something there, and something awakened in her. She returned home to southern California and was anxious to the point where sleep was difficult. She spent more time outside and took long walks. She started to walk to the store. Her walks became hikes and she asked her friends to join her, but they were “too busy”, so she went by herself. Later she joined a local hiking club. On these outings, she saw hills and valleys near her house that she had never seen despite having lived in the area for decades. On one hike in the Mojave Desert, she saw a magnificent vista and it inspired her to make a big decision. She decided to visit a location she had always dreamed of since she was a child: The Gyeongbokgung Palace in South Korea. Then she announced to the family around the table, “I’m leaving for Seoul in three weeks.”

The iconic Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea. Image copyright Korea Tourism Organization.

The man was shocked and ashamed. After dinner, the two of them had a heart-to-heart talk. The trickery and malice evaporated and they started to heal their relationship. Several weeks later the mother-in-law traveled to Korea and had a wonderful trip. In the months that followed, she visited the family more often and the two of them started to go on short walks, then longer walks. They both enjoyed being outside, even having deep conversations. A year later, they had become friends and hiking buddies. The entire family was happier and everyone was even talking about an overseas trip.

The man finished telling me his tale. Before disappearing into the crowd he said, “Thanks again for the great trip!”

His story was an elixir for me, it helped to renew and strengthen my own passion for connecting people with the outdoors. I started to organize and lead trips once again. Fifteen years later I’m still going strong.

I guide because travel and being in the outdoors teach things that we can only learn by experience. Guiding is at that nexus, the point between being in the now, learning, and living; and it is best shared with others who seek it.

Whale Watching Excursion in Monterey Bay

January is a prime month to watch Gray Whales as they swim offshore during their annual migration from Alaska to the warm waters off Baja California.

Enjoy a day whale watching and exploring the historic Cannery Row in Monterey. The day begins carpooling from Sanborn Park Hostel to Monterey’s Wharf. In Monterey, we’ll board the 55′ Pt. Sur Clipper and depart for the deep water of Monterey Bay in search of these gentle giants that can reach up to 45 feet in length. The accompanying Marine Biologist will provide onboard interpretation about Gray Whales and other observed sea creatures as seals, otters, and sea birds. In the afternoon return to Monterey for personal exploration of the historic Cannery Row restaurants and shops. In the early evening, we return to the hostel.

Organization: Sanborn Park Hostel
Date: January 10, 1999
Trip leader: Mark Hougardy
Participants: 10

Whale Watching Trip in Half Moon Bay

Each year Gray Whales migrate roughly 6000 miles from their Arctic feeding grounds to the warm lagoons of Baja California. Their migration path along the California coast provides excellent viewing opportunities for seeing these magnificent creatures. Join us on March 28 from 9:00 am to noon aboard the 56-foot Salty Lady as we venture 1-12 miles into whale’s migration path. This is an excellent opportunity to photograph these creatures so please come prepared with extra film. After the trip, interested folks can join us for lunch in Half Moon Bay. Reservations for whale watching are required and space is limited to the first twelve individuals. Please send payment of $29.00 (per person) and a self-addressed stamped envelope with a return address to Sanborn Park Hostel for confirmation of your reservation and additional information.

Organization: Sanborn Park Hostel
Date: Saturday, 28 March 1999
Trip leader: Mark Hougardy
Participants: 12