9 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
Five hikers, three dogs.
I worked the night before and was operating on three hours of sleep. Not the best way to do a hike, but I think the two energy drinks I had kept me going all day because I seemed to be functioning rather well in the morning.
We started out at the Oswald West S.P. parking lot, wandering through the forest to the Short Sand Beach to admire the waves and throngs of surfers. We continued along the trail to the viewpoint at Devil's Cauldron. Wow! I could have stayed here all day just looking out at the ocean. After a short break here, we continued along to the Neahkahnie Mountain trailhead across Hwy. 101. It was super hot outside and we high tailed it up the trail to get out of the sun and into the shade of the trees. We made it to the top and enjoyed the sights from above. It was a spectacular day with clear views of Nehalem Bay and Manzanita. After a short lunch stop, we headed back down the trail and were back at the trailhead with enough time to stop in Cannon Beach on the way home for snacks and some quality beach time with the dogs. A perfect way to start the weekend.
p.s. According to the Sullivan book, our hike was 7 miles. According to my GPS it was over 9 miles. My GPS is fairly accurate, so I rounded down to 9 miles. I've been led astray in the past by Sullivan so I'm not 100% confident his numbers are accurate anyways.
