Cape Lookout State Park

As we drove up the coastal highway we were just about to pass Cape Lookout State Park. Although the sign was making a very clear statement with the “Campground Full” sign out, we popped in anyway. Pulling up to the Ranger station I inquired if there was a cancellation in the campground and the gentlemen responded with, “literally, a cancellation just happened. She is still on the phone with the cancellation now”, pointing at another Ranger on the phone. That’s just how it goes sometimes. We immediately nabbed up a single night, even though it was barely past noon.

Now we had an afternoon to just relax, so we did just that. Kerri immediately began working on her bag of oysters she just picked up at a roadside vendor. Not much else was done until just before dinner time. Thinking the sun was low enough in the sky to not be so hot, we grabbed the dogs and walked out to the “off leash area” of the beach (BTW, it is so nice that they provide places like this, we all love it).

Along the way we had to walk through the group camp area of the state park. Moose, as usual, pees on just about every tree or bush along the way. As he lifted his leg on a wooden fence-post I hear a man cry out from behind me, “Aw come on! Don’t let him pee on our stuff!” I turned, smiled, and politely responded, “He peed on the post, not your stuff.” I got no response back, but I assume he accepted my response.

Now, I completely understand some angst over a dog peeing on personal belongings, but I wondered – since Moose was clearly no where near his belongings – if he meant that the post was his “stuff”. Does he seriously think that while in a campground, camped on the trail leading out to the “off leash area”, that dogs wont be coming by and marking? Did he realize that Moose only tagged that spot because COUNTLESS other dogs have done so in the past? Bah, never mind…

The dogs had a blast on the beach, as they always do. Moose ran, even into the waters, and peed on more wood. Byron chased the ball into the waves and upon retrieval, just stood there in the water with his tail flopping away like a helicopter blade behind him. I ran them both hard, so when we got back to camp (returning a different way to avoid the group camp) my hope was that they would both nap the rest of the day away, but they did not.

In the morning we set out to tackle the 2.3 mile (each way) trail out to Cape Lookout. It was early enough in the morning to avoid the majority of the crowds, but even then we only just nabbed one of the final parking spaces in the lot. The three of is (Moose included) set out on the hike. I fully expected a cool temperature due to the fog, but was hoping it would clear up during the hour or so before we got to the point. It did not. In fact, the fog was literally coming down on us like a good rain storm. We were getting soaked, and the breeze made it very cold. Kerri insisted on continuing the hike – ignoring the possibility of hypothermia – and eventually we made our way to the end of the trail – to the ‘lookout’ of Cape Lookout… and our view was nothing but fog. {insert eye roll here}

Still, it felt good to get off my butt and do something. I will admit that I’ve gotten quite lazy recently and it has taken a toll on me. I needed this hike, and many more in the future, to start the process back to a healthier me.

By the time we returned from our hike, the lot and all the road leading too it, was filled with parked cars. People had swarmed the trail on our way back to the parking lot. Everyone in all of Oregon was on this very trail! We got to Big Blue, loaded up, and quickly got out of the area.