Central Coast Zip! Trip - part II

After our brief stop near Berry Creek, we continued north on Hwy 101 to Cape Perpetua.

BTW, if you missed the first part of our Zip! Trip, you can catch up with us by reading Part I.

According to Google Maps, we were actually at Thor's Well. While I don't recall seeing any sign with that name, I do remember seeing a sign for Cook's Chasm, which you can see in the far lower left corner of the satellite image below.

There was also mention of a Spouting Horn, which we may or may not have discovered while we were down there.

All the more reason to go back another day.

We parked along a highway pullout and hiked down the trail under a thick forest, then between walls of wild huckleberries and blackberries (like a hedge maze!) to get to the rocks below.

Here is the first view of the cape, from within the huckleberry maze.

The tide pools! At the far far far right, you can see a lady hunting for agates in the pools.

Tide pools covered in barnacles and mussels at Cape Perpetua.
This is good. The barnacles provide traction over the rocks which can sometimes be slick with moss or algae.

D carefully picks his way across the rocks as he heads out across the tide pools

Many of the tide pools were filled with anenomes, which you can see near the bottom of this picture.

Anenomes are living animals who capture their food by trapping it within their sticky fingers. 

You can see one in the middle which has closed up. 

This is because I gently stuck my finger into it and tickled it to make it close.
The anenome tickled me back as it slowly tried to grab me.

No, it's not scary. These are cute cuddly sea creatures.
Aren't you just dying to cuddle up to an anenome?*

A starfish clings to a rock

I like to think of myself as a world famous photographer, capturing fabulous images for my blog.
Oh wait, that's this blog. 

Well, I hope you like the pictures; half of them are ones I shot all by myself.

D captured video of the area.
(For most of the trip, the video camera was mounted to the inside of the car's windshield.)

If I am nice and bake lots of cinnamon rolls for D, he might share some of his video. 

This spot may or may not be the spouting horn mentioned on a sign along the hiking trail. D patiently waited to capture a big burst of seawater, which only cooperated seconds after he put the camera down. 

More than once. 

We will be back to conquer the spouting horn with our cameras!

These mussels await the return of the tide.

Most of the trees along the coast grow in the direction of the wind.
Can you tell which way the wind blows? 

At this point in the day, we decided it was time to hit the road so we could get checked in to our evening's lodging before dark.

Next post - Beverly Beach!

by P

*Anenomes are not your enemy.
(I'm sorry, I tried to hold back but it came out anyway. Please forgive me.)