9/12 South Beach SP, Newport, OR

Nice state park, and even nicer beach!  Actually, I have not seen a bad beach anywhere in Oregon.  Overall, sand is soft underfoot where dry and hard where it is wet, so as to be easy to walk on. Very few shells to collect, however.  

This was yesterday's long walk to the beach.  The first part was paved, but I had to walk on the soft sand for quite a while.  I wore my beach sandals, but they kept falling off.  Need to get better beach shoes that will stay on. This photo was taken at the beach looking back at the tree line where the paved path ended.  Map said it was 1/3 of a mile.  It lied.

It seems that all the beaches in Oregon are very flat, so even at mid-tide, there is a lot of sand that is slightly covered with water.  Easy to walk on, however.

Finally made it to the handicap beach access which was paved the entire distance.  Rough climbing up the dune, however. 

This photo is looking north to the jetty that forms the south side of the Newport harbor entrance. Can't walk out on the jetty because it is formed by huge rocks at various angles.

Ah, a paved trail back to the campground.   This part was supposed to be only 1/4 mile long.

Apparently, because of the jetty trapping sand, the beach has moved out over the past 100 years.  They had markings back to 1899, but were too worn to be photographed. 

Today, I got my bike out and rode to the post office and then to the bridge over the harbor.  There is an aquarium I was going to stop at, but had forgotten my bike lock, so I took the road to the jetty and then followed the bike trail through the state park to my campsite.

All over this coast, you will find tsunami signs and traffic signs showing the fastest way to high ground.  Makes you certainly think.

Tomorrow, I am going to tackle this bridge on my bike.  At least I think I am.  It looks like a very long bridge and has a really narrow bike trail.  I noticed a button to push at the end and a traffic sign saying that bikes were on the bridge if lights were flashing.  Will need to think about this.

 There are two lighthouses in Newport, across the bridge.  One is new and one is old.  I am guessing this is the older one.

Way in the distance, you can see the other lighthouse.  That rock wall is the jetty on the other side of the harbor opening.

I took the jetty bike trail back to the campground.  No soft sand, thankfully.