THE SPOUTING HORN, THOR’S WELL, AND THE DEVIL’S CHURN

We slept in a bit on Monday. We’d been going full speed since we arrived and it was catching up to us. The plan for the day was a relaxing visit to the central Oregon coast. After breakfast we drove out through the Coast Range on back roads. We eventually reached Florence and we poked around a bit looking for sea lions. We didn’t find any, so we headed north towards Cape Perpetua. Along the way we passed an impressive lighthouse and the Sea Lion Caves. The Sea Lion Caves are a commercial operation featuring a huge sea cavern that hosts a healthy population of sea lions. We debated stopping, but decided to skip it. It looked pretty touristy, and it would’ve cost us $15 each.

We drove to the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and had lunch. Then we relocated to the trailhead for the Spouting Horn and Thor’s Well. This part of the Oregon Coast is rugged, with big cliffs and crashing waves, particularly at high tide. As luck would have it, we arrived an hour or so before high tide. That was perfect, since we ended up spending several hours there.

A short walk took us to a rock shelf just above the surf. First we visited the Spouting Horn. It is in a deep, narrow channel. As the tide rushes in, the water is forced up and through a small natural arch. Each surge of the surf creates a spout that is similar to an erupting geyser.

Thor’s Well is only a hundred yards away. The well is a depression in the rock shelf. As the tide comes in, the well fills. When the pressure reaches a certain point it erupts in a massive spout of water. Although it is a distinctly different feature from the Spouting Horn, its eruptions are also similar to a geyser.

Beyond Thor’s Well are more narrow channels in the rock that become violent at high tide. We hiked through that area before scrambling back up to the main trail. At that point Christy was ready to stop, but I wanted to see the Devil’s Churn. She headed for the car, while I hiked the connecting trail. From the trail I got a great view of the cliffs of Cape Perpetua and the pounding surf.

I then descended into a deep cove. At the bottom is a narrow slot in the rock. It was now a bit past high tide, but the Devil’s Churn was still raging. Powerful waves would crash against the rocks guarding the mouth of the channel and the water would surge up into the slot. The channel ends in a small sea cave. While the views were great, my favorite aspect of the Devil’s Churn was auditory. The sounds of the surf pounding the cave below were amazing. It sounded like airplanes, thunder, and explosions.

The Spouting Horn and Thor’s Well area had been very busy, but I only saw a couple of people at the Devil’s Churn. Apparently most people just don’t go that far. That’s funny, because the Devil’s Churn was my favorite of the three.

I met Christy back at the car. We drove back to Florence and got ice cream before continuing down the coast to the Oregon Sand Dunes National Recreation Area. We only had a little time to spare, so we drove to an area with some of the larger dunes and did a short walk among them. It was pretty neat, with views of the dunes and ocean as far as we could see.

That evening we drove back to Eugene for dinner. It was July 4^th, so while we were eating I started researching our options for watching fireworks. There were several displays in and around Eugene, but a more adventuresome idea came to mind. I noticed a public park on top of a steep hill just outside of downtown. It looked like it would be directly above where the fireworks would be launched. It could be the perfect viewing area! We drove up there, but found the park heavily wooded. There were no actual views. We drove around for a while and scoped out some other hills but didn’t find anything promising. Western Oregon just has too many trees!

Christy had a brilliant idea. Maybe we could drive up onto the roof of a parking deck downtown? That would provide a great view. We headed that way, and actually found a parking deck that looked promising. Signs stated that it was for employees of the nearby hospital only, but there wasn’t anything stopping us from driving in there. It was almost entirely empty, too. We reached the roof and saw 2 other cars. The fireworks had just started, and the view was perfect!

Moments after we parked somebody knocked on our window. It was a security guard, and he informed us that the deck was for employees only and that we had to leave. We noticed that he had his whole family up there enjoying their private viewing. Still, we didn’t want any trouble, so we left. Unfortunately, the entire deck was enclosed except for the roof, so parking farther down wasn’t an option.

We eventually found a place to park downtown. We stopped there and caught the last few minutes of the display. Once that was over, we headed back to the campground for our final night in the Eugene area.

Continue reading about our trip as we visit several waterfalls and a hot spring in the Umpqua National Forest.

Back to Oregon.

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