Mia and I headed out to Tillamook, and more specifically Cape Lookout to hike out and see if we could spot any gray whales.  Apparently the next several weeks are when all the whales head south from Alaska to the California coast.  According to what Mia read, you may see “up to 30 whales per hour”.

Unfortunately we didn’t come close to 30.  We saw what appeared to be about…..3.

I cannot complain though, we did see a pod of dolphins frolicking much closer to shore than the 3 “maybe” whales much further out.  Along with the fact that it is a pretty sweet hike out to the end of Cape Lookout too.

The hike is just a short 2.5 miles along pretty easy trail.  A few muddy spots and a few root laden areas, but otherwise a very nice and easy to follow trail.  It is probably best to mention that this is a VERY POPULAR hike.  Anytime of the year really, but even more so given the whale migration.

I couldn’t get any quality shots of either the dolphins or whales.  It is a really nice hike any time of the year though.  We had clear blue sky, temps in the mid 40’s and just a little fog along the coast.
We decided to leave once the small viewing area started to get crowded.  We arrived and there was maybe 8 of us there.  Soon that number was approaching 20+ and their dogs.  We also passed easily another 15+ people hiking in as we hiked back out!

We headed from Tillamook to Cannon Beach for some coffee at Insomnia Coffee.  From there we headed back along route 26 and just before mile marker 19 was some incredible views of valley fog.

As we headed more into “the valley” and towards Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Portland, the fog just stuck around and the temps dropped into the upper 30’s.  It definitely looks like it was a good weekend to get out to the coast and get some warm temps, sunshine and whale looking objects moving through the water.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete