Leaving Yachats, we travelled South to Heceta Head to visit
the lighthouse station there. We left the 101 and drove down and under an
interesting art deco bridge to the beachside car park. Lots of art deco bridges
in this part of the world.
We walked up the heads from the car park, through
the forest and past the old lighthouse keepers house (now a luxury B&B) and
on to the lighthouse.
Magic views! We could see sea lions across the bay, and
the wildlife volunteers had set up scopes so we could watch the birds nesting
on the sea stack nearby. We had a fascinating chat with the volunteers, they
travel around by RV, spending 2 months at a time as guides or camp hosts. The
lighthouse is seen 21 miles out to sea.
We had a tip from the volunteers that the next lighthouse
down the coast was open for tours, so we stopped in at Umpqua River to see the
lighthouse there. It was so interesting. We had a look around the Coast Guard museum
first. They had a boat on display that was used until the end of the 60s. It is
36 foot, with a 2000 pound brass keel so it is self-righting. If it gets turned
over it only takes 40 seconds to come back upright. The tour guide told us that
they used to go up to 200miles off shore in this boat at approx. 9 miles an
hour….
We climbed to the top of the lighthouse and had a look inside the lens.
It is like lots of stained glass (red and clear glass) and revolves. The spiral
staircase was interesting, it is bolted at the top and bottom only – the rest
is not attached to the walls because the metal and brickwork expand at
different rates and it would damage the lighthouse. The lens is a class 1 Fresnel
lens and 6 foot high and weighs 2 tons. That is the second lighthouse at the
site, the first one was built on sand down by the river and fell over. They
rescued the lens before the collapse and were able to reuse it.
We drove on to Bandon beach and found an RV park with a
laundry – time to do the washing and a bit of housework.
werid bridge
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