Just south of the Columbia River on the Oregon coast is a tiny speck of an island with the remnants of a lighthouse perched atop it. Known as 'Terrible Tilly' for its dangerous and inhospitable conditions and its location just offshore from Tillamook Head, the lighthouse is now only reachable by helicopter.
Built in the late 1800s and active until the 1950s, it eventually became the most expensive to operate lighthouse in the US. Unless you're the type that enjoys social distancing, tending to the lighthouse would have been a less than pleasant job. Storms sometimes knocked out communication with the outside world and occasionally damaged the lighthouse itself (one threw a log through a window) and multiple people were killed on or around the lighthouse.
The island is now part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge so even the current owners can only visit it when the sea birds aren't nesting. For the rest of us, the closest we can come to the island (and for the best views) is to hike the Tillamook Head trail. Part of the Pacific Coast Trail, you can hike from Seaside to Cannon Beach and gaze down upon Terrible Tilly along the way (just don't do what I did and hike it in sandals, it gets a bit muddy). There's also an old WWII bunker along the trail (although you can't go in it) and nearby is the best place for viewing the lighthouse. Someone had the bright idea to put a barrier across that lookout but it's made of braided steel cable and one can easily climb through it (I'm not recommending that but to get the shots I wanted I may have). The photo above is one I took looking down from there instead of at the lighthouse.
I don't know about y'all but that is one commute to work that I could do without... How would like to work in a place like that? The Pacific Ocean appears to take exception with its continued existence and is doing everything it can to correct that situation (one storm took about 100 tons of rock off the island), one day it will succeed and Terrible Tilly will no longer exist.
That Pacific Coast Trail has some of the best 4x'ing in Ca, in the southern part--bout 60 miles north east of LA. People come from all over the country in their 4 wheel drives to run the roads we'd been running our dirt bikes on every day. Then graduated to side x sides.
So much stuff on that trail. You know what family owns that lighthouse? I image they're pretty famous.
Never tried it in sandals though.
It was a columbarium (place for storing funeral urns) for a while but their license got revoked. Some realtors had bought it and set that up, I have no clue who owns it now though.
If I ever make it to California I will have to check that out. Sounds like my neck of the woods back in eastern Kentucky, we were right by Red River Gorge and partially in Daniel Boone National Forest, we'd get people from all over come to go four wheelin'. We hated'em, damned flatlander city slickers :D Now rock climbing is a bigger draw than that but going ridin' is still a quite popular pastime.
This was my backyard growing up you blutty wanka!
Looks like a lousy place for a coal mine...
(edit) Also, everyone is assumed to be a flatlander until proven otherwise
I just pulled some images from the internet thingy, check it out. This was my back yard dude, no exaggeration. A few miles from the house, a 10 minute ride on the dirt bike. You can tell by the trails as time progressed, evolving to side x sides got tricky.
And this next one is the backside of Silverwood Lake, called "the spillway," we used to go there as kids (only during normal school hours of course) and smoke, whatever, while jumping from the walls on either side--only like 30' but damn those were some of the best times! Leaving school and the chicks were equipped with just their panties and stuff. Yeah, not
manyany bad memories there. Shirts were always optional but we didn't wear'em and, well, I guess bra's are expensive so yeah, those days were horrible.edit (because I spaced attaching it last time--damn this is some good Kush)
And all the while, the trail has views like this:
I could get used to that. My high school was on top of a hill like some of those (our cross country trail just circled the school) but the only water nearby was the Kentucky River. I'd find you photos but I've not had enough coffee for that yet.
I'll bet that is just a scary place to work. I've been around the North Pacific enough to know that it's anything but pacific this time of year.
Does it count that I have Tillamook Cheese in my refrigerator? :)
I'm sure you respect all barriers when you are out and about. I spent the night down the coast a ways in a place with a clear and present sign "No Overnight Camping". I had my reply ready before I went to sleep: "I'm not camping, I'm waiting for sun rise and the photo op." That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
That was cheesy.
Yes, it was. It's always about food for me :)
Here's to the day you and I share a meal together and if you call that cheesy then Italian, it is!
Almost counts! Tillamook Cheese is made in Tillamook, which is about an hour south of Tillamook Head. Confused the hell out of me until I stared at a map for a while.
I respect all respectable barriers! I might make a distinction between those meant to protect things and those that are just risky for me or viewed with disfavor by 'authorities'...
I'm just examining the insides of my eyelids! Always have a story and always stick to it!
The Tillamook valley has extensive dairies in it. Why not? Everything grows there including the grass and hay needed for cows and good cheese.
I know it's a west coast brand, but I've been eating Tillamook all my life. I particularly look forward to their 'black label Cheddar' which always comes out this time of year. I think of it as Christmas Cheese.
Good enough for government work, I'll count it! I suspect the taste of the cheese counts for far more than anything I could say :) I had barely heard of the cheese before I went wandering the west coast but it's easier to come by now. I don't think they put out a bad cheese but I will have to look for this Christmas Cheese this year.
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