Keeping an Eye on the Whales

What’s as big as a big yellow school bus, weighs as much as 35 VW bugs, eats a ton of amphipods and mycid shrimp (each one no bigger than an M&M), and swims 12,000 miles a year between the Arctic feeding grounds and the good times in the Bay of Cortez?

Did you guess Gray Whale? You’re right!!

Having mated or given birth in the warm waters off the coast of Mexico, the big critters on now on their way north to the cold, food-rich waters off the coast of Alaska. People who have gone on whale expeditions to Mexico report that the whale mommies bring their calves (around 15 feet long) right up to the boats where they can be kissed and petted. You can even rub their gums, something that seems to give these big babies a lot of pleasure.

The whales don’t eat in Baja (too many other fun things to do like mating and giving birth) so the migration north is the time to get serious about putting on the pounds. They’re also not in such a big hurry (did we mention mating and giving birth after a 12-month pregnancy?) so the Oregon coast offers a great opportunity to get a look at a whale or two. They will be swimming north between 3 and 5 miles offshore, although they come in closer if there are good food sources for example near the headlands. Be on the look-out for spouts, rolling backs, and occasionally a nose (spyhops) or a tail (fluking). Although Grays are not known for breaching—that dramatic moment when ¾ of a whale comes up out of the water—they do occasionally, particularly upon arriving at their feeding grounds.

The migration north lasts from March to June along the Oregon coast, as 18,000 Very Large Animals move past, immature animals, adult males, and females without calves first, then the mothers and calves a little later. There are also resident Grays which decide, for whatever reason, to hang around. There is almost no time of the year when there isn’t a whale out there, but the concentration of the spring migration makes it more likely that you will see one—or more than one!

Trained experts are available at the official Whale Watching Spoken Here sites between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., March 23-30, 2013. More information is available at the Oregon State Parks & Recreation whale watch website, www.whalespoken.org, or by calling The Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, 541 765 3304. Local visitor centers along the coast will also have information. Check out the Yachats Visitor Center, 541 547 3530 or 800 929 0477.

If you want to look for whales in a serious way, be sure to dress for weather that can range from cold, windy and wet to glorious sunshine. Layering is the way to do it, and don’t forget your sun screen. Bring binoculars and patience. Forget your cell phone and your daily obligations and get into a different rhythm. And remember: even if you don’t see a whale, you’ll be looking out at the great Pacific Ocean, a spectacular, inspiring vista in its own right.

Go Team...GoYachats!

Why would anyone come to Yachats on Super Bowl Sunday? Oh, let me count the reasons!
First, we don’t have a major league football team (yet), so you can cheer for either the Ravens or the 49ers, as loud as you want, and no one will feel bad that it wasn’t the Yachats Whales down there at the scrimmage line.

Second, perhaps you’ve had it with your home turning into a Man Cave every Sunday. You’re tired of the malls and just need a break. Sometimes this applies to the ladies only, but we aren’t making any assumptions. Everyone is welcome in Yachats! You could escape to this lovely coastal village. The weather is supposed to be really nice (as in SUNNY). You can breathe fresh air, feel that salt spray on your face, explore the many unique shops (from rocks to exotic spices, books to handmade bowls—and more more more), or just sit and read a book in peace and quiet.

But third—we can provide that man cave right here in Yachats! There are television screens at the Adobe, the Drift Inn, and in the lounge at Ona. There’s also a new place in town: Outta Gas Pizza, located in the old Boston Chevron station at the north end of town, remodeled and full of pool tables, shuffleboard, and oh yes, beer. They don’t just have a screen. They have a SCREEN. Wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Ever fantasize about being right there on the line with those 300 pound fullbacks? Here’s your chance, without fear of broken bones. The pizza’s pretty darn good too.

So what are you waiting for? Sunday is right around the corner. Make your plans now and have a Super Sunday in Yachats.

Yachats 804 Trail - Coastal Connections

Walking the historic Yachats 804 Trail connects hikers to local coastal history. The trail probably first served as a footpath for tribal people, later becoming part of County Road 804, which included the 7-mile stretch of beach between Yachats and Waldport at low tide. County Road 804 served as the settler's route of travel between the farmland of the upper Yachats River valley and Waldport's Alsea Bay until the 1930s and the completion of Highway 101. The highway replaced the oceanside portion of County Road 804, and it reverted to its ancient use as a footpath. 

During the 1970s, local citizens began a campaign to preserve the 804 as a public trail. Years of legal battles ended with a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court to keep the public right-of-way and in the mid-eighties, the ¾ mile section from Smelt Sands State Park north to the beach became part of Oregon State Parks.

Successful mediation with local home owners in the late 1990s allowed for the completion of the 804 Trail South. The 804 Trail South is about a mile in length, stretching from the south edge of Smelt Sands Recreation Site, across the lawn behind the Adobe Resort, and through oceanside neighborhoods to the north side of the Yachats River, Yachats State Recreation Area, and downtown Yachats. 

The city’s commitment to trails for safe pedestrian use has resulted in a network of trails through Yachats. The trails connect to the Amanda Trail south of town, and up to Cape Perpetua and beyond. Volunteers and city workers, in partnership with State Parks and the US Forest Service, maintain the trails, build new trails, and develop maps and signage. 

(This article is a modification of the Yachats Chamber of Commerce history of the 804. More information is available online.)

Photo Credit: Heather Taylor

Cars and Bikes—Let’s All Be Safe This Summer!

It’s summer, and there are plenty of two-wheelers on the coast roads--taking the turns on 101, pumping hard up and over the coast range, or taking a leisurely ride through pretty rural valleys. Oregon welcomes cyclists and encourages cycling adventures as an integral part of the TravelOregon story, so now is a good time for everyone—motorists and cyclists—to keep a few safety thoughts in mind.

For example, sometimes it’s a pretty tight fit going around the curves south of Yachats.  While the bike lane can be up to three feet wide, there are places where it narrows next to a guard rail or just plain disappears under overgrown vegetation. Cyclists are often in the traffic lane and even where they are safely on their side of the fog line, cautious motorists tend to pull over to give the bikes plenty of room. Oregon law allows drivers to pass bicycles on the left by moving across the center line as long as the “center is unobstructed for a sufficient distance to permit the driver to pass the person operating the bicycle safely and avoid interference with oncoming traffic.” 

Most cyclists take advantage of the north winds and ride south along 101. Coming up suddenly on a line of cyclists, drivers tend to move out into the other lane—which means everyone needs to stay very alert, including the people driving north. 

On most rural roads, there is no bike lane. This means that cyclists and motorists are sharing the road. Take that phrase to heart. Sometimes there are whole families riding their bikes up the Yachats River Road. It’s a beautiful ride past grazing cows, solid red barns, alpacas and llamas, and views of the wooded hills. In fact, with the Third Annual Yachats River Valley Farm Tour coming up on August 18 (see GoYachats.com/events for details), Biking from farm to farm would be a great way to see the valley up close.

Sometimes there’s no alternative to just simply slowing down. Going around curves, drivers can come upon bikes suddenly. With the play of light and shadow on the road, bikes and their riders are often difficult to see. Assume that you won’t be able to pass safely and drive cautiously. It really won’t hurt to slow down. After all, that’s the whole point of being on vacation, isn’t it? And if you’re a local trying to take care of all the ordinary chores, slow down anyway—just remind yourself that you are lucky enough to live in a place that people come to on their vacation!

Love LaDeDa (and Yachats!)? Say thanks to Janet Moore Burley. Eighteen years ago she was head of the Yachats Chamber. Inspired by Pasadena's DoDah parade, she applied to the city council for a permit and wrote the rules: no motorized vehicles and no green socks. Or maybe it was purple socks. Whatever.

The idea was simple—get people to town before the fireworks. The first parade was so short, it went around twice. But it caught on, and soon crowds lined the parade route, floating red, white, and blue balloons, decked out in as much R,W, & B as they could fine. That’s the spectators we’re talking about—as good a show as the people in the parade.

The exception to the motorized vehicle prohibition is the municipal manure spreader, which carries the mayor and members of city council. Now what might that message be????

Paraders come in singles and groups, families and associations. The city’s hyperactive trails committee and adjunct weed-pullers (YIPS) deck themselves out in ivy and other invasives. There’s always a science team with strange images of deep sea critters. Look for people on bikes and people on skate boards, and dogs dogs dogs. The ever-popular Umbrella Drill Team, which has been opening and closing umbrellas in something like synchronicity almost as long as the parade has existed, will march by in semi-unison.

I’ve been in Yachats almost as long as the parade and I know it is not an event to miss. Get out there and laugh, gawk, gasp in amazement, clap and let the crazies know how much we all appreciate them. Then wander around Yachats and ENJOY!! I know I will.

The Impact of Climate Change on the Oregon Coast

The damage done recently by hurricanes along the east coast provides dramatic evidence of the impacts of climate change on vulnerable coastal communities. So far, the west coast has appeared to be exempt from such natural disasters, but this reprieve is unlikely to last forever. Higher ocean levels, erosion of coastlines, and more violent storms will cause damage to land and buildings along the coast. How will we prepare for what the future is sure to bring? One way is to be informed and understand the forces at work.

For the past forty years, Oregon Shores/Coast Watch has worked to keep our beaches accessible to the public, to keep them clean, and to increase our understanding of the coastal environment. Not surprisingly, Oregon Shores has taken on the challenge of climate change as well.

This is the topic of the Oregon Shores 28th annual conference, to be held this year on Saturday, September 17, in Newport. The lineup of speakers represents a depth of knowledge which we all need to understand and prepare for what climate change is likely to do to our coastal communities.

Al Solomon, a recently retired global change ecologist who was head of the U.S. Forest Service’s climate research team in Washington DC, will speak on “Climate Change and Its Impacts on Coastal Oregon.”    

Steve Adams, managing director of the Climate Leadership Initiative, associated with Willamette University, will discuss “Preparing for Climate Change on the Oregon Coast: Insights for Local Climate Adaptation From Initiatives Around the Country.”

Also speaking will be Oregon State University historian William Robbins. His talk, “Industrializing Oregon’s Coastal Watersheds: The Consequences of Hubris” will explore ways in which human activity has changed the coastal landscape over the past two centuries.

Finally, geologist George Priest of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries will address the question “The March 2011 Tsunami: Could It Happen Here?”

There are other activities planned, including a luncheon, a dinner cruise of Yaquina Bay, and a bonfire in Nye Beach. For more information about the conference or to register offline, contact Pat Wolter, 503 647-2012, or email: pcwolter@comcast.net. For online registration, visit www.oregonshores.org.

"Thar She Blows!"

For the past twenty-one years, a spume of water has sprayed into the air every minute or so from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Kids shriek as they run through the spray. Lovers know it’s good luck to have the spout go off as they walk past. Drivers passing through Yachats turn for a second look as the spray hits their windshields. Was that…a whale??

Yes, it’s a whale! The Whale in the Park was the brainstorm of local metal sculptor Jim Adler. The rock wall of the little park suggested a fjord to his fertile imagination; a photo of a whale sounding, its powerful flukes arched against the sky, inspired a vision for a whale sculpture. At first, Adler thought installing a pump too “kitschy” to represent this dignified animal. But the spout is what we know of whales, the signal that alerts whale watchers that there is an animal of great power gliding below the surface. The pump became part of the project.

The whale caught the imagination of the entire community. A committee, including Tom Smith, Joanie Bicksler, Karen Schuster, Mary Welch, Judy Grist D’Ville, and Mary Shelley among others, sold sweatshirts with the iconic swoosh of the whale’s tail, and mailed out a whale poster to potential donors—theirs to keep whether they sent money or not. Most sent money. The Oregon Arts Commission approved a grant. The Yachats city council gave permission to install the whale in the park after Adler showed them a maquette of the sculpture, complete with a bulb to simulate the spout.  Councilman Burd Bicksler was paying careful attention when the spout went off…

The flukes were cut at Far West Steel in Eugene and shipped to Marks Brothers Rolling & Fabrication in Portland. A machine the size of a Greyhound bus bent the metal to Adler’s specifications. Then a jig was formed so the other side would come out the same. The folks at Marks Brothers were so excited by the project that they insisted on welding it themselves. Rod Smith offered to drive his truck to Portland to pick up the tail.

Back in Yachats, a group of volunteers waited at the park next to Lee Green’s logging truck and crane. Someone made a movie. Unfortunately, Smith had had a flat tire and didn’t arrive until the next day, so the film just shows everyone waiting for the whale. Finally, the massive sculpture was put in place and a cement base was poured to support it. Adler built and installed the pump. Central Lincoln PUD put in the electricity and the city supplied water. Forty yards of top soil and mushroom compost were delivered. Adler rented a truck from Rick Boston, drove to the Valley, and filled it up  with turf. Then, just when the exhausted volunteers were too tired to do one more thing, Vince Bittel showed up and laid out the turf.

Adler the Artist turned into Adler the Maintenance Man, turning the pump on in the summer and off in the fall, maintaining it and stringing rubber bands and gaskets together to keep it functioning. The city, which decided not to take ownership of the sculpture or provide maintenance, continued to provide water except in a few very dry summers.

The whale is a powerful symbol in our myths and stories. The Whale in Yachats celebrates that power, the power of creativity and imagination, and the power of a community of people working together.