I took this picture of Cape Lookout from the town of Oceanside,
which is nine miles to the north. The cape is a narrow finger of
land that juts out into the ocean two miles beyond the adjacent
coastline. The cache is located out near its western tip, an easy
2.5 mile hike from your car. Along the way are stellar views both
to the north and the south, gorgeous old growth rain forest,
wildflowers, birds and maybe even whales and a plane crash. The
area is open all year and there are no fees.
I first came here about 12 years ago on a sunny and quiet day in
April. I was eating lunch with a friend out at the tip of the cape
when suddenly we heard a very loud and bizarre hissing sound, kind
of like a ruptured truck radiator or something. We stood up, looked
around a bit and then peered over the edge of the cliff. There
directly below us were two Gray whales spouting their spouts as
they glided along through the deep water next to the cape. Later I
learned that many Grays travel close enough to shore that when they
reach Cape Lookout they actually have to skirt around it which is
why they pass so close to the tip of the cape. This is especially
true during the spring migration when the females tend to travel
closer to shore with their calves. If you’re into seeing a whale or
two while caching the best months are December and January for the
southern migration, and then March through May for the northern
journey in the spring. This is a great coastal hike though, even if
you don’t see a whale.
The trailhead is at N45° 20.470', W123° 58.454' and it’s pretty
easy to find. It’s about a 15 minute drive from the town of
Tillamook and the roads are well marked and paved all the way. Once
at the trailhead be sure to take the cape trail which is the one
closest to the sign. After about a half mile you’ll come to a
plaque next to the trail at
N45° 20.351', W123° 59.107'. It’s a memorial for the crew of a B-17
bomber that crashed into the cape in heavy fog during a routine
patrol in 1943. Nine of the ten crew members were killed. The pilot
and co-pilot were just 23 and 22 years old respectively. The oldest
member of the crew was 30. Over the years I’ve heard stories of
people seeing pieces of the wreckage near the trail but I never
have. I’m not sure if it’s all been removed or if it’s simply been
swallowed up by the dense vegetation. Then again I don’t know
exactly where to look and bushwhacking near the 600 foot cliff is
obviously not smart. If you see some wreckage or have any more
information about it I’d sure appreciate an email or you could just
post a note to the cache page.
The hike is quite easy at about 2.5 miles one way. At first
you’ll loose about 400 feet of elevation and then you’ll gain some
of it back before reaching the end. It’s not particularly steep
anywhere though and the trail is very well maintained. Allow about
3 hours for the roundtrip. When I placed the cache the trail was
bone dry all the way to the end but it does tend to have sections
that are quite muddy for much of the year. Plan your footwear
accordingly. Also there are quite a few sections that are right
atop sheer cliffs. If you have small children or dogs you’ll want
to be extra careful to keep them safe. One of those sheer cliffs is
near the cache so I’m gonna spare you the bushwhacking and tell you
how to easily find the cache:
FYI, the following text was updated on
7/24/05:
When you reach the cache coordinates look
for the old trunk of a downed tree lying perpendicular to trail on
the UPHILL side of trail. Go up the side trail by the old tree
about 10 feet and you’ll find the cache under the trunk of the
downed tree. When I first placed this cache back in 2002 the tree
had a large root ball right next to the trail. The root ball is
gone now, but the trunk remains and is fairly easy to spot. Your
sat lock should be excellent here but expect it to be very spotty
on the way to the cache. From the cache site it will be just a
three minute walk to the viewpoint at the end of the trail. Cache
is a black ammo can and there may be TWO caches! I made a
maintenance trip on 7/24/05 but could not find the original
Rubbermaid container. It may be there somewhere, but I'm pretty
positive it's not where I placed it three years ago. I searched all
over but to no avail. I had a new container with me, so I placed it
in the same spot as the old cache. If you should happen to find the
old Rubbermaid container please remove it if you can. If there's
any decent goodies inside feel free to keep them or transfer them
to the new ammo can as you see fit. I would like to get the logbook
back though somehow. Email me if you find it & we'll work
something out. FYI, it appears the "Little Nemo" travel bug has
been MIA for some time now.
Enjoy!
On 9/26/02 billh posted this note to the
cache page:
"There are still pieces of the bomber
wreckage the last time I looked, which was a few years ago. They
are larger chunks so I don't think they would go anywhere, but you
never know. I don't have coordinates of where to look, and I also
would not recommend poking around too much off the trail lest you
find a cliff edge."