My friend, showing me around her beloved Oregon, took me to the coast at Seaside.
We walked the beach. (Of course!) Inland, in Portland, it was in the upper 80s and getting hotter. The beach, on the other hand, was chilly enough to require a sweatshirt. And the ocean so cold that few people were in the water.
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| beach at Seaside, Oregon |
Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific in 1805 at what is now Seaside. There is a monument:
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| Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific |
Seaside is quite a tourist town, but quaint for all that. Here, on the creek, the paddle boats you can rent look like swans.
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| Seaside, Oregon |
We went north from there, to Astoria, at the northern edge of Oregon.
The great bridge takes you across the Columbia River into Washington State
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| Astoria, Oregon |
There were big tankers on the Columbia
I live at the base of the Rocky Mountains at almost 5,000 feet elevation. The forests are still 1,000 feet or more higher in elevation. So I was awed by Oregon's forests. My pictures, from the top of the Astoria Column, are 600 feet above sea level. Just look at the forest! Expanses of pine, fir and hemlock, very tall.
Okay, there are lots of differences between Astoria and Denver. Oregon temperatures are cooler because it is farther north. Temperatures fluctuate less in water than on land, so the Pacific keeps the adjacent land cooler in summer, warmer in winter, which favors trees. And the rainfall is way higher on the Oregon Coast than on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, 80" of rain per year compared to 15". (But I saw only sunny days.) So sea level forests in Oregon are logical. But it was very different from what I was used to and so, striking.
recently cut the grass, but beyond it was a tangle of berry bushes, maybe a native species of Rubus but more likely an introduced blackberry or raspberry (all are in the genus Rubus) gone wild. Nice to eat, awful to try to hike through.
New places to me. What fun!
Comments and corrections welcome
We climbed the Astoria Column, which rises 125 feet on the top of a hill above the city. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the Column, but I only have pictures from the Column.
Here's the view looking north
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| Looking north |
Looking east
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| Looking east |
Looking down at the parking lot you can get some idea of the scale of the trees.
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| Looking down at the parking lot |
Okay, there are lots of differences between Astoria and Denver. Oregon temperatures are cooler because it is farther north. Temperatures fluctuate less in water than on land, so the Pacific keeps the adjacent land cooler in summer, warmer in winter, which favors trees. And the rainfall is way higher on the Oregon Coast than on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, 80" of rain per year compared to 15". (But I saw only sunny days.) So sea level forests in Oregon are logical. But it was very different from what I was used to and so, striking.
Back on the ground, here is the view southwestward. That's part of Young's Bay. They had
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| Looking southwest |
And here is my shout out to the Oregon or big leaf maple, Acer macrophyllum. They were very common landscape and were very big trees. I have a mature silver maple (Acer saccharinum) in Colorado, and it is half the size of the tree below (not as tall, not as broad). Oregon maples are beautiful!
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| Oregon maple, Acer macrophyllum |
Comments and corrections welcome
Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist
More at awanderingbotanist.com
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Big leaf maple is a favorite! They shade the creek by our family cabin in the central California coast range. I've never heard it called Oregon maple, until now.
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