Travel: Yachats, OR

My family kicked off summer vacation with a trip to the beach. Yachats is a tiny town on the coast of Oregon, which for us meant a twelve hour drive from Missoula. We stopped for gas in Burnt Woods where a woman was selling knit hats in the parking lot. It was 82 degrees.

We made many discoveries in Yachats. The most important was that despite its name, Yachats (pronounced Yah-hots), is not hot. Temperatures hovered around 57 degrees with a wind chill. The woman we mocked for selling knit hats had the last laugh on us. Stupid Montanans.

We concurred that the Oregon Coast is the child of Iceland and Hawaii, volcanic and freezing, but also lush with rainforest. It didn’t rain on us. We were lucky.

We hiked to the Whispering Spruce, a 500+ year old Sitka Spruce tree. The magic of the old growth rainforest filled us with tranquility.

The coast is lined with State Park beaches. We were the only people at this sandy beach.

A lighthouse guards the sea along the rocky coast. Its perch atop the greenery is worthy of a puzzle. 

If I return to Yachats, I’d like to go crabbing-wrapped in my down jacket and a hat. When Montana is threatened with forest fires later this summer, I’ll remember this trip.