Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area is a BLM managed resource just north of Newport, Oregon. Attractions includes an Interpretive Center, extensive natural tidepools, manmade tidepools, hiking trails, and Yaquina Head Lighthouse which is open daily for public tours.
At the end of the point there is a staircase down to the beach and tidepools. The beach is composed of basalt cobbles. This picture shows a series of "cusps" and "cusp horns" in the foreground, a characteristic of a cobble beach. You can also see some hints of the "stepped" profile of this beach, also typical of a cobble beach.
The sound when the waves wash over the rock at high tide is unique, fairly loud, and yet soothing. When wet, the cobbles here look absolutely black. When they are dry, they appear blue-gray.
A colony of Harbor Seals inhabits the rocks just offshore here. Harbor seals are also often seen on a rock in Quarry Cove very near to shore. Yaquina Head is one of the best places on the coast to get a close view of seabird colonies. In the spring, thousands of sea birds nest on the rocks offshore.
Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Cobble Beach at Dusk, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Newport, OR.
