Oysters! We drove around the bay to the Oregon Oyster Farms and picked up a dozen oysters in the shell. While Robert shucked them with his new oyster shucking knife, I set up all the condiments and crackers for a feast on the front deck!The history of oysters in Yaquina Bay is actually very sad. Of the oyster beds that had fed the Native Tribes here for millennia there are virtually no native oysters left in the bay, wiped out by intensive commercial harvesting from 1863 to 1900 (only 36 years!). The area from the Alsea river (11 miles south of us) to Cape Foulweather (16 miles north of us) including Yaquina Bay, was actually removed from the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1866 to accommodate settlement and commercial exploitation of natural resources. Pacific oysters from Japan were imported in 1918, but couldn’t reproduce here until 1968 when researchers at the Oregon State University Marine Science Center in Newport were able to hatch Pacific oysters locally.

We went inland just a bit to visit Olalla Reservoir. It is regularly stocked with keeper sized trout so Robert wanted to check it out!

It was a beautiful sunny, flat water day. Unfortunately we didn’t bring the fishing pole!

As we hiked around the reservoir and up the hill behind it we came across many rough-skinned newts on the trail. This guy/gal was probably heading down towards a pond or the reservoir itself in anticipation of breeding season which can start as early as January!

These newts are known for their toxicity. They produce a poison in their skin that is toxic if ingested by predators. The newts use a defense behavior of arching their necks and tails to expose their bright orange undersides as if to advertise their poisonous skin!

Our exploration yesterday continued around the ‘head’ to the Cobble Beach. The tide was up, so no tide pooling available while we were there. The cobbles were difficult to walk around on but the views of the rocks with the ocean pounding them down into cobbles was impressive.

A piece of jellyfish glistened in the intermittent sunshine among the gray cobbles.

Continuing on to Quarry Cove we spotted these seals lounging on the rock outcrop.

We drove out to the “Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area” north of Newport at Agate Beach to see the lighthouse and hike a few of the trails.

The view from the Salal Hill Trail, looking west towards the lighthouse. The treeless hillside was burned periodically by the native inhabitants to attract elk and deer.

An up close of the lighthouse, the tallest in Oregon.

A decorative element with the plaque below it reading:
“TO THOSE LOST AT SEA
WITH SPECIAL AFFECTION
FOR THE FISHERMEN OF
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST”

Yesterdays hike took us into Yakona Nature Preserve from a different direction. We continued around our favorite paths in the preserve.

This moss covered stone stairway makes the hill climb a little easier!

A different perspective of the Yakona bridge!