OREGON: The Search for the Wizard's Hat

I'm sure you've all probably seen photos of this iconic rock structure - the wizards hat. Being as I'd seen it all over Flickr, I figured it was a pretty popular spot for photographers in Oregon. On the contrary, we discovered that no one we met had any idea what we were talking about. This strange rock ended up bringing us on quite an adventure.

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With a little research, we discovered that the Wizard's Hat was located on the shore of Bandon, Oregon. With the help of photography communities on Flickr, we were able to find exact coordinates which we plugged into our Google Maps. While the coordinates gave us an idea of where to find the Hat, it did not at all help us find somewhere to park. After a little driving, we were able to find a location a little further down the beach that had parking available.

Upon pulling up to the beach, we looked along the shore but didn't really spot it. We asked the other beach-goers, and no one seemed to know what we were talking about. Apparently it's not as iconic as the internet would make it seem.

We wandered down the beach until we finally found it, among several larger formations.

And so of course, we promptly got to posing in ridiculous poses along side it to celebrate.

The sky was overcast that day, and so the lighting wasn't ideal for the dramatic photographs we had seen throughout the internet. Regardless, we decided to continue exploring the beach and see what else we could find.

We were exploring between a few rock formations, when suddenly the tide started to come in. One moment I was walking along a sandy beach, and the next I found myself waist-deep in the ocean. Josh, upon the wave hitting his ankles, promptly scurried up the nearest rock to safety. Holding my camera over my head, I tried to climb up and dropped my cell phone into the wave in the process. With a little searching (read: splashing around in the water in a blind panic), I was able to find my phone and get out of the water to safety, soaked from the belly down, with my boots full of fresh Pacific Ocean water. We decided to call it a day for coastal wandering.

Lessons learned:
1. The ocean is not to be trusted
2. Samsung Galaxy phones are surprisingly durable
3. Waterproof boots are only waterproof to a certain depth

At the moment, this was terrifying. We had never seen a sneaker wave, and there was no warning. We promptly learned to be more careful while exploring the Pacific Beaches. In the end, the phone recovered, no one was hurt, and it makes a pretty funny memory.

What are some of your funniest travel memories?

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OREGON: Bandon | Part 2

Check out Part One here.

You can read our other entries about Oregon here.

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OREGON: Bandon | Part 1

Bandon is a very small town off of the Oregon Coast, which has some impressive rock structures along the beach. We had come here in search of the Wizard's hat - a rock quite popular on flickr but apparently not very known by the locals. If you have seen the image of the "Wizard's hat" in images it actually appears a lot more defined and larger than what it actually is. So as a tip don't look for a huge structure jutting out of the ground..

The weather was quite grey, but we spent some time there taking photos along the beach. It was a nice spot to stop and stretch our legs before we continued our long trip to north California.

Check out Part Two here.

You can read our other entries about Oregon here.

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OREGON: Cannon Beach | Part 2

You can read part 1 here. The Oregon coast is too incredible for just one round of photos!

The following are also from Cannon Beach, Ecola State Park & One view of the Dunes from the road.

You can read our other entries about Oregon here.

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OREGON: Cannon Beach | Part 1

On our Pacific Coast Road Trip, we tried to stick to the coast as often as possible. This lead us down the Oregon Coast to some beautiful beaches before we made our way to Portland. After Astoria, we stopped at Fort Stevens State Park, Ecola State Park & Cannon Beach.

Fort Stevens State Park has plenty to offer that we were not able to see, however we did make sure to stop and see The Wreck of Peter Iredale. While it's only the skeleton of a shipwreck, it does make for an interesting photo subject. There were some families with children playing in the area but we managed to get some photo opportunities in.

Cannon Beach & Ecola State Park are notable for the beaches & unique rock formations, but these were also filming locations for The Goonies.

The most iconic formation on Cannon Beach is Haystack Rock. It is nearly impossible to show how grand this formation is in person.

In Ecola State Park, you can drive up a windy, dark, forested road to get to a higher point for a panoramic view of Cannon Beach. You will also realize that this the same drive that the kids rode their bikes on while starting their adventure in the movie. It was a beautiful drive just to get to the park itself.

After our time in Portland, we did visit the Oregon coast one more time to head to Bandon, where you can find several notable rock formations including the Wizards Hat.

You can find Part 2 of these photos here.

You can read our other entries about Oregon here.

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OREGON: Astoria

One of the places we really wanted to check out along our way down the coast was Astoria. A convenient stop on our way down the coast towards Portland, Astoria was made famous by the 1980s film The Goonies (one of Josh's favorites). This little marine town is located right on the Washington and Oregon border so it's pretty hard to miss.

We got to see all the famous town locations from the movie including: the bowling alley (pizza joint), Mikey's house (the owners of the house encourage movie fans to come see the house but to be respectful of the property and surrounding neighbors), the Flavel House and Museum (library) and Oregon Film Museum (jail). It was a very surreal experience to be able to see all these locations, but even if you're not a movie fan - Astoria is a beautiful, small, beachy, artsy town.

The best location for landscape photos would have to be the Astoria Column. 600 feet above sea level, the column offers a great view of the entire city. It's a small climb up a winding spiral staircase, but the panoramic view is worth it.

After going on our own Goonie adventure around town we stopped at a quaint Indian restaurant for some nourishment before heading out of town to see some other filming locations and scenic sites. 

You can read our other entries about Oregon here

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