Central Oregon Coast in Otherworldly Colors

Published 06/25/2012

(Depoe Bay, Oregon) – There is so much more than meets the eye of the usual beholder along the Oregon coast. The average visitor, even most of the residents of the area around Depoe Bay, either don't see it or don't notice it. The colors in this part of the shoreline can explode in your face in ways you can't imagine, unless you're actually there to witness it. Even then, it can pass very quickly and you've got to be paying attention.

This part of the central Oregon coast – not far from major resorts like Yachats, Newport or Lincoln City – can yield the most extraordinary colors. You need only keep your eyes open at the right times, and maybe even your mind open as well.

Last year, early summer had Depoe Bay being especially wild at heart. Not only were the colors especially vibrant and engaging, but they kept changing – with ever more striking results. The photo at top shows the view from the seawall shortly after the sun had disappeared, with the sky a monstrous, unforgettable purple.

Right about this time, those purple skies were making this remarkable scene at the seawall itself and casting the southern part of Depoe Bay in this light.

At sunset, however, the skies were this shade of powerful oranges and yellows. The long finger of a headland there is part of a rather secret part called “north point,” which you can get to via Sunset Ave. at the northern end of town.

Heading back in time about another hour or less, this was the stunning scene just up the road at Gleneden Beach. As you descended through the forested tunnel of this state park, the dark silhouettes of the canopy gave way to its usual soft sands and interesting wave action – but this time with some startling color schemes.

Just around this corner, the clouds were a deep gray/blue while the sandstone cliffs were lit up in this extremely unique way.

Always a favorite with Oregon Coast Beach Connection audiences is this eye-popping scene not far away, taken at Cape Foulweather on a deep orange/red dusk – but a year earlier. This was summer of 2010.

Sometimes, however, the most colorful and amazing moments on the Oregon coast happen at night. It's not just a black, white and gray scene out there, after dark If you've ever wondered what Depoe Bay looked like around 2 or 3 a.m., here is one possibility. It's actually a cold winter's night here, where ships at sea light low-lying clouds in particularly intense ways, while the ambient street lamps makes this blurry, fuzzy ocean look like it's on fire. The whole scene is aglow with this unearthly light.

For something more unearthly – literally from out of this world – Cape Foulweather showed off the rest of the universe in this insanely beautiful manner in August of 2011. Our own Milky Way Galaxy stretches across an especially ethereal sea of stars, all of which hovers over the earthbound sea.

It's not hard to believe you're on an alien world here - or at least can see one from here. Then again, who needs such space travel when the most otherworldly of scenes can be found right at home, on this coastline, given the right conditions?

Keywords: astronomy, topography, geography, fossils, Pacific City, Cannon Beach, Yachats, Depoe Bay, Newport, Lincoln City, Oceanside, Astoria, Oregon coast, science.

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