TRAVEL Exploring Oregon’s Amazing Coastline

Exploring Oregon’s Coastal Tidepools

BY TAJ BARNHART MORGAN

EACHES IN OREGON ARE

publicly owned from the water to sixteen vertical feet above the low tide mark. To maximize tide pool exploration, reference local tidal charts and start several hours before low tide is at its peak. After low tide is reached, the water immediately starts its return journey back.

Feel free to poke around the water’s edge to observe marine life — just be mindful of treading carefully to protect living organisms and be aware of the ocean at all times. Sneaker waves can come farther up and further in than expected. Observe all posted notices and stay back from cliffs and rough shore break. Stay with your children and encourage them to be respectful of the fragile marine life. After tide pooling, have them draw what they observed (just like a marine biologist!) and look up the organisms online.

Some of the best places to explore tide pools include the Cape Perpetua Scenic

BArea (Cape Cove Trail, Captain Cook Trail and Restless Water Trail) and Heceta Head Lighthouse Trail #1370. Neptune State Scenic Viewpoint offers three easy to access tide pools at Neptune, Strawberry Hill and Bob Creek. Look for sea anemones, sea squirts, sea stars, urchins, crabs, barnacles, mussels, snails, limpets, chitons, sponges, octopus, and fish. You may also see rockweed, sea lettuce, sea palm, kelp, gulls, oystercatchers, shorebirds, and harbor seals. Beachcombers can follow the same tidal guidelines. But in the tide pools, this isn’t beachcombing so please don’t collect what you see - alive or dead! So much life is growing on every surface. Rocks and shells may be homes or protection for other living things, attached or hiding underneath. Step only where there is bare rock or sand to avoid crushing delicate organisms. If you pry something from its rock, it will die, so only touch or poke gently without moving it.

Good thing our ER is so close.

Accidents happen. And so do heart attacks, and strokes, and any number of unexpected situations nobody wants to think about. But isn’t it good to know we’re close by and ready to care for you when you need us. And because every minute matters in an emergency, we work diligently to have you initially seen by a medical professional within 30 minutes of your arrival in the ER.

Find out more at McKWeb.com/ER

1460 G Street, Springfield, OR 97477

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 9-1-1. McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center is owned in part by physicians.