SAND LAKE – SUPER STORM ADVENTURE
Editor: E. Bewley, Author/Photos: D. Cappell
Portland, OR – With the coming winter comes the promise of large storms crashing upon the coast. Sometimes it is good sport to go check them out and see just how nasty it really is. This weekend was played up as a large ‘typhoon type’ with high winds, buckets of rain, and high surf… Sounds great, let’s go.
It turned out to be an awesome trip although the wind never got as strong as was predicted. We headed out via Hebo rd. then followed the little Nestucca river out to 101. The falls along the river were spectacular with all the extra flow. Strangely, we had Sand Lake to ourselves and there was only one other vehicle in the parking lot. They were on quads and we only saw them once as they were heading for the trees. The bowl was steeper and more loose than we have seen it in a while which made for some fun sand slinging. The wind was building it back up faster than we could tear it down and after running the dunes end to end a few times and playing at the bowl, we headed to the north end of the beach and backed up out of the weather into an inlet between the trees. As the wind picked up stronger and stronger we headed out onto the beach on foot. At the peak I am guessing we saw 65-80 mph. It was more than Silas had ever seen and it was difficult to stand at times.
When the strongest wind passed it was sunny and warm for a short time. Once the sun was gone the rain picked up so we headed out. The Sand Lake store was open even though I am sure they weren’t expecting many customers. We stopped in for hot dogs which is something we’ve always wanted to do but unfortunately none were cooked. The store keepers were super friendly like always and gave the kids suckers and made me fresh coffee which they wouldn’t let me pay for. We returned through Trask along the Trask river out of Tillamook and past Barney reservoir where we stopped for some delicious hot dinner. Heading out and since we were alone, Silas got some seat time in driving the Trask roads. Happily, the gate at Pike road was open which is not always the case, and we arrived out the other side of the mountains without incident. It wasn’t until we pulled into our own driveway did we find a down tree blocking our way. We were glad to take take this quick and interesting day trip to the coast to see the weather.
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