Cape Meares - a short drive from Tillamook is situated on a high steep bluff on the south side of Tillamook Bay named after a British explorer John Meares. The Cape consists of a lighthouse that is no longer in operation. Across the parking lot sits the famous Octopus Tree, a large, multi-trunked Sitka Spruce with a trunk circumference of about 50 feet!
The Octopus Tree is a massive Sitka spruce with branches growing like giant tentacles from its 50-foot base. Nearly 250 years old it was once featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the tree has been described as one of the modern Wonders of the World. The tree’s odd shape, according to local historians and Tillamook tribal descendants, comes not from the ravages of wind, as some have said, but from its function as a ceremonial site, shaped to hold cedar canoes and other ritual objects.
The Cape Meares lighthouse is about 35 feet tall built in 1890 with an interesting history. Originally selected as the site for what is now Cape Mears Lighthouse, Cape Lookout lost its bid to host the lighthouse due to a map-making error in identifying the two capes. By the time the error was discovered, construction was too far along at the Cape Mears location, and President Benjamin Harrison stepped in and officially declared Cape Mears to be the location for the lighthouse.
Cape Lookout offers camp sites and cabins and its a great place for hiking and whale watching. Although its best to visit all three in the loop tour, I opt to skip out on Cape Lookout to accommodate side attractions in the limited time I had.
Cape Kiwanda State Park tucked off to the side the road - about a mile north of Cape Kiwanda's parking in Pacific City. Its a favorite place for photo ops as it offers giant sandstones and the "other" haystack rock. In order to get the full view of the beach, you must hike up a 30-feet tall loose sand dunes but the view is worth the exhausting hike.
Tucked between the Three Cape Scenic route is a little town called Oceanside. The 7.3acre beach lies between the Pacific Ocean to the west and homes on a steep slope to the east. Cape Meares is to the north and Netarts Bay and Cape Lookout are to the south. About 0.5 miles offshore is Three Arch Rocks, part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. It supports breeding colonies of Tufted Puffins and Common Murres as well as Pigeon Guillemots, Storm-petrels, Cormorants, and other birds. The refuge is also a breeding site for Stellar Sea Lions.
I added two side attractions during the Three Capes tour. Munson Creek Falls and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The Munson Creek Falls is an important salmon spawning ground, Munson Creek Falls tumbles 319', making it the tallest waterfall in the Coast Range. A short and easy hiking trail system winds through the hills to the waterfall.
Tillamook Cheese Factory - the 44th largest dairy processor in North America, hosts over a million tourists each year. Visitors watch the production of cheese from a viewing gallery from the second floor and it includes a cafe and gift shops along with free cheese samples. The Tillamook Cheese Factory produces 167,000 pounds of cheese each day and packages one million pounds of cheese each week.
The co-operative includes 110 dairy farms, mostly within Tillamook County. Products produced by the co-operative include cheese, butter, ice cream, sour cream, and yogurt. Their most famous product is Tillamook cheese, including the famous Tillamook Cheddar. In March 2010, Tillamook's Medium Cheddar cheese won the gold medal in the 2010 World Cheese.Championship Cheese Contest hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association in Madison, Wisconsin. The cheese scored 99.6 out of 100 points possible beating 59 other entries.
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