Last night my fellow docent Ann visited and we talked about were fossils can be found northward.   Today not being a work day, it was time to go explore.  The Lost Creek way side; south of Newport, was my destination today.   The dogs and I ventured to the beach and started looking.  The beach had a gentle sandy slope away from a small bluff, with the mudstone bluff being the potential source of the fossils.  The looking was sparse today with much of the rocks buried under sand.  But the location was ideal for me because with a bluff to walk along I didn’t have to keep an eye on my wander lust dog Sadie.  She had no place to wander but the beach.  I think I may have found two clam fossils.

The next stop was the Yaquina Head lighthouse.  There is a wonderful BLM visitor center there where you stop and get a ticket for a tour.  My tour would be at 2:00.  The area has wind swept beauty surrounded by a steep basalt bluff.  Sea birds were happy on high protected perches and Harbor seals rested on the low rocks.  The lighthouse has been restored and in the tour I heard many of the items that I tell visitors.  It gave me some reassurance that I have been doing OK as a docent.  But I felt a bit cheated with this lighthouse.  This first order Fresnel lens does not rotate.  Its signature was a solid light on, no blinking.  Because of this, the lens is only partial and has only a reflector plate on the land side.   It now blinks, but that is only after electrification.

During the tour it had started to rain.  The rain coupled with the high winds felt like ice pellets being shot at me.  Enough touring for the day, it was time to drive home.