On our way to see the Devils Churn we stopped at the Sea Lion caves hoping to see if the hype about this place stands up. Sea Lion Caves are a connected system of sea caves and caverns open to the Pacific Ocean along Hwy 101. The caves are a privately owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary that has been in operation since 1932. An elevator takes you down about 200 feet to the cave viewing area. Well it was a pretty neat place to see the sea lions and its very well maintained. So yea its worth a stop. I think there were about a hundred or so sea lions along the rocks and in the water.
Once we got our fill of the sea lions we continued down hwy 101 to the Devils Churn. Devils Churn is a narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean near the city of Yachats in the Siuslaw National Forest. It has a small parking lot but we lucked out and got a spot. It was also a rising tide so the churning increased as we were there which made for some dramatic wave crashing. I did walk down to the rocks and yes I did get wet as the waves grew. The wind was also very powerful being channeled down the inlet so I had to be very careful.
We stopped by the Dean Creek Wildlife Area in the morning and didn’t see anything so on the way back from the caves and Devil’s Churn we stopped by again and were greeted by a small herd of Elks. The Dean Creek Wildlife Area is a wildlife management area located near Reedsport, Oregon, it is the year-round residence for a herd of Roosevelt elk.
