Manzanita's magic

While strolling one of Oregon's expansive sandy beaches, a scurrying movement in a tide pool caught my eye. Was that a bullhead? No, it was too egg-shaped to be one of the shy pool-dwelling fish. It didn't scuttle like a crab -- and the pool was teeming with these mystery creatures.

What on earth was zipping randomly to and fro like crazed aquatic bumper cars?

Whatever it was, the buggy beast was just the reason I'd wanted to visit Oregon's ocean beaches: for a chance to explore the craggy coastline, poke around under seaside rocks and sink my toes in sugary sand.

That meant testing out a few of the areas beaches -- Three-Bears style -- to see which one was just right for my seashore adventure.

My husband and I chose Manzanita as our home base. Just south of the better-known Cannon Beach and its iconic Haystack Rock, Manzanita offered fewer restaurants and no movie theater, but did have the relaxed atmosphere we desired.

On weekends and summer months, the seaside town with its silvery, cedar-shingled buildings does get hopping. But weekdays and in the offseason -- which seems to stretch into late spring -- the pace is sea-slug slow. The wildest night life we discovered on an after-dark stroll was a brown pelican standing on the sidewalk on the town's main drag. A marauding pair of raccoons rambled by. It was just our speed.

A happy upside, thanks to the seasonal bursts of tourism, are Manzanita's surprisingly good restaurants and a handful of clothing boutiques, bookshops and art galleries sufficient to amuse a visitor for an hour or two.

Many locals and out-of-towners start their day at the Coffee Shop for doughnuts and great homemade muffins and scones. An even better bet is Wanda's Cafe and Bakery a short drive south in Nehalem. Seated in the snug roadside house done up in a retro decor, I was thrilled by Wanda's fluffy omelet filled with smoked salmon and dilled cream cheese. Lunch was terrific, too.

Back in Manzanita, Marzano's Pizza Pie serves pizzas hot off a fire-heated stone for eating in or to go. In step with the town's enviro-conscious, pro-recycling ethic, you can return your pizza box for composting. When eating at the Manzanita Seafood Market, stick to the basics -- namely chowder and fish and chips -- or buy a piece of fresh fish to grill at home if you're staying in one of the area's countless rentals.

After fueling up on a snack from Mother Nature's -- a great picnicking source for gourmet cheeses, wine and produce -- we were ready to hit the beach.

Manzanita

At the end of Laneda Avenue in Manzanita is access to a long, sandy beach wide enough to play a football game with the ocean in one end zone. The bluff at the beach's north end turns rocky at the shoreline, but to the south, the soft sand stretches seemingly forever, eventually ending in Nehalem Bay State Park.

The place is paradise for dogs, kids, joggers and sand-castle builders. Pooches leashed and unleashed race around manically, dragging whatever driftwood they can clamp their jaws on. Beachgoers trace odes to love in the damp sand and build elaborate moats and fortresses. In the evening, a parade of wagons loaded up with firewood heads west from town to get ready for toasted s'mores and sunsets.

The beach at Manzanita was gorgeous -- don't get me wrong. But it was a little too playground-tame when I wanted to commune with the wild Pacific.

Oswald West

So the next day it was off to Oswald West State Park, whose beauty was compared to the California redwoods by our hotel manager.

A 10-minute drive north from Manzanita on U.S. 101, Oswald has two big parking lots -- one for campers, the other for day-trippers and surfers.

A trail winds under 101, along a creek and through a lush forest dominated by towering Sitka spruce. Vibrant green vine maples balance on the banks of the stream. The broken branches on the jagged old-growth spruce drip with moss. A 15-minute walk emptied us onto Shore Sand Beach. Other trails wind throughout the park, linking up with the long Oregon Coast Trail.

Craggy headlands bookend the beach, creating a cozy bay called Smugglers Cove. The tide pools are dominated by orange and purple sea stars; sticky, tentacled, sea-foam-green anemones; and black mussels and barnacles. Along the sandy beach, the occasional sand dollar poked out tantalizingly, though all were broken like a dropped dinner plate.

Farther out, a dozen surfers in dark wetsuits were lined up parallel to shore. They bobbed along, ready for a glorious ride atop a Pacific wave -- or a humbling face plant into the chilly surf. Both outcomes scored as fine entertainment in my book. Oswald was a winner.

Hug Point

Then it was on to Hug Point, a recreation site about five minutes north of Oswald. A friend had highly recommended this beach, advising a visit at low tide so we could walk a former stagecoach trail carved into a rocky bluff "hugging" the shore.

Now grown over with ubiquitous barnacles and mussels, the trail doesn't exactly evoke romantic images of wagon wheels and bonneted ladies. But peering down into the ocean, I could picture skittish horses clopping above the breaking surf.

Rounding the bend, the beach opens up to another sandy, deserted expanse.

The best part of Hug Point was the stretch of beach closer to the park entrance. There, spooky caves are carved into the shoreline and a low waterfall tumbles onto the beach, then streams to the sea as it winds around a mini-archipelago of boulders.

It was near the waterfall that I found my mystery creatures pinballing around the rocks.

The bigger ones were about as long as my thumb, zinging backward through the pool, then burying their rear ends halfway into the sand. A few were outside the pools and in the rocks; they looked dead, but when they started wiggling, we decided not to pick one up for a closer look.

To finally identify our find, it took a query to the marine gurus at the University of Washington.

It seems we'd stumbled upon Emerita analoga, or mole crabs. Not exactly exotic, but Megan Dethier, a UW professor at Friday Harbor Labs, seemed excited.

The crabs are rare in Washington, common in Oregon, she said in an e-mail. "They live in sandy beaches (so if it was in a rocky tide pool, it was lost) -- they dig (fast!) in the sand and then filter-feed on plankton in the waves, using long feathery antennae. Cute guys."

Further reading in "Seashore Life of the Northern Pacific Coast" revealed that although common, mole crabs also are somewhat ephemeral, drifting from the south as oceangoing larvae looking for a "favorable place to settle and mature."

They made a nice choice with Hug Point, a great beach for mole crabs and beachcombers alike.

IF YOU GO

SLEEPING
There are inns, hotels and rental homes in Manzanita, but no resorts. There's also camping at nearby state parks, including Nehalem Bay and Oswald West.

Inn at Manzanita -- Quiet and romantic, with balconies and soaker tubs. 503-368-6754, innatmanzanita.com

Spindrift Inn -- Single-story, casual and pet-friendly. 877-368-1001, spindrift-inn.com

Sunset Surf Motel -- Beachfront with an outdoor pool. 800-243-8035, sunsetsurfocean.com

EATING
Most of the dining is along Laneda Avenue, the town's main drag. Also check out nearby Wanda's Cafe and Bakery, 12870 U.S. 101, Nehalem, 503-368-8100.

BEACHINGS
Manzanita -- Easy access from the end of Laneda Avenue to this long, sandy beach. ci.manzanita.or.us

Oswald West State Park -- Walk through a Sitka spruce forest to reach a cove popular with surfers. goto.seattlepi.com/r1486

Hug Point State Recreation Site -- A short stretch of steps leads to the beach. To the north is an old stagecoach trail that was carved into the bluff when -- before there was a highway -- the beach was the only route for travel. goto.seattlepi.com/r1487

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattlepi.com.

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