Pirate's Lookout
THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE LISTED COORDINATES!
But, please start at that location to solve this Multicache.
Enjoy a world-class walk/hike through the streets, forests and shores of Cannon Beach to find this cache.
The cache sites are rich in pirate lore. Please see the Historical Notes
at the end of this listing for more info.
Expect to walk just over two miles
round trip
with a few short, steep sections. Caution: Areas of the trail can be
SLIPPERY!
You'll also get a BONUS cache,
Pirate's Landing
(ARCHIVED).
Start your adventure at the posted
coordinates, Haystack Rock Public Parking (no fee). This is an ideal
starting place, since parking is extremely limited further along the route.
Find E Gower Street on the north side
of the lot and walk east.
When you come to the pedestrian
trail, turn onto that and continue south.
Proceed to the Cannon Beach History
Center Museum which will be on your left. You will answer the first of four questions at this site.
The answers to those four questions will enable you to build the coordinates of
the cache.
On the southeast corner of the
Museum lot, find a replica of the cannon which gave Cannon Beach its name.
On what day in September was the
"Shark" wrecked? This answer will be "A".
A = ____
Continue south on Spruce Street.
Watch for a whale weather vane on a
garage on the east side of the street.
What shape is the window below the
whale?
Round (B = 7)
Hexagonal (six sides) (B = 89)
Diamond (B = 56)
Rectangular (B = 42)
B = ____
Continue uphill and when the road bends to the west,
stay straight and into the Assembly Area and then onto the (unmarked) forest
trail.
After a beautiful forest ascent, you
can answer the final two questions at this classic geocache:
Haystack Rock State Park
(GC2XHDB)
Note the hint for the cache - both
useful and hilarious! My reading zeroed on the trail but the cache is just
off the trail to the north behind a huge double-trunk spruce.
Looking at the first page of the
logbook, what was the hour of the FTF?
C = ____
And the outside of the geocache
features:
Skull and bones (D = 51)
CITO (Cache In Trash Out) stickers (D
= 78)
Zebra stripes (D = 2)
Peace signs (D = 23)
D = ____
Cool! Sweet!
Compute the location of Pirate's
Lookout and the geocache:
XX = A + B
YY = C + D
Pirate's Lookout is at:
N 45 53.0XX
W 123 57.7YY
Enjoy a great view of the actual
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse from the Lookout.
For a nice loop, return on the beach:
Retrace your last steps back to the
trail junction (careful - there's a slippery spot!). Turn right (west) and
down to the neighborhood road.
Proceed down to Hemlock Street and
then north a short distance to the stairs leading down to the beach.
You can then follow the beach north
back to the road leading to the parking lot and posted coordinates.
Cheers!
Historical Notes for Pirate's Lookout and Pirate's Landing
In far distant times, a band of pirates
ran aground at Pirate's Landing, attracted by amazing Haystack Rock. Finding
the area easy pickings, and the Rock excellent concealment for their ships, the
band lingered on for many years.
During the first year of their time
on the Northwest Coast, the pirates sought money and fortune. But that was
to take a dramatic and historic change in December of that year. Having
just raided a large merchantman (a ship carrying products between two ports),
one of the leaders of the group discovered a large box containing a huge
assortment of cosmetic products.
Daggers Dan, as he was known, found
these products vastly amusing and proceeded to apply them liberally to his good
self, providing massive entertainment for his mates, all denoted by raucous
howls of laughter and torrents of profanity. Accompanied by much
consumption of rum, the entire group joined in and were soon covered in a
mixture of fine moisturizers, facial creams and mascara.
The next morning, upon arising,
Daggers Dan is said to have exclaimed, "Oi! Me face feels ever so smooth,
me fine mates! And lookee! Ye can but barely behold that scar what
was under me eye patch! Blimey! And look ye at Cap'n Gunpowder - he
be only 'alf as 'orrible as him were last night!"
Despite their initial ridicule,
the pirates quickly became accustomed to the benefits of beauty products and
over the next few months shifted their targets from gold and silver to
cosmetics. Daggers Dan became known as The Mascara Maniac and Captain
Gunpowder as Bedlam Beauty-Buff.
The base near Haystack Rock proved
perfect for this new direction their plundering had taken. Many ships each
month passed nearby, heading to Cannon Beach and laden with enormous quantities
of fine cosmetic product bound for the high-end tourist and boutique shops of the town.
Furthermore, these ships proved to be much less protected than those carrying
gold and silver, making for very easy plundering.
The pirates maintained a lookout, the
remains of which is now the location of this geocache. High above the
beach, this location afforded a panoramic view of the ocean and approaching
ships. Upon sighting a likely inbound target, the pirates would swarm down
the hill and board their pirate ships, cleverly concealed behind Haystack Rock,
and would then confront, overpower and board the hapless merchant ship victims.
Surviving logs recorded Captain
Beauty-Buff's bellowed demands as he stormed onto the deck of the "prize" ship:
"Surrender ye lubbers! I be Cap'n Beauty-Bu...er...Captain Bedlam and them
lot be me fine an' hardy brethren o' the coast what is payin' you a right
friendly visit, eh? All ye gots ta do is hand over yer cargo right smart.
Oi! You over there - I seen you stash that bottle o' Neutrogena Oil-Free
Moisturizer! I be a reasnumble man like, but I don't stand for no dodgy
moves what I don' like the cut o' your jib so says me, ye got that! Now,
me fine bilge rats, stow your gold! We's here for mascara, foundation, eye
shadow an' yer higher quality nail polishes. Avast! An extra round
o' eyebrow wax for you, Exfoliant Eric, for spottin' that there box o' organic
blush what that swabber yonder was fixin' to stow!"
The site of the bonus cache, Pirate's
Landing (ARCHIVED), marks the approximate area on the beach where our band of hearty and
makeup-laden pirates would descend from their lookout for yet another raid.
It also marks the spot where the cases of cosmetics were transported uphill to
the various lairs established by the band over quite a number of years.
Historians estimate that well over
60,000 pounds of beauty product were plundered from helpless merchant ships, and
the street price for cosmetics in Cannon Beach and surrounding areas was
astronomical due to the decreased supply.
So, what became of the pirates?
Astoundingly, none were ever captured, and there was only one recorded fatality
amongst the pirate band - an older member who succumbed to toxic fumes created
during the application of vast amounts of nail polish during a particularly
rowdy makeup session.
To answer the question, after many
years of heavy use of commercial beauty products, the pirates became
increasingly dissatisfied with the results, and began experimenting with
formulations for making their own products. With this they were successful
and eventually went on to create their own line of exfoliants, foundation and
mascara, an enterprise that proved so successful that piracy was no longer a
necessity.
Fifteen men on a makeup chest
Yo ho ho and some fresh-scented plum
Lotion and exfoliant had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and some fresh-scented plum
Suggested Reading:
Stevenson, Robert Louis -
Treasure Island (1882)
Smith, Arthur D. Howden - Porto
Bello Gold (1924)
Baki, Gabriella - Introduction to
Cosmetic Formulation and Technology (2015)
Roldan, Myra - Crafting Vegan
Makeup: Foundation, Lipstick, Eyeliner and Mascara Recipes (2014)
Enjoy the beautiful hike and reflect
on these amazing historical occurrences during your visit!
Image credits (free for use):
https://pixabay.com/photos/storm-pirate-sea-marine-boat-sky-3254676/
https://pixabay.com/photos/ship-strom-sea-night-fantasy-red-2202910/
https://pixabay.com/photos/pirate-ship-dark-night-storm-3424849/