Devil's Churn

About 2 or 3 miles south of my little town, there is a magnificent natural feature called the Devil's Churn. It's a fissure that runs into the flank of one of the highest points along the Oregon Coast, Cape Perpetua. Because the walls are so narrow, the water gains tremendous speed and force as the energy is channeled into a tighter and tighter squeeze, resulting in huge sprays and sea foam accretions that look just like churned butter.

Here are some more photos I took today of this magnificent phenomenon:

Devil's Churn seen from above, at the summit of Cape Perpetua.

Approach to Devil's Churn along the windy (it winds, and there's a lot of wind, too!) trail.

 The water rushes into this narrow fissure in the flank of Cape Perpetua and slams into the end of it, creating huge sprays.

 As the water gains speed, its energy compressed by the narrow walls, it rises and starts to froth.

 The sea foam which accumulates in the trench takes on the consistency of churned butter.

 The foam creates amazing patterns as it's pushed about by the ceaselessly rebounding wave energy.

 More wonderfully thick patterns.

 And finally, it crashes over--the amazing power of water.

Hope you're having a powerful weekend too!