This downright spectacular oddity is almost a rare sight in Neskowin, but you may not know just how spectacular it is unless you know what it is you're looking at.
They look somewhat like old, ragged pilings leftover from something manmade - but they are, in fact, stumps of a forest some 1000 to 2000 years ago or so. As many as 100 are sometimes visible in various shapes and sizes. It's theorized that around that time, the landscape changed rather quickly - in geologic terms - over a period of decades. Sand, sea or muck covered this forest entirely, killing them. This wound up preserving them, rather then destroying and scattering them as natural erosion might've done.
There are similar stumps periodically visible near Newport, although these are quite rare. Other ghost forests sometimes appear south of Newport, in Cape Lookout, Rockaway, Arch Cape and Hug Point. See more about Neskowin's stumps and the danger to them.
