This Oregon Landmark Looks Like the Ocean Never Stops Draining

If you’re looking for a coastal location that plays tricks on the eyes, you need to head to the Pacific Northwest. Just off the coast of Oregon sits a spot called Thor’s Well.

During high tide, it appears as though the ocean is vanishing into the earth by a bottomless sinkhole. The ocean washes over the volcanic rocks and pours into a deep pit in the rock. This creates a surreal, seemingly endless cycle of the ocean filling and emptying from the well. This is one of the favorite spots for photographers to get the perfect shot of the ocean draining from the well.

A Cave Without A Roof

Despite the appearance of being bottomless, the well is only about 20 feet deep. It started as a typical sea cave. The coastal area is composed of basalt from ancient lava flows. The ocean has eroded the area over thousands of years.

Eventually, the cave roof collapsed into the sea due to rock erosion. This creates an opening in the sea from which the ocean pours out. The ocean floods the cave at low tide and overflows the cave at high tide, draining over the newly formed opening in the rock.

Timing Your Visit

Thor’s Well sits within the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, off the coastal highway near the town of Yachats. Like many locations around the Pacific Northwest coast, it relies on the tide to function.

At low tide, the spot is simply a deep pit in the sea. While interesting to look at, it’s not the best spot to view the attraction. For the best view, visitors should arrive approximately an hour before high tide, when the ocean begins to flood the area and violently drain over the opening in the rock.

A Warning About The Waves

Thor’s Well is visually stunning but carries a danger visitors should be aware of. While it’s possible to walk up to the edge of the sea well, visitors should be extremely careful about the sea.

The Oregon coast is known for sneaker waves – massive surges of the ocean that appear out of nowhere and rush far past the normal tide line. Several visiting photographers have lost their cameras and even fallen off their feet due to these surges of the ocean.

For safety’s sake, many visitors choose to view the well from the paved coastal viewing path instead. This provides an excellent view of ocean surges without the risk of falling into a deep-sea well.

Thor’s Well is one of the best examples of the ocean’s power to shape the land. After thousands of years of the ocean washing over the coastal basalt cliffs, it carved a sea cave that seemed impossible to form.