Cape Meares Lighthouse once directed ships toward Tillamook Bay. The 1890-built light is no longer in use, but Oregon State Parks runs summer tours of the tower. At 38 feet, it is the Oregon Coast’s shortest lighthouse.

At the headland base where Bayocean Road meets the Three Capes Scenic Loop, a few miles west of Tillamook, heavy clouds lifted to breaks of blue sky.

I stopped to change a camera lens, then set out on the drive toward Cape Meares Lighthouse. Dense fog blew in with the steep elevation gain, clouding over a new road that has reconnected the lighthouse with Tillamook Bay and Cape Meares Beach.

For over a decade, traveling between these places meant taking a longer route through Netarts and Oceanside to the south.

A series of landslides had caused frequent closures on the Cape Meares Loop Road, and in 2013, the stretch closed permanently, leaving some residents with just one route inland. Restoring the road required moving it east to avoid slide areas, a long and costly effort.

In November, the new section restored a missing link to the 40-mile Three Capes Scenic Loop. For the first time in nearly 11 years, it’s once again possible to take the loop to Cape Meares and continue onto Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda before meeting U.S. Highway 101 again near Pacific City.

When the fog clears, at least, the new section includes scenic viewpoints of the Three Arch Rocks — home of the first National Wildlife Refuge west of the Mississippi River — as well as the Bayocean Peninsula and the coastline looking north to Manzanita.

But winter closures of the road are still possible. The new section has a steep and winding 12% grade and may close for safety during harsh conditions.