You’d be hard pressed to find a prettier coastline than Oregon’s. A big part of this is the 1967 law that gives ownership of all beach land to the State. As a result, the Oregon coast has not been carved up by condos and hotels, leaving miles of pristine natural vistas and a continuous chain of parks and recreation areas for the public. A drive down US 101 takes a lot longer than you expect, purely because you will find yourself pulling over every few miles to enjoy another spectacular view.
Out of the dozens of State Parks to choose from, I selected Beverly Beach for its sublime mix of pine forest camping and great beach access. A short walk from your campsite under a highway bridge puts you on a wide sandy beach . There is plenty of room for people to spread out, so that the beach feels intimate even if there are a hundred people about. The campground has well spaced sites with water and electric. I ended up in a site that also had cable TV by luck of the draw.
Beverly Beach State Park
Depoe Bay
One of the advantages of my chosen park is its central location for visiting nearby areas, including the tiny hamlet of Depoe Bay a few miles North. Claiming the “World’s Smallest Harbor”, the town’s main attraction is the pod of gray whales that lives in the bay during summer months. After enjoying some whale watching, I was ready to join them by eating some seafood.
In a touristy place like this there is a gamut of restaurants, from tablecloths to walk-ups. On this day what interested me most was an old school legend called Gracie’s Sea Hag. The Sea Hag is your quintessential local fish house, complete with forty year old decor and a jovial staff that play the Chicken Dance on the booze bottles several times a night in the adjoining bar. Add to that a killer bowl of chowder and a Marionberry tart for dessert and you’ve got the perfect coastal night out.
Yaquina Head
To the South is the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area a BLM managed location that actually lives up to its grandiose moniker. There is a nice visitor center and lighthouse with tours, but the best show is put on by Mother Nature. It’s another popular spot to view whales, and the rugged coastline itself does not disappoint. When the tide is low, this is the place to explore tidal pools, but I visited near high tide.
Newport and the Oregon Coast Aquarium
Newport is the big tourist town on the central coast, complete with big box stores and a Ripley’s Believe It or Not. If like me, you’d rather Not, you can also choose from shopping for nautical goodies in old town, fishing charters out of Yaquina Bay or maybe just hanging on the pier looking at sea lions. My destination was the small but fun Oregon Coast Aquarium in the South Bay.
Some of the highlights of this aquarium are the featured local wildlife like the seals and tide pools. A big crowd pleaser are the clowning sea otters, which I was sad to learn no longer populate the Oregon coast. Bad humans! My personal favorite was the aviary where you could watch both tufted and horned puffins. Puffins are the Mr. Magoo of birds, and highly entertaining IMO.
I spent half a day at the Aquarium, long enough to catch the feeding at both the sea otter and seal/sea lion habitats. No beach balls nose bouncing, but the sea lions in particular are happy to perform all manner of tricks in exchange for fish. Little kids really enjoy the show.
Florence
I capped off my visit to the Oregon coast with three days at Jessie Honeyman Memorial State Park. This park is slightly inland in the Oregon Dunes, with the campground near a pair of lakes that offer swimming and boating. I was assigned a campsite that looked large enough, but had limited swing space that made parking the trailer a real challenge. I wouldn’t have made it without direction from the camp host, and even then the trailer took some tree branch swipes.
The weather was damp, so I didn’t explore much here, mostly a resupply and recovery stop. The big draw for the park is to folks who want to run motorized toys on the Dunes, and there are lots of trails and such catering to the ORV enthusiast.
Next time: four waterfalls in one day in the Umpqua National Forest