The Trip – Part 16: Up the Oregon Coast
Heading north from Patrick’s Point State Park, Highway 1 eventually turns inland and ends near the town of Leggett, where we picked up US Highway 101. On our drive along 101 we spotted a herd of Roosevelt Elk, and, on one of our roadside stops, we could see Crescent City in the distance.
Crossing into Oregon, we soon drove through the town of Brookings and stopped at Harris Beach State Park for the night. The coast line here was quite rocky, which seemed different from the recent sandy California beaches. Walking along the beach we saw a young seal that we thought was abandoned. We were told not to go near or bother it since the mother usually returns.
Beach access is incredible in Oregon because of their “Beach Bill,” which establishes public ownership of land along the coast from the water up to sixteen vertical feet above the low tide mark. So, from the California state line to the Washington state line, the entire coast is yours to enjoy.
Our first stop north of Harris Beach was Sunset Bay State Park. Unfortunately, we were there in the morning so I didn’t get any incredible sunset pictures. However, the rocky shoreline was fun to explore. We also stopped at Tillicum Beach, which is part of the Siuslaw National Forest.
The most interesting place we stopped at was Honeyman State Park, where we spent a couple nights. It sits on the edge of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, a 40-mile stretch of huge sand dunes extending from Coos Bay to Florence. It completely altered my picture of Oregon’s rocky beaches.
We were two miles from the ocean and it was all sand dunes. Making it to the beach was quite a slog! Along the way we even encountered some quick sand. In the picture below Kathy is not kneeling in the sand, she is thigh-deep in quick sand. If you move fast, it feels like walking on a water bed. If you stop, you start to sink. It was not too difficult to get out of this, but dune buggy drivers had to be careful here.
On our last leg of the Oregon coast we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Although we’re from Wisconsin, we’d never visited a cheese factory back home, so we decided to stop. Free samples are always a nice treat.
Finally, we drove to Fort Stevens State Park to camp for a few nights. This was originally built just after the Civil War to protect the mouth of the Columbia River. It remained an active military installation until after World War II. The park has smooth wide beaches and, when the tide is out, you can walk out to the wreck of the Peter Iredale, a ship that ran aground during a heavy storm and fog. None of the crew were lost but the ship remained grounded in the sand.
While at Fort Stevens, we drove up to Fort Clatsup National Memorial. This is where the Lewis and Clark expedition stayed from December 1805 – March 1806 before starting their return trip. There’s a reproduction of the fort that they constructed for their quarters at the time. I thought it was rather interesting.
Soon we would be pulling up stakes for the last time in Oregon and crossing the Columbia River into Washington State.