![]() AstoriaĪstoria is a great stop on your west coast road trip. If you are starting in Southern Oregon, you will want to follow this list of activities from the bottom up. The following places to stop and activities are listed in geographical order from north to south. Whether you’re making a day trip to the coast from Portland or spending a week there, you will love the beautiful views and laid-back vibe of the Oregon Coast. As you prepare for your road trip, you will begin to see the beauty of the Oregon coast and coastal towns. We love those areas, but the Oregon coast is beautiful throughout. There are many must-see places on the Oregon Coast, like Cape Perpetua, Haystack Rock, and the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area. We love to help people take a trip to the Oregon coast and have created an Oregon coast road trip to help you plan your trip along the Oregon coast. Long after the volcanic action had ended, this entire section of seafloor was buckled up by the advancing North American continental plate.The Oregon coastline is a beautiful experience. Geology: Heceta Head and nearby Cape Perpetua are both remnants of oceanfloor lava flows. The lens, with 640 delicate, hand-ground prisms, was off-loaded onto the cape by surf boat. Bricks for the tower were shipped from San Francisco to Florence, carted down the beach, and hauled over the hills on wagons. This was the last of Oregon's dozen coastal lighthouses to be built. The beacon here first shone in 1894, using a 2-ton array of prism lenses that is still in service. Heceta Head (pronounced huh-SEE-tuh) honors Bruno de Heceta, the Portuguese captain of a Spanish ship, who first sighted the cape in 1775. The picnic area here, long known as Devils Elbow State Park, was recently renamed Heceta Head Lighthouse Viewpoint Wayside because state bureaucrats wanted to avoid satanic references in state park names. The cove won its name because it confounded early mariners with devilish currents. History: The Devils Elbow is the name of the scenic cove beside Heceta Head. After 1.3 miles the path switchbacks down to the lighthouse. Wear boots, because the tread is slick and slippery in spots. This trail climbs through an ancient, wind-swept Sitka spruce forest with salal, rhododendrons, and views up the coast as far as Cape Perpetua. When the path forks after 50 feet, keep left. From the pullout, walk 100 feet north and cross the highway to find a Hobbit Trail post. The longer and quieter 1.3-mile hiking route to the lighthouse begins at a poorly marked (but free) parking pullout on the east side of Highway 101. ![]() Tufted puffins, now rare here, were once so numerous that they gave the small offshore island its name: Parrot Rock. When it's open (noon to 5 pm Monday through Thursday and 11 am to 6 pm Friday through Sunday), volunteers lead visitors up the tower's 58 steps to see the lens rotating on its ball bearing track.Įven if you don't climb the tower, bring binoculars to watch the antics of the 7,000 long-necked, black Brandt's cormorants that roost April through August on the rocks below the railed yard. Still allegedly haunted by a young woman named Rue, the building is now a fabulously scenic bed and breakfast inn with six rooms that run $135-220 (for information call 54).įrom the Heceta Light Station, walk left along the old road 0.2 mile to the lighthouse itself. ![]() To the right is the Heceta Light Station, a white clapboard, 1893 duplex that once housed the two assistant light keepers. Hiking Tips: The short, half-mile trail to the lighthouse starts at the far end of the Heceta Head Lighthouse Viewpoint picnic area's parking lot and climbs 0.3 mile through salal meadows and spruce groves to an old road. If you would rather hike the longer, more scenic trail to the lighthouse, drive one mile farther north on Highway 101 to a paved pullout on the right signed "Overnight Camping Prohibited."įees: A $3-per-car fee is charged at the state park, but the parking pullout on Highway 101 (the trailhead for the longer trail) is free. Just north of a tunnel, turn downhill into the Heceta Head Lighthouse Viewpoint (alias Devils Elbow State Park). ![]() Getting There: Drive Highway 101 north of Florence 12 miles or south of Yachats 15 miles. Season: Open all year, but the Oregon Coast Trail section is slippery in wet weather. Oregon's most photographed lighthouse stands at the tip of a scenic, forested capeĪbout the Hike: Two easy trails climb through the coastal woods to this spectacular lighthouse and the allegedly haunted lighthouse keepers' house nearby.ĭifficulty: Two easy trails lead to the lighthouse, a 0.5-mile path from the state park and a 1.3-mile Oregon Coast Trail segment from the north. ![]()
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