Bullards Beach State Park - Bandon, Oregon

On Tuesday, July 27th, we left Florence and moved about 70 miles south on US 101 to Bullards Beach State Park near Bandon, Oregon. At Winchester Bay we took the Umpqua Lighthouse Loop. This road loops off US 101 for about 3 miles and goes by the bay, the Salmon Harbor, and the Umpqua Lighthouse which overlooks the mouth of the Umpqua River.



Bullards Beach State Park adjoins the Coquille River, and where it empties into the ocean is the Coquille River Lighthouse. At the lighthouse there is a good view of the mouth of the Coquille River as it empties out through the jetties into the Pacific.





All the debris that has washed ashore over the years in the Pacific storms is amazing - just tons and tons of driftwood, limbs, huge tree trunks, etc. From the jetty all the way up the beach for several hundred yards it looks like a huge junk yard from a big saw mill.





We have more birds in our campsite in this park than we’ve had for awhile. We have Cedar Waxwings, Stellar’s Jays, California Quail, California Towhees, White-crowned Sparrows, and a couple of Red Crossbills.







Today, Thursday, we went to Shore Acres and Cape Arago near Charleston, Oregon. Shore Acres State Park is perched on rugged sandstone cliffs overlooking the ocean. It was once the grand estate of timber baron Louis Simpson. The original manor house is gone, but there is still the caretakers cottage and lushly planted gardens featuring flowers from around the world - something in bloom almost every day of the year. There is also an oriental-style pond, a formal garden, and two rose gardens.













Just down the road from Shore Acres is Cape Arago - another day-use state park. The big draw here is the rocky shore line and Simpson Reef which is a bunch of massive rocks out in the water that are usually covered with sea lions. Today was no disappointment - there were hundreds of them. The best we could tell, there were both the Stellar Sea Lions and the California Sea Lions.





Tomorrow we’re moving again - we’ve pretty well done the Oregon Coat, so we’re going to start heading back east. We’ll let it be a surprise as to the way we go.

Florence, Oregon

On Saturday, July 24th, we left South Beach State Park in Newport and moved about 50 miles south on US 101 to Florence, Oregon.

Sunday afternoon after church we went about 10 miles north of Florence to the famous Sea Lion Caves (the name implies more than one, but actually, there is only one big opening). It is advertised as the largest sea cave in the world. The entrance from the ocean comes into a giant room that is over 125 feet tall from the water level to the ceiling and covers about 2 acres. You have to take an elevator down to see it and once inside the cave, there is an upper section that overlooks the main big room that the Sea Lions come into. It is dark, damp (well, duh, it’s a cave) and from all the sea lions, very noisy and stinks to high heaven.





In addition to the observation section for the sea lions, there is another opening (up 62 steps) which gives a great view of the Heceta Head and Lighthouse to the north





This whole area of the Oregon Coast is covered in sand dunes. This picture is overlooking the coast from a pullout just south of the Sea Lion Caves.



Today, Monday, we did some more exploring. As mentioned above - this is sand dune country. We climbed to the top of a dune and had a great view of the coast - however, the climb through the heavy, deep sand is very exhausting.









Riding ATVs and dune buggies is a huge recreation activity in this area. There are businesses that offer “exciting” dune buggy rides, but we didn’t take one.





After exploring the sand dunes, we went to the Historic Old Town Florence by the Suislaw River and Old Town Harbor. There are several blocks along Bay Street with all kinds of stores, gift shops, galleries, restaurants, etc. The beautiful flowers are still amazing. There is also a great view of the Historic Bridge over the Suislaw River.










Tomorrow we’re moving on down the coast.

South Beach State Park - Newport, Oregon

Wednesday, July 21st, we left Nehalem Bay State Park and moved about 100 miles south on US 101 to South Beach State Park at Newport, Oregon.

On Thursday we had another day of sightseeing on the Oregon Coast. We went to Depoe Bay - the purported “whale watching” capitol along the Oregon Coast. We didn’t see any whales, but the scenery continues to be spectacular.







On the way back from Depoe Bay we stopped at the Rocky Creek Overlook, The Lookout at Cape Foulweather and also Devil’s Punchbowl State Park. Just absolutely fantastic views of the Pacific Ocean and the Oregon Coast at every place we stopped today.


















Just before Newport we went out to Yaquina Head and the Yaquina Lighthouse. Just off the head are several very large rock formations and they were absolutely covered up with Common Murres - thousands of them! We never saw that many birds in one place in our lives.











On another rock off Yaquina Head there were a bunch of Harbor Seals taking their afternoon nap.



Today, Friday, we went down to the Old Town Harbor in Newport and also to the Yaquina Bay State Park and Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. Great view of the bridge over the Yaquina River coming out of the bay and harbor. The bridge is just at the south end of Newport on US 101.







Tomorrow we’re moving on down the coast.