Oregon coast - where to start planning

kaiyen

kaiyen

local man of mystery
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Aug 22, 2004
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Hi all,
I did a search on various places to photograph and travel in Oregon - stacks or dunes, etc - and I came away overwhelmed with options.

My wife and I are considering probably going up or down the coast over...probably 5 days or so in the next few months. I realize that's not very long. And I realize that most people would go to one area and stay there for 3 weeks, maybe. I would do that if I could. But we have only 6 day windows with which to work, and it'll take half a day to drive up there.

So...if you had the choice between maybe starting at point X and driving down the coast slowly for say, 4 days (and then driving home the 5th), or just going to one area and staying there, what would you do? Maybe a couple of different locations where we spend 2-3 days each and explore?

thanks.
 
I highly recommend the stretch between Lincoln City and Coos Bay. At the northerly end (Lincoln City to Newport), lots of steep cliffs, charming lighthouses, little fishing villages (e.g., Newport) tucked in to little bays. Further south, there are fantastic beaches w/ broad expanses of sand and dramatic rock outcroppings. There's a wonderful sheltered beach just north of the town of Florence known to locals and U of O students as "Hobbit Beach." South of Coos Bay, Hwy 1 moves inland a bit, and you can't see the coastline for many miles. The southernmost stretch of coastline, in and around Brookings, is OK, but not as beautiful, IMHO, as the coastline north of Coos Bay.
 
Steve - thanks. I think right now it's either start at Cannon and head south hopefully reaching Brookings or start at Lincolnn City, depending on whether we feel we can hit all the right spots along the way. We're thinking we might just drive and phtograph until we decide to hit a town and find a place to stay. Is that a bad idea? Should we book all of our hotels first? I'll go do more searching...
 
If you are driving down 101 from Cannon Beach, when you get to Tillamook do yourself a favor and go west to Oceanside and head south along the coast from there until you meet up with 101 just North of Lincoln City.
 
yeah, what Chase said.

Also, don't expect much at Lincoln "City". I'd recommend you pass on through. It isn't much of a city - more like a bunch of strip malls and cheesy hotels/resturants and a second-rate casino.
 
Except for the Lincoln City to Newport stretch -- known locally as the 30 miserable miles -- you can't go wrong. Cannon Beach to Lincoln City is my favorite. If the tides are low enough, Indian Beach at the north end of Cannon Beach is pretty spectacular.
 
You can do the whole coast without too much effort in 4-5 days from Lincoln City to Gold Beach, or vice versa. But do stay at the Ti Tu Tin Lodge in Gold Beach. If you start there, you may never leave.
Mike
 
I don't have anything to add to what others have said. I just wanted to let my jealousy be known! It's my favorite region of the country. No other area has so effectively hit the reset button to my soul. :)
 
wow - thanks for the info. I find these little tidbits really helpful, since reading all the other info out there is overwhelming. so the little things add to my planning more effectively.
 
There are lots of photo workshops held along the Oregon coast as you probably know so can you borrow a few stops from their itineraries?

There are also quite a few Oregon photo tours specifically for waterfalls if that interests you.

Or shipwrecks... the Peter Iredale is probably the one example I've heard about the most.
 
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