The Coast

The Oregon Coast covers the entire 363-mile Pacific shore of Oregon, plus the Coast Range and Umpqua/Coos river drainages immediately inland. The terrain is dramatic — sea stacks and steep cliffs at the northern end, broad sand dunes through Lane and Douglas counties, redwood country in southern Curry, and the deep coastal forests of the Coast Range climbing inland. Highway 101 runs the full length. Seven counties cover the region. Clatsop holds Astoria (the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies, founded 1811) and Cannon Beach; Tillamook holds Tillamook (with the Tillamook Creamery); Lincoln holds Newport (with the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse) and Lincoln City; Lane holds Florence and the Oregon Dunes; Douglas holds Roseburg and the Umpqua Valley; Coos holds Coos Bay and Bandon; Curry holds Brookings and Gold Beach. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, Heceta Head Lighthouse, and the entire Oregon Coast (which is public land by law) anchor the major scenery. Most trips here run scenic-drive and small-town focused. Highway 101 handles the largest single-stream visitor traffic — Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock, Astoria’s working harbor, the Tillamook Creamery, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Bandon dunes-and-rocks coast; the Oregon Dunes pull off-road visitors; Bandon Dunes Resort holds five of the country’s top public golf courses.