What to do on the People’s Coast
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Bob Straub State Park
Bob Straub State Park is a nice place to go to walk on the beach and explore the Nestucca sand spit. This park is located in Pacific City and provides beach access, parking, and restrooms. The Nestucca River is legendary for 50 pound chinook salmon. This park offers beach access, and opportunities for picnicking, fishing, wildlife watching, marine mammal watching, and bird watching.
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Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint
A miraculous and rugged, basalt-rimmed bay, Boiler Bay is a great place to watch wild surf action on the rocky spurs. This splendid panoramic viewpoint presents a good opportunity to see migrating and resident gray whales. Take your binoculars -- this is one of the best sites in Oregon to see oceangoing birds (like shearwaters, jaegers, albatrosses, grebes, pelicans, loons, oystercatchers and murrelets). In 1910, an explosion sank the J. Marhoffer, and you can see the ship's boiler at low-tide.
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Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint
A must-see when driving the Three Capes Scenic route, Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint is situated on a headland 200 feet above the ocean. Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda are the other two capes on this route. Cape Meares provides an excellent view of the largest colony of nesting common murres (the site is one of the most populous colonies of nesting sea birds on the continent). Bald eagles and a peregrine falcon have also been known to nest near here.<P>
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Cape Perpetua Scenic Area
The U.S. Forest Service maintains the Cape's 26 miles of hiking trails through coastal mature and old growth rain forests, to breathtaking vistas, tidepools and the beach. The viewpoints and trails are open to the public year round. Some of the trails are wheelchair accessible, one is suitable for mountain biking, and all provide opportunities for birding. The Forest Service at Cape Perpetua also offers interpretive walks and operates a Visitors Center with naturalist programs and interactive exhibits.
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Devil's Lake State Recreation Area
With downtown Lincoln City mere minutes away, you can glide quietly by canoe or kayak on the lake while you watch for coots, loons, ducks, cormorants, bald eagles and grebes. As the only Oregon coast campground located in the midst of a city, the lake is a center of summertime activity. The park is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the 678-acre Devil's Lake. You'll find the campground on the west shore, and the East Devil's Lake day-use area just down the road. The park features boat moorage slips
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Munson Creek State Natural Area
The park is home to ancient western red cedar and Sitka spruce. A relic of an ancient rain forest, the world's second-tallest spruce -- at 260' tall and 8' in diameter -- lives here. Also an important salmon spawning ground, Munson Creek Falls tumbles 319', making it the tallest waterfall in the Coast Range. A 1/4 mile trail system winds through the hills to the waterfall. Vital stats: There is no fee to use this park. There's no water or restroom at the park. Munson Creek offers opportunities for hiking.
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Oregon Parks & Recreation
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Tillamook Forest Center
Find Yourself in the Forest at the Tillamook Forest Center. Are you ready for fun and adventure in the forest? The Tillamook Forest Center, Oregon's forest visitor and education center, beckons from the lush green landscape from the northern Coast Range. The Tillamook Forest Center is FREE and its exhibits and programs showcase the legacy of the Tillamook Burn and the public spirit behind the monumental reforestation effort which led to the Tillamook State Forest of today. Discover the power of fire through our award-winning film Legacy of Fire, the miracle of the salmon lifecycle, and the resilient, dynamic and productive nature of forests. Climb the 40 foot tall replica fire lookout tower where you can learn about the life of a lookout. Then stroll out onto the suspension bridge and peer into the rushing waters of the Wilson River.
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Umpqua River Lighthouse
This lighthouse has a 65-foot tower, which started in 1890. It is located near Reedsport and Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. First illuminated in 1894, Umpqua River lighthouse gives off very distinct red and white flashes. Visitors can check out the inside of the lighthouse, nearby park, or Lake Marie.
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Agate Beach State Recreation Site
Brought to you by OCVA in association with Travel Oregon & Wildernet
