Oregon coast - where to start planning

[kaiyen]

Hi all,
I did a search on various places to photograph 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? My wife isn't an LF shooter so looking at specific _spots_ isn't really going to quite work. We'll want to move around a larger area for a few days. But the question is whether it's worth it to actually drive up/down the coast a bit.

thanks.

[Eric Brody]

I've lived in Oregon for 30 years and if I had 5 days on the coast, I would base myself at Coos Bay, and go south to Bandon, there are wonderful beaches and sea stacks, north to Eel Creek Dunes, and also visit Shore Acres State Park. This is the itinerary of a wonderful workshop I have done three times.

There are a large number of wonderful places. Perhaps others will make different and equally fine suggestions. You could start in Astoria and head south as well.

Be prepared for any type of weather, any time of year. I have had days of rain in August, sun in February, and endless mist in September.

Good luck.

Eric

[Dennis]

At New Port there are sand dunes to work with:
http://www.pbase.com/dpurdy/newport_oregon
But if you go up to the Cannon beach area just of there, there are a few beach areas that are stunning. Personally I wouldn't go further North than Indian beach just north of Cannon Beach. There is a beach area in Southern Oregon that is called Shore Acres that might be interesting to you. I didn't get much out of it though many have.

[Scott Knowles]

Do a search here and you'll find a number of entries about the Oregon coast including books and Websites (also listed on the bottom of the individual entries for similar threads). You can't go wrong starting in Gold Beach or Brookings and going north or starting in Astoria and going south. There's lots to see and photograph (for both of you), it's a matter of picking the spots.

But that said, my favorite is Shore Acres, either at high tide at the southern end of the park or at low tide exploring the shoreline (especially the concave holes left by concretions in the sandstone cliffs). I also like Humbug State Park. But if you're going in July, consider having reservations in some of the more crowded spots.

Good luck.

[eric black]

There is a photographers guide book for the area by David Middleton and Rod Barbee that goes into places to be and what to see. Never met David, but I was Rods roommate on a 3-week trip to Patagonia and I cant speak enough to what a great guy he is and how knowlegeable he is wrt landscape photography-Ive seen the book and it looks like a good reference, plus you would be supporting a fellow photographer in its purchase.

[Vaughn]

If you decide to go on the southern reaches of the coast, Pistol River Beach and Meyers Beach (basically the same stretch od coast) has some nice stacks on wide sandy beaches. Make sure you drive to the top of Cape Sebastian. One is quite high up and looks down on the above beaches.

Because I am in Northern CA, I know more about the Southern OR Coast. Lone Ranch Beach just north of Brookings is a nice beach also.

Vaughn

[Brian Ellis]

I have the book Eric mentions, if you've never been to the coast before I think you'd find it very useful. There also have been quite a few threads here about the Oregon coast. Just use the search function and you'll find them easily. I don't see much point in repeating it all, everything that's been said in this thread so far has already been said in those threads.

I visit the coast about three times a year. I never get tired of it. And the nice thing is that you can see a lot just from the road. Unlike some states, Oregon has done a great job of maintaining public access to the coast. If your main interest is landscapes then IMHO the best part starts at Bandon Beach and extends down to Brookings in California. Cannon Beach in the northern part of the coast is nice but if you're primarily interested in landscape I think you'll find much more if you begin at Bandon Beach and work your way down. Or you could begin farther north say at Newport and head south. But personally I wouldn't start farther north than Newport if landscapes are your primary interest. With only four days I definitely would not start at Astoria. That's way to the north and IMHO you'd spend too much time driving and too little photographing.

[kaiyen]

All,
First, I do apologize if anyone felt like they had to repeat themselves. I did do a search, and I found a lot of good information. But I realized I was making plans for maybe 4 or 5 trips, or one for 2 months - there was just so much information on so many places. And I wasn't sure if trying to move down the coast over a few days was advisable...maybe I'd need 10-14 days to get much out of it. I don't know. It was a lot of information, that's all.

Having apologized for that, thank you so much, and this is more than enough. I will pick one or two of the suggestions that complement each other and just set my mind to that.

thanks.

[h2oman]

China Beach in Boardman State Park. A short but semi-steep hike down to a fairly secluded cove with sea stacks. My resource for finding places is 100 Hikes of the Oregon Coast, by William Sullivan. Many of the "hikes" are actually pretty short.

[Turner Reich]

At New Port there are sand dunes to work with:

Where are the Newport OR dunes located, I've been there dozens of times and have not seen sand dunes.