Oregon coast - where to start planning

[tom north]

Kaiyen,

Just a suggestion. You have 5 days to explore over 300 miles of beach. Bill's Pub has the best beer in that part of the state. That's where I like to focus my camera after the light is gone at Cannon beach. By the way, if you like bridges, Newport has a beautiful bridge that crosses Yaquina Bay designed by Conde McCullough. The locals love to chat with photographers who set up tripods there to photograph the structure. You won't be chased away by security guards.

Best

Tom

[kaiyen]

Tom - thanks for the specific suggestions. Little things like that is where I'm at now in my planning.

To be clear, are you saying that 5 days is a lot or not enough to explore 300 miles of beach? I know "it depends" on how long I want to stay various places, how comfortable I am skipping certain places, etc, but I am curious what _you_ meant by that.

thanks to everyone, again, for this.

[tom north]

No amount of time is enough on the beach.


Tom

[Steve Feldman]

No one has mentioned the covered bridges in Oregon. About 50 in the sate. Many near the coast. My favorite is Yachats. Here's a website to see the bridge - http://www.covered-bridges.org/bridges/northfork.htm.

Here's the website for all of the bridges - http://www.covered-bridges.org/bridges.htm#.

Great fun to photograph or just to visit.

Wish I was going. Take me!

[Eric Brody]

Oregon has excellent beer, everywhere. If it's not available on tap, even the bottled ones are quite good. Rogue has a brewery in Newport. The Oregon Coast, thanks to Governor Tom McCall, is 300 miles of fabulous public beach, with hugely varied features from Astoria to Brookings. It would take a lifetime to explore even a part of it, hence my earlier suggestion to pick a spot, almost any will do, and work there. You'll go crazy trying to cover hundreds of miles and will likely be frustrated, unless you're a point and shoot type of large format photographer. Relax, go somewhere, have fun, have a beer at the end of the day.
Eric

[kaiyen]

Eric - unfortunately I don't drink, but I appreciate the suggestion. I'm not a point and shoot type of LF photographer, but I'm not exclusively an LF photographer, either. I'll have it along for some settings but not all. The book mentioned earlier in this thread, for instance, points out some places that will work well for LF, but other places that seem to clearly call for a much more versatile kit in an SLR form.

My wife and I see these trips, when we go somewhere for the first time, as a kind of "scouting" mission. We just want to get a feel for a place. Then we decide on our next trip (this helps us believe that we will in fact go again...) to concentrate on a specific area. So we will be going from Brookings north to Pacific City (and heading up to Cape Meares for some photography, but not staying quite that far up). But we realize we'll miss some stuff.

I will in fact be staying in Yachats for a night and therefore be around the area for an afternoon>evening and then the following morning. The bridges are one of the things we want to see if we can. thanks for the reminder.

[Eric Brody]

Yachats is a wonderful place. My family has spent time there every summer for the last 25 years. Cape Perpetua is great, I saw a bobcat there once (not a subject for a LF camera), to the south, Devil's Elbow State Park has the iconic Heceta Head lighthouse, Strawberry Hill has tons (literally and figuratively) of seals (or sea lions, I can never tell the difference). Just north is Seal Rock State Park, a lovely place and right across the street from Seal Rock is Yuzen, which serves the best sushi on the coast. Every beach, and there are many, north and south, have different and interesting views and often very cool driftwood. On the way north from Brookings, do not miss Bandon and Shore Acres. The southern and central Oregon coast is one of my favorite places in the world.
Good luck.
Eric

[Brian Ellis]

Eric - unfortunately I don't drink, but I appreciate the suggestion. I'm not a point and shoot type of LF photographer, but I'm not exclusively an LF photographer, either. I'll have it along for some settings but not all. The book mentioned earlier in this thread, for instance, points out some places that will work well for LF, but other places that seem to clearly call for a much more versatile kit in an SLR form.

My wife and I see these trips, when we go somewhere for the first time, as a kind of "scouting" mission. We just want to get a feel for a place. Then we decide on our next trip (this helps us believe that we will in fact go again...) to concentrate on a specific area. So we will be going from Brookings north to Pacific City (and heading up to Cape Meares for some photography, but not staying quite that far up). But we realize we'll miss some stuff.

I will in fact be staying in Yachats for a night and therefore be around the area for an afternoon>evening and then the following morning. The bridges are one of the things we want to see if we can. thanks for the reminder.

When I go to the central part of the Coast we stay in Yachats, at the Adobe Resort. We stay there partly because they have a pet wing but it's a nice place to stay for any reason. Even if you don't stay there, you should try their restaurant. IMHO it's the best restaurant in that part of the coast and the Sunday brunch is spectacular if you happen to be there on a Sunday a.m. I don't do a lot of photography in Yachats as such but there's a walking path that goes for a mile or more to the north from the ocean side of the Adobe. I usually get there before sunrise and walk along that path, photographing the rocks, tide pools, waves, etc. At lower tide you can walk down onto the rocks.

[Kuzano]

When I go to the central part of the Coast we stay in Yachats, at the Adobe Resort. We stay there partly because they have a pet wing but it's a nice place to stay for any reason. Even if you don't stay there, you should try their restaurant. IMHO it's the best restaurant in that part of the coast and the Sunday brunch is spectacular if you happen to be there on a Sunday a.m. I don't do a lot of photography in Yachats as such but there's a walking path that goes for a mile or more to the north from the ocean side of the Adobe. I usually get there before sunrise and walk along that path, photographing the rocks, tide pools, waves, etc. At lower tide you can walk down onto the rocks.

Wow!!! Reading your post, I did a double take. I could have sworn I had written it. I never make a trip to the coast without a night or two at the Adobe and dinners in the restaurant. Yachats could easily fit in as the Southern part of a North Coast trip, or the Northern point of the South Coast, although quite a ways from Bandon. It's almost halfway between Newport and Florence Oregon. Curvy coast road.

RE: The previous post... I'll have to look for the Sushi place next time over.

Also, regarding Sand Dunes... If you ask locals how to get to the dunes, make sure they know you want dunes that are unmolested by the Sand Rail and Dune Buggy crowd. They are all over the dunes where allowed, and create some traffic problems where they are allowed. Usually, the locals presume questioners want the dune buggy areas.

Mapquest Link to Yachats.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Yachats&state=OR

[Jan Pedersen]

Brian, Thank you for the tip on the Adobe Resort, Will make that my destination on my next trip to the coast in a month or two.