OREGON
Oregon Road Trip - Day 3 (Oregon Section)
I wish I hadn’t planned a 3 hour drive with multiple stops after a 6 mile hike! But alas, 50 minutes after Boyscout Tree Trail, I found myself at Samuel H Boardman State Scenic Corridor. This is one of those things I wish I had done my own research on a bit more before putting it on my to-do list. In the sense that it was a coworker recommendation with a few of the destinations pointed out.
- The Natural Bridges is a short hike with some pretty spectacular views. (Note: These are the iconic views you typically see of Samuel H. Boardman.)
- Secret Beach is a short hike down to the sandy beach when there is low tide. The trailhead for this is just north of Miller Creek on Highway 101.
- Indian Sands trail is known for wildflowers (during some parts of the year) and has some cool sand dunes to explore. Beware that the trail can be hard to see at times.
- Whaleshead Beach is another beautiful beach to check out. There is a picnic area near the beach, which is really nice!
With limited time and no prior knowledge of what to expect, I knew I’d have to prioritize. I wish I had put the things I actually wanted to see in geographic order. And I imagined it like it was a big park to walk in. Rather, it is a stretch of 101 with a bunch of pull outs and vista points. Also with the weather being so on and off rainy, I wasn’t planning on really doing much more hiking or hanging out on a beach.
So I popped by Whaleshead Beach just to take some pictures and use the bathroom.
Natural Bridges seemed very up my alley so I made sure to stop there next. I was a bit confused by the description given to me, it was a very short walk down to a viewing platform so I wouldn’t say there are “viewS” so much as there is one single view.
If there’s another way to view the bridges, I sure didn’t know about it. I tried going down the trail after the viewing platform and ending up popping back out at 101 at a different overlook.
Which was still nice but kind of a waste of my time since I still had to get to my campsite.
I did stop one more time to change out of my hiking boots and wool socks for the rest of the drive. I don’t recall which beach it was but of course every beach on the Oregon coast is hella scenic.
I had also heard that Heceta Head Lighthouse was a really nice place to stop briefly and take a picture. It was dusk by the time I was driving by and I think I was just too tired to do it. But from the view in the car, it really did look nice!
I camped at Tillicum Beach Campground. I got there after dark and the weather was pretty crummy. I wasn’t looking forward to trying to cook on my campstove. I got incredibly lucky that the campsite right next to mine was inhabited by a single young lady also camping out.
She built a fire and we hung out and I was able to heat up my leftovers on her fire. She was from Corvallis and doing some soul searching of her own. It was fun getting to know her a bit before it was too freaking cold to stay outside anymore.
Camping in the car tonight was easy and I fell asleep really quickly. It was nice not being in a tent having the wind flapping all the tent fabric.
This campsite has a path directly down to the beach so I would recommend it more for beach hangouts than what I was doing. I also thought the facilities weren’t as nice as Gold Bluffs Beach.