The Oregon Coast is a scenic wonderland long discovered by tourists.  Many tourists take in the long coastline in one long excursion up or down US 101.  While continually spectacular, that is like Americans “seeing” Europe in one or two weeks.  The history and geography of the coast is better taken in parts.  Clatsop County in the north is very different from Lincoln in the middle and Coos and Curry Counties in the south. This trip we travelled to the Central Oregon Coast – Lincoln County, basing ourselves in the county seat of Newport. 

OFF TO THE COAST WE GO

The county named, of course, after Abraham Lincoln, and created in 1893 with the county seat located in the lumber town of Toledo.  Three elections later, the seat moved to Newport.  Originally isolated from the rest of the state. Highways only in the 1920-1930 era finally opened the county to general traffic from the rest of the state.

For local tourists, Newport lies on the edge weekenders from the Portland Metropolitan area. Three hour drives in one direction is the general limit for someone coming out for a weekend. The Central Oregon Coast is right at the limit. Portlanders can reach vacation homes and hotels throughout this region in about this time limit with the number of weekenders from Portland fading a bit as you head south. Here, you will find many more weekenders from the Willamette Valley cities of Salem, Corvallis and Eugene. While Oregon license plates predominate on US 101, there is still a surfeit of more exotic states and provinces.

HISTORICAL BEGINNINGS

DUMPING GROUND FOR NATIVE AMERICANS FROM THE VALLEYS

The whole Central Oregon Coast originally was part of Benton and Polk counties. Supposedly, however, the region belonged to the Oregon Coast Reservation established in 1855 by President Franklin Pierce.  The man of the spot for the US government was Indian Agent Joel Palmer. He was able to get most of the Native Americans in the Willamette Valley and other regions to move here.  Two main agencies were established at Grand Ronde and Siletz with subagencies at Alsea, Yaquina and Salmon Rivers.  There was more than a million acres included in the reservation. The reservation was home not only to those tribes living in the area, but other tribes moved here from the rest of western Oregon.

The reservation was never ratified by Congress which was the nexus of subsequent problems for the tribes.  At the end of 1865 saw a major area in the center – Yaquina Bay –- removed from the reservation because of commercial interests involved with developing oyster beds in the bay and the possible development of a road connecting the Willamette valley with a possible deep-water port to be established in Newport.  Two more reductions in the size of the reservation in 1975 and 1892 eliminated the huge reservation.

NATIVE REMNANTS

Native Americans are mostly gone from the region today. One remaining reservation centers along the Siletz River – still in Central Oregon Coast area, but a little off the beaten track for our travels this weekend.  Tribal survivors emerged in the latter 20^th century in either the tribal conglomerates reclaiming limited reservation lands in either the Siletz, Grand Ronde and Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw.  For the most part, only names remain along the Central Oregon Coast remembering history of those living here before.

CITY BUILT ON OYSTERS

Newport was named after Newport, Rhode Island by a soldier-settler claiming land when the Yaquina slice of the Oregon Coast Reservation was opened for white settlement at the end of 1865 by President Andrew Johnson.  The town, incorporated in 1882, features two lighthouses. The first, Yaquina Bay operated for only a short time 1871-1874, before Yaquina Head Lighthouse took over duties – still operating today.

The original town grew up along the bay. It was soon that oceanfront area developed along Nye Beach. John Nye was the original land claimant in 1866. Early on, a boardwalk connected the bay front to Nye Beach.  Nye Beach is a center of tourist activity along the Newport beachfront today.

During the 1930’s, the Coast Highway was developed with the Yaquina Bay Bridge completed in 1936.  The bridge is one of eleven designed by Oregon state bridge engineer Conde McCullogh listed today on the National Register of Historic Places.

THE HIGHWAY

It is along Highway 101 you can discover the magnificence of the physical geography of the Central Oregon Coast. The area we are visiting runs from Whale Cove to the north to Cape Perpetua in the south, around forty miles.  The highway is heavily travelled in the summer.  During the summer, rooms and campsites can be hard to come by without reservations.  It is, however, during the winter and spring this area really comes into its own.  Storms bring in huge waves which are responsible for the incredible erosion you see up and down the coastline.  Long stretches of beaches are devoid of people – the waters are cold, but they are cold in the summer, as well.

Winter weather can be rough, but with luck, the sun can peek through between storms revealing a magnificence not to be seen while sitting behind innumerable RV’s driving slowly along 101.

Here are a few of the many spots along the Central Oregon Coast further explored.

WHALE COVE AND ROCKY CREEK

First, to the north is Whale Cove.  The best views are from the Whale Cove Inn, an exclusively expensive place to stay.  Looking out over the cove from the rooms here is magic during or just after winter storms.  The huge waves pounding the rocks send huge sea spouts high into the air.

The place for everyone else who does not want to spend $520 per night is to pull off 101 into the turnoff for the State Park Wayside at Rocky Creek immediately south of the Inn.  The view to the north is almost as good, plus great views to the south, including over Rocky Creek. Note the difference the season makes from the photos used by the State for the wayside taken in summer. A totally different scene from winter time.

Quick note on whales and whale watching. Grey whales move back and forth from Alaska to Mexico with the seasons. They pass along the shore from late March through May and can be seen from several spots along the coast as they migrate. About 200 of the 25,000 behemoths settle along the Oregon Coast for the summer. The best viewing times are still in the spring and again in December when they head back south.

CAPE FOULWEATHER AND THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL

Just south is a turnoff to the Otter Crest Loop – it is one-way only from the north to south.  This follows the original version of the US 101 route including the Rocky Creek Bridge – also known as the Ben Jones Bridge – dating to 1927.  An arch bridge covers 360 feet and like many other bridges, designed by McCullough during the interwar period.  It is one of the eleven bridges along 101 on the National Register of Historic Places.

Passing over Cape Foulweather and its scenic viewpoint and, of course, gift shop, you drop to a turn off to Devils Punchbowl.  Weekends during the summer can be a bit crazy here, but we are here in winter.  And winter is when the action happens in the Punchbowl.  The Punchbowl is a former sea cave whose roof collapsed. Surf pounding away has created tunnels on two sides.  Watch the waves pound in from the west and churn up into the bowl within.  Look to the north a watch the waves pound away on the beaches to the north and Cape Foulweather.  To the south, Beverley and Moolach Beaches extend to Yaquina Head.

Again, compare the winter pictures to the State Park link which features the very much more placid summer scene. The little boy in one picture at the bottom of the Punchbowl would not be seen again in the winter.

YAQUINA HEAD

Yaquina Head is a headland jutting out into the Pacific on the north side of the city of Newport.  The entire headland is under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management.  This means a visit is $7 for a three-day pass, though a $10 Oregon Pacific Coast Pass – good for 5 days at State Parks, National Forest and BLM sites along the coast might be the better option for any visit to the Central Oregon Coast.  Annual Federal and Senior Passes are also good.

The lighthouse is Oregon’s tallest and dates to 1873.  The original lens was manufactured in Paris in 1868 and was shipped over the Panama Isthmus.  There were two lighthouse keeper families here, truly at the time in the middle of nowhere.  The lighthouse was manned until 1966 with the former keepers’ quarters being removed in 1984.  Tours of the lighthouse are given – suspended for the moment because of the pandemic – with 114 stairs to climb.  Children must be at least 42 inches high and accompanied by an adult.

Off the headland and along the cliffs are many thousands of seabirds make their homes.  The waves scour away at the headland on the north and the south.  Stairways let visitors visit the waterline and the cobble beach on the south side.

NYE BEACH AND THE SYLVIA

Nye Beach is Newport’s city beach.  There are beaches north and south of Nye, but it is here tourists in the 1890’s and early 20^th century came to cavort along the beach in the summer.  A conglomeration of tourist shops mingle here along with a way to drive your car down onto the beach. This and the Bayfront are the Central Oregon Coast answer to Seaside and Lincoln City tourism found further north.

There are lots of places to stay around Nye Beach, especially to the south along Elizabeth Street. But the matron is the Sylvia Beach Hotel.  The hotel dates to 1910 when the three-story hotel – New Cliff House – replaced a smaller boarding house.  Several owners later, the hotel was updated as a pair of Portlanders reopened the hotel in 1987. They also gave the hotel its current literary theme. Rooms named after authors while books take center stage inside the hotel restaurant, Tables of Content.

The name Sylvia Beach comes from a lady who owned a bookshop in Paris on the Left Bank between the wars.  Her bookshop was a hub for Americans coming to Paris during the time. She was a close friend of Hemingway and his wife, for example – and served as a collection point for mail.  Besides expatriate Americans, she helped edit and publish James Joyce’s Ulysses.

VIETNAM WALKWAY

Donald Davis’ 29 year run as city manager of Newport is remembered in a small park on the clifftop above the south end of Nye Beach.  A trail – the Vietnam Memorial Commemorative Walkway – winds down to the beach below passing benches. Constructed in memory of those from Lincoln County who died during the Vietnam conflict, five of whom were only 16 years old and eight women.  The monument is poignant as you compare the names to the landscape from where they came.

YAQUINA BAY LIGHTHOUSE AND BRIDGE

Past the large hotels to the south of Nye Beach is the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse State Park.  Built on a headland above the south entrance to Yaquina Bay in 1871, the lighthouse only had an active life of three years before being replaced by the larger Yaquina Head Lighthouse to the north.  Decommissioned, the lens of the lighthouse was sent south to the Yerba Buena Light in California.

The lighthouse was used as a barracks first by the US Army Corps of Engineers and later by the US Coast Guard until they moved to their present quarters above the bay in 1915.  Twice the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition and each time a savior arose.  For almost two decades, the lighthouse served as a county historical museum.  The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department took over ownership in 1974 and was relit in 1996, a privately maintained navigational aid belonging to the Coast Guard.  In normal times, the lighthouse is open for tours.  It was the only lighthouse on the Oregon Coast with living quarters and the light built in the same building.

THE BAY

Newport grew up along the north shore of Yaquina Bay. Today’s tourist focus remains here among the restaurants and shops all located next to the busy fishing port. Look across the water to see the oceanographic vessels of Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Newport is NOAA’s Pacific homeport.

A visit to the Hatfield Marine Science Center and the nearby Oregon Coast Aquarium are always worthwhile, but our focus was the Stellar sea lions pulled up on Port Dock 1 in front of the Clearwater Restaurant.

SEA LIONS ON THE BAYFRONT

There are three different species of sea lion found along the Oregon Coast with the Stellar being predominate. They can be found pulled up on docks up and down the coast. Protected by federal law after the sea lions were almost hunted to extinction, they have made a hearty recovery. So hearty, sea lions are not among the favorite animals of local fishermen. The sea lions can be seen coming inland along rivers like the Columbia following the salmon migrations.

Here on the Sea Lion docks you can watch these large animals cavorting, barking and generally taking it easy while enjoying the status tourism brings about.

SEAL ROCKS

South of Newport brings you to Seal Rock(s).  There is a small unincorporated community surrounding a ledge of partially submerged rocks paralleling the shore for about two miles.  Elephant Rock is the large rock of columnar basalt set in the middle of Seal Rocks.   The rocks to the north from here are also known as the Giant’s Causeway with the largest rock known as Castle Rock. Best access is from the Seal Rock State Park.

Four and half miles further south, you cross over the rebuilt Alsea Bay Bridge replacing in 1991 an earlier McCullough designed bridge.  The new bridge, while larger and wider, still incorporates many of the features of its predecessor.

CAPE PERPETUA

YACHATS

South from here was the Alsea Indian subagency.  The area was opened to development in 1875 and the few remaining natives were sent north to live on the Siletz Reservation.  The arts and tourist community of Yachats serves as gateway to the most dramatic area of the Central Oregon coast and a highlight of the entire coastline, the Cape Perpetua headland.

THE CAPE

The Cape, named by Captain Cook in 1778 after he discovered the headland on 7 March, St Perpetua’s Day. This area is within the Siuslaw National Forest.  The entire area is protected as a Scenic Area.  The headland is the remnants of an ancient shield volcano that the sea constantly gnaws away at.  Soaring up from the ocean waves, the mountains are clad in dense forests.  Several trails penetrate the wilderness rising along the tree clad ridges.

Most visitors limit themselves to the wayside trails and steps leading down to Devil’s Churn or Cook’s Chasm.  A trail also links those two areas together, as well.

DEVIL’S CHURN

Devil’s Churn is one of the larger steep-sided ocean gullies – the gullies formed by the collapse of former sea caves – where you can walk down to watch the waves roll in.  Best viewing is as the tide comes in and especially during or after storms.  The roar is constant and dramatic.  Waves blast away at the rocks as you scamper for the perfect picture.  Just be careful walking on the sharp wet lava rocks.  Always keep an eye to the sea, too, in case a sneaker wave comes up to carry you away like all of those tree trunks churning away in the waters.

COOK’S CHASM AND THOR’S WELL

Cook’s Chasm is the southernmost of tree other gullies.  Bridged by at its head by another one of those bridges designed by Conde McCullough built in 1932.  The environment took its toll on the original bridge and this replica of the original dates to 2003.  On the south side of the Chasm is the Spouting Horn blowhole – again best viewed at high tide.

Thor’s Well bubbles with Cape Perpetua in the distance – 360 panorama. Click and drag with your mouse for full 360 degree effect.

To the north of Cook’s Chasm are lots of rock gardens, tide pools and another smaller chasm  – Good Fortune Cove – churning with more action.  Closer to the sea, walk carefully out along a basalt dike to view Thor’s Well, a collapsed sea cave of twenty feet filling, emptying, and spouting as the sea moves in and out.  Again, keep a close eye on the sea out here.  There are some nice videos but being on the edge means you are at risk for the one wave you did not see.

There is a National Forest Visitor Center with a larger parking area on the east side of 101, just realize you need to have or buy a parking permit here.  The permit will give you better access to the limited parking along the highway, as well.

TOP OF THE CAPE

The permit comes in handy if you decide to drive up to the top of Cape Perpetua – over 700 feet high.  You get to park in an upper parking area, those without the permit park slightly lower at the trailhead for Amanda’s Trail – a trail dropping off the north side of the headland leading back to Yachats.

From the parking lot, a short trail takes you out to a small shelter built from local lava rocks by men from the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s.  The view is dramatic from atop.  The Forest Service claims a 70+ mile view and certainly the farthest reaching along the Central Oregon Coast, but during the wilder seasons, mists coming off the ocean will limit that a bit.  A constant for the times I have been up here is a constant howling wind adding to the primeval atmosphere.

TRAILS BEYOND

There are other trails leading back and up into the forests.  I have not taken them, though the 9-mile Cummins Creek-Cook’s Ridge loop looks inviting – your start and finish is from the Visitor Center. The view from the top of the cape is a wonderful place to take in the magic of the Central Oregon Coast from.