John-n-Sylvia's 2011 RV Trip: Oregon Coast, Dunes National Park

Oregon Coast, Dunes National Park and Dunes State Recreation Area – August 25-27

The drive down the Oregon coast from the Columbia River is really spectacular if you have never driven it before. Often very hazy, but on a sunny day the Pacific is brilliant blue and the Sea Stacks (rocks sticking up out of the water) are certainly not what Floridians are used to seeing.

Speaking of ~~stacked~~ stacks… Here she is with the stacks in the background.

Beautiful scenery, even with the 'marine layer' (That's what they call fog out there).

Further down the coastline there were people walking on the beach, so I walked up to the cliff edge to see how they got down there. I found this quite steep treacherous looking path down the cliff. It doesn’t look nearly as steep or as high as it was looking down into the abyss.

I finally got to an area where you could pull into a parking lot and go into the ocean for a dip. Here is a sign posted there for your enjoyment.

Sneaker waves... Drift logs...???

YIKES !! Did you notice this part of the sign ???

Don’t see many of these signs in Florida… of course we don't have much higher ground either.

We crossed over a bridge at Cape Creek and this lighthouse is out there warning passing ships of the rock danger.

You can tell as you go south in Oregon that you are coming to the Sand Dune National Park area as you see the dunes creeping up higher and higher on the beach.

And they just go on for miles.

Sylvia had to put on a jacket due to the cold wind blasting across the dunes.

Naturally there is a really big beach on the other side of the really big dunes. On the beach there were windsurfers, fishermen, shell hunters, walkers and just lookers.

The wind was really blowing sand around everything, burying driftwood and covering your tracks in just a few minutes, but the wind-surfers loved it. I assume these were some of the 'drift logs' referred to in the sign.

The dunes are still growing and moving. Here it is encroaching on the road.

Further down the road in Oregon Dunes Recreation Area there are big dunes where there are lots of ATVers and motorcyclists going as fast as they can up and down and all around the dunes.