Skip to main contentBike: Yachats River Road
Roll through the lands of the silent C (wear sunscreen—it's "ya-hot" out there!).
Calm country roads, the kind with slim shoulders. This nine-mile ride lets you pedal over the Yachats covered bridge, constructed in 1938. And the town has a cool watering hole with live music, the Landmark Restaurant and Lounge (111 Highway 101, 541-547-3215).
Bicycle, harmonica.
Yachats River Road bike.
Clam dig: Whiskey Run
Extract tasty bivalves with your own two hands.
Early-morning sunrises and soft sand for digging. Follow the dimples to find the tasty mollusks. Pack away 15 clams per day under Oregon law.
Clam shovel, horseradish sauce and recreational shellfish license ($6.50 for Oregon residents; buy them anywhere fishing licenses are sold).
Razor clams Whiskey Run.
ATV-In': Florence Dunes
Spit sand in the faces of Ed Weston wannabes.
Quads, sand rails and cookie-spinning fun. There's no better way to explore more than 27,000 acres of pristine beauty than on the back of a smog-belching quad.
Sunscreen, plugs of Skoal.
Sand dunes Florence.
Hike: Saddle Mountain
Walk through wildflowers, without Tom Petty.
A 2 ½-mile trail that climbs 1,633 feet from the parking lot. The views from atop the open, rocky summit make the physical fatigue forgettable.
Walking stick and camera.
Saddle Mountain Oregon. (BC)
Hike: Tillamook Head
Lewis and Clark hiked it to buy whale blubber.
A 1,000-foot cliff, old-growth spruce and alder. William Clark said of the hike, "I behold the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed." Sacagawea promptly slapped him.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.
Tillamook Head.
Hike: Cape Lookout
You prefer your ocean spray to be veiled in the mist of history.
A B-17 crashed into this cliff-lined cape, which extends two miles out into the Pacific, during World War II. The 4.8-mile, round-trip hike moves through old spruce, hemlock and shelter ferns. The endpoint is 400 feet above sea level. Expect crowds during whale-watching season in March and November.
Binoculars and mud shoes.
Cape Lookout.
Kayak: Tillamook County
Shed some calories before the cheese-factory tour.
Five estuaries and four bays for easy paddling on flat water. Expect to see brown pelicans swooping overhead and, when alive, dragonflies humping mid-flight.
Sunscreen and sharp cheddar.
Kayak Tillamook County.
Sand: Manzanita
It was a long winter.
Beaches to take long walks upon during sunsets. A romantic place to kiss a lover as waves lap against your ankles. (Luckily, it has more than six places to stay overnight.
A small pouch for seashells.
Manzanita.
Surf: Cape Kiwanda
Compete with dory boats for waves.
A mix of left- and right-hand breaks. "Gas Chambers," located in front of Haystack Rock, is a beach break that snaps. Be careful: Great white sharks patrol underneath.
Wetsuit and hoodie.
Kiwanda surf.
Surf: Nelscott Reef
If you can ride these waves, your wife is Gabrielle Reece.
HUGE, 30- to 40-foot waves thumping toward Lincoln City. To ride, you need a Jet Ski tow-in and balls, the big kind.
Bravery and behemoth skill.
Nelscott Reef.
Surf: Seaside Cove
A straight-up hang-10 spot.
A north-side jetty setup that gives a nice, long, left-hand break. This is longboard territory, and good for intermediate-level surfers.
Longboard, toes and a round nose.
Surf Seaside Cove.
Kite: Lincoln City
Discover electricity!
Reliable winds and rainbow kites the size of whales flapping in the skies. Kite Life magazine named this beach town on the 45th parallel "Kite Capital of the World."
The "Trophy Fish Fred" nautical windsock.
Kite Lincoln City.
Look: Astoria Column
Overlook the city where Kindergarten Cop was filmed.
A 125-foot-tall column erected in 1926, with a 164-step spiral staircase going to the top. It cost $27,133 to build and, 69 years later, $750,000 to restore.
Binoculars, a California governor.
Astoria Column.
Hike: Cape Falcon
Rumor has it Sacagawea and WIlliam Clark went here to neck.
A 750-foot climb with echoes of surf all around. The 1.8-mile path wanders through sword fens and, when in season, coastal huckleberries. But watch out for banana slugs.
A Shoshone gal
Cape Falcon Oswald. (BC)
Tide Pool: Seal Rock
Relive fifth-grade science class.
Sea anemones, hermit crabs and starfish. The state park has sea lions lounging on offshore rock formations and sea urchins munching on algae in the pools.
Adhesive tube feet and boots.
Seal Rock park.
Pirates: Haystack Rock
One-Eyed Willie isn't a dick.
Exactly what Mikey saw through the Spanish doubloon in the 1985 classic Goonies: a giant haystack rock. The beach is wide and the trip is quick from Portland. Make sure to invite Chunk.
Treasure map.
Haystack Cannon Beach.
Fish: Depoe Bay
Put your second-grade obsession with knot-tying to good use. Finally.
Fish! Pacific halibut, king salmon, Coho salmon and various bottom fish. Go for the five-hour tour and hook dinner for 10 out of the "world's smallest harbor."
Hooks, ice, your lovingly worn copy of The Ashley Book of Knots.
Fishing Depoe Bay.
Sand: John Dellenback Trail
Reenact your favorite scenes from Lawrence of Arabia.
Windswept sand, hidden lakes, moments of disbelief. The Forest Service boasts that this trail meanders through "the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America." Some rise to 500 feet above sea level.
Water bottle, shorts and a magic lamp.
John Dellenback dunes.
WWeek 2015