An entry level onto U.S. Highway 101 within the coronary heart of Oregon’s Central Coast, the group of Reedsport has nearly all the pieces you’d need for a day journey on the coast. We’ve visited Reedsport twice this 12 months, filling our lengthy weekends in quaint eating places alongside the Umpqua River and discovering a family-friendly discovery middle and a stunning roadside cease with an interpretive viewing space for the native elk inhabitants.
Visiting the Umpqua Lighthouse and Museum
Both occasions we’ve made tenting reservations at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, as soon as in a heated cabin and as soon as in our new (to us) camper trailer. As the title implies the important thing attraction at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park is the Umpqua River Lighthouse, a 65-foot lighthouse constructed in 1890 that now operates with a 616 prism Fresnel lens casting it’s white and ruby pink signature sample 21 nautical miles out to sea.
An wonderful vantage level for seasonal whale watching, the lighthouse and museum are constructed on the bluffs over trying the Oregon dunes, a preferred vacation spot for ATV adventuring (you’ll want to carry your binoculars). If you go, you’ll want to buy tickets for a lighthouse tour contained in the present store.
Umpqua Lighthouse Tour
Led by museum docents, lighthouse excursions are supplied year-round between the hours of 9am and 6pm. You’ll be taught concerning the development of the lighthouse (and the unique lighthouse that collapsed when the Umpqua River skilled a flood of damaging magnitude in 1857), how the unique keepers labored and lived, and the way the sunshine was transformed from oil to electrical energy as we speak.
The two-story museum, housed within the unique U.S. Coast Guard station, you’ll be able to discover a whole bunch of paperwork, images, and artifacts that current the evolution of the nautical lifesaving practices all through Oregon’s historical past. The second flooring reveals are replicas of how enlisted members and officers lived and labored within the facility.
One of the highlights of tenting at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park is strolling as much as the overlook at night time. Quite actually a crown projecting beacons of sunshine into the darkness, this photograph doesn’t do the expertise justice.
While we camped on the close by state park campground, you’ll discover a handful of close by tenting and lodging choices. In the morning, you’ll want to head to the Sugar Shack Bakery for decent espresso and a number of the most scrumptious pastries I’ve had on my many adventures throughout the nation. For a close-by journey, go for a hike on the the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Book Your Stay
Happy Trails!