The Graceful, Pristine and Surprising on Oregon Coast: Ona Beach

Published 12/19/2012

(Waldport, Oregon) – About a mile north of Seal Rock, and about ten miles south of Newport, you'll find a pristine playground called Ona Beach, full of surprises on numerous levels.

A favorite on the central Oregon coast with some, it's still a bit tucked away and thus just a little bit of a secret.

The entrance hovers in the middle of a tight, winding curve, going over the bridge that passes above Beaver Creek. From here, Beaver Creek cuts through the grassy, graceful park with its picnic tables and forms a small bay as it reaches the ocean. Wander through this lovely, pastoral setting, enclosed by a thick forest canopy, and you'll come to a rising footbridge that allows you to cross this small river and head trhough the woods, into an untouched sandy spot called Ona Beach.

At least it's sandy in the beginning. It all starts off with fluffy piles of whitish sands, but they soon hint at the wild and wondrous land to come. Sprinkled through this section of the beach are little oddities of rock, some looking like the spine of a dinosaur fossil.

Other times, they are green goo-covered roundish stones with pools around them.

Soon, as you head south along the cliffs here – the typical sandstone rises you encounter along the central Oregon coast - you come to a startling landscape of strange slabs and surreal sights. There are a myriad of puzzling shapes sticking out of the sand, meandering in puzzling forms that sometimes look like Dr. Suess illustrations taken to a whole new level.

Sometimes the confounding forms are rounded and knobby in nature.

Other times they stick upwards and look a bit like a mushroom that became confused in its growth process.

At other moments, you'll find tiny little arches, or maybe chunks of objects that defy description.

Periodically, the strange slab structures stop, then suddenly start up again. They seem to continue on for miles, but they actually do stop less than a half mile down the beach, and a bit further down you start to run into Seal Rock and its varied scenery.

Those slabs come and go a bit depending on sand levels. During the summer they disappear almost entirely. During the winter, when sand levels get quite low, you see even more of them and more of the bedrock beneath.

This is also an area often rich in agates – but it's well known for this, so it's likely the place could be well picked over by the time you get there.

Ona Beach is also a short drive from Yachats. Hotels in Waldport - Where to eat - Waldport, Seal Rock Maps and Virtual Tours

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