An Oregon Coast Wilderness, Middle-of-Nowhere Full of Romance, Great Make Out Spots

Published 6/21/24 at 10:25 p.m.
By Andre' Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Yachats, Oregon) – Pretty much in a kind of coastal middle-of-nowhere, the hand-holding possibilities reign supreme. It's hard not to find yourselves alone out here. Perhaps more so than many other spots, the wilderness and remoteness of one part of Lane County create a truly special kind of romantic vibe. (Above: Strawberry Hill near Florence. All photos Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

It’s a region where tidepools are prolific, humans are rare, where apparently hobbits and rabbits dwell, where a lighthouse shines and where the landscape is truly rugged. It’s an enormous collection of non-stop hidden spots along the Oregon coast, with about 20 miles of delirium-inducing secrets between Yachats and Florence (known as Upper Lane County).

There's almost a dozen beach accesses crammed into this area, but you may want to start with the spicy Strawberry Hill. Or at least start this romantic journey there. Sure, insert your own references to the frisky '50s song. Strawberry Hill Labyrinth, Oddities

Initially, you step out on a rather stately bluff with breathtaking views all around you. To the south, there’s a long stretch of cobblestone beach with towering cliffs directly behind you. West and north allows you access to a favorite spot of tide pool hunters, with large and small rocky blobs creating a labyrinth in the sand and providing plenty of places for starfish, mussels and other tide line dwellers to live.

It’s as much fun for climbing and tidepool hunting as it is for a simple, hand-in-hand walk on the beach.

Just down the road is Bob Creek Wayside, where so many more tidepool colonies populate this place than bipeds. It's an obscure but fascinating place. They really emerge at lower tides, clinging to odd, mushroom-shaped rocky blobs at the southern end. At this end, there’s also a small sea cave and a huge boulder that creates a sort of arch by leaning up against the cliffs here. Bob Creek Wayside Cove and Access

At the north end, you’ll find plenty of mussels – but you’ll have to cross the creek to do so. During the winter that’s difficult, if not impossible and certainly unwise. During the summer months it’s much easier.

Just a stone’s throw north of Stonefield Beach and the small bridge over Ten Mile Creek you’ll find a tiny, unmarked beach access lying behind a patch of gravel on the side of the road. Take this, then wander down a long path through the grass, past some idyllic stream scenes, to find a small hidden beach featuring all sorts of bubble-like and craggy basalt shapes lying in the water and on the shore. Magical, Time-Tripping Stonefield

One of the Oregon coast’s biggest and most deliriously romantic secrets lies between Washburne State Park and the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It’s called the Hobbit Trail – and shhhh, don’t tell anybody.

It’s so named because the eerie tunnel-like earthen walls that surround you at certain points upon your descent. But it’s a place sometimes favored by creative-types from the Eugene area who often construct wildly imaginative structures from the natural objects lying around, like amazing gardens of rocks, things you might find in Japanese gardens, strange rune-like figures from stones or whimsical carvings in the sandstone.

Or maybe it is occupied by gnomes who scurry away from their constructions upon the approach of any human being?

Also see Curious Knoll, Deserted Beach: Ocean Beach Pinic Ground and Roosevelt Beach

Hotels in Yachats - Where to eat - Upper Lane County Maps and Virtual Tours

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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