Four Oregon Coast Obscurities That Will Raise Eyebrows

Published 09/06/20 at 6:41 AM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast) – Great places don’t always have the best of amenities, or are the easiest to get to. Great places along the Oregon coast sometimes happen because there’s a funky surprise awaiting the adventurer.

Here are four such nuggets.

Tokatee Klootchman State Wayside, Near Florence. Near the edges of Lane County, between Yachats and Florence, an obscure little gravel pullout exists with a handful of surprises. It’s hard to spot, but this tiny, fenced area is actually a state park. There’s not much to it, really. It sits not quite ten feet above the beach and allows for great whale watching, but also slightly unnerving wave action during Oregon coast storms.

Beyond the fencing there’s a rough and thoroughly unofficial pathway down to the beach, but it’s steep, precarious and slippery – and frankly not advisable. It’s also quite easy to get yourself pinned by the tides here.

It’s most interesting feature is one so obscure no one knows of it: it looks towards a house used in a really bad ‘80s horror movie: 1982’s Cry for the Strangers. Starring Patrick Duffy (remember the original Aquaman and the show Dallas?), it used many shooting sites around Lane County beaches, including Heceta Head’s beaches. The dreary, bland film is actually kind of laughable now. The house you see to the north of Tokatee Klootchman had numerous scenes filmed inside and in the yard.

These days, you actually just chuckle at the sight of the house, if you’ve seen the movie. Hotels in Yachats - Where to eat - Lane County Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

Photo courtesy Angi D. Wildt Gallery

Painted Rock Garden, Seaside. An oddball little trend has taken a foothold in the north Oregon coast town, with an actual place named Painted Rock Garden. Basically, take just the right set of turns from the very southern tip of The Prom, sort of towards the sea, and behind some shrubbery lies an elaborate landscape of rock painted artistically or with messages. Some go back decades, to the ‘80s.

The trend itself has been going for awhile, but likely not as long as this garden. It’s built up stream in recent years, however, as the quaint little activity of leaving painted rocks around has grown. (In some places it’s gotten out of hand and even banned, however).

Here in Seaside, it’s simply a comely surprise.

Local historians have tried to peek into the origin of this, and some believe it centered around a tradition from a family or two in the area (or perhaps those with second homes out here). Hotels in Seaside - Where to eat - Seaside Maps and Virtual Tours

Below Silver Point. Everyone knows Silver Point near Cannon Beach – even if not by name you know it as that amazing lookout where everyone and their dog takes pics. Below it is the real treasure, however.

To get here you have to take one of the final streets of Cannon Beach’s southern end, then keep walking about a quarter mile or so. You’ll come to cliff-walled bend with a giant seastack (with colorful sea life in a cave) and a host of intriguing wall patterns and oddities in the sand.

If you’re lucky, depending on the time of year, you’ll find this small army of hairy gremlins: actually a bunch of rocks covered in green sea goo. Hotels in Cannon Beach - Where to eat - Cannon Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

Trail Next to Boiler Bay. As if Depoe Bay’s Boiler Bay isn’t already packed with glorious little secretive finds in the first place, there’s even more. From that precarious gravel pullout (in terms of traffic) above the bay, there’s a sign designating part of the Oregon Coast Trail here. Wander into the brush and follow the hike, and you’ll encounter loads of fascinating trees, some that seem to have mystical faces.

It’s almost a mile from here to Fogarty Beach on its other end, but just as the hike gets started you’ll find an absolutely striking viewpoint. You’re actually closer to the boiler from the J. Marhoffer than you can ever get (the object that gave the bay its name). Be extremely careful, however: this is soft cliff that is just itching to fall apart some more, so stay far back from the edge. Hotels in Depoe Bay - Where to eat - Depoe Bay Maps and Virtual Tours

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