Cajoling Cracks 'n Crevices of One Out-of-the-Way Oregon Coast Beach Near Newport

Published 12/19/24 at 6:25 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Seal Rock, Oregon) – A mere few miles south of Newport, and just few more miles north of Seal Rock, you'll find a fascinating hidden beach access which at first doesn't seem like much at all. Indeed, it doesn't appear to have a name (well, it does, but you have to dig to find out). (All photos Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

Heading south from South Beach, you wander through a stretch filled with wind-ravaged trees and periodic views of the ocean popping up in between. Oregon Coast Highway 101 becomes more forest than beach. Then, directly south of MP 146, a nondescript gravel pullout lurks by the side of the road. You see no beach here, however. It's just gravel with loads of brush and foliage. But there does appear to be an opening through that tuft of trees and other greenery.

It turns out you've bumped into Thiel Creek and what is known as Holiday Beach (although it's sometimes simply called Thiel Creek). Lost Creek State Recreational Site is less than a mile down the road: it seems it could almost be a part of that state park.

It's entirely possible it doesn't have an official name yet.

Stroll through that brush, however, and your first words will likely involve “wow.” You emerge onto a nice tract of pleasant, wide-open beach - the kind that dating website commercials love to film people walking on. Continue swiping right, in this case. You'll find a trippy little strand filled with funky geologic features.

You emerge from forest to this

These sandstone cliffs start unremarkably enough, but still comely and pretty in their way. You enter the beach after a bit of a forested walk through a trail, and if the sun is shining just right, these cliffs fire up to vibrant oranges, yellows and browns.

Walk a bit around the corner, to the south, and it looks like endless hand-holding-walks-on-the-beach possibilities. The strand seems to go on as far as the eye can see. Oregon Coast's Mega-Cool Holiday Beach Near Newport - What You Don't Know

Walk a tad longer and you start encountering numerous cracks and crevices dug into the sandstone walls by erosion. They get deeper and deeper the farther you walk, and slightly more mysterious. They even seem to become small sea caves.

Then at the one point they deepen to become small coves – enclosed areas in the cliffs that you allow to shield yourself from the wind, should you decide to take on the task of sun bathing in this often chilly clime.

These photos were taken in the summer, showing the sand levels much higher. When winter comes, sand levels get quite low and some bedrock appears. You can see this here: Oregon Coast Virtual Tour: Winter Views of a Secret Spot South of Newport.

Thiel Creek / Holiday Beach even hosts ghost forests at times: you have to wait for winter sands to drop enough, however.

This hauntingly beautiful spot was nonetheless site of a slightly unusual beach event one summer. Bedrock was showing in spite of the super-high sand levels, but the culprit was – paradoxically – the result of those very same high sands. It was an Oregon coast curiosity. Bedrock, New Fishing Holes Appeared on Oregon Coast Beach Near Newport

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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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