Best Dog Friendly Oregon Coast – Thanks to the Oregon Beach Act of 1967, 363 miles of beach are free to the public. That’s great, but we all know my priority – can Aspen come too? The short answer is yes. Well, probably.
Our journey began with an arduous drive from Sacramento north to Portland to visit a childhood friend. More baby hugs ensued as Aspen struggled to hold her toddler’s full attention. The trip was an absolute delight, but after a few days it was adventure time. We loaded up the car and drove down the Columbia River to the ocean. First stop – Astoria.
Best Dog Friendly Oregon Coast
The view from the top of the Astoria Stupa is worth a visit, but it is by no means suitable for dogs. So we stopped on Cathedral Tree Road for a long drive. On this route we encountered huge trees, banana slugs and slippery feet. The path first went through the forest and then climbed the hill where the column was located; As soon as we came out from behind the trees, the view opened up. We each took turns speeding up and the other walking along the aspen before heading back to the car. I’d say it’s slippery from the recent rain, but isn’t that normal in western Oregon?
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Aspen’s favorite stops were. The first was at Fort Stevens State Park. Aspen didn’t care at all about the shipwrecks that had happened there since it washed ashore in 1906, but she liked having room to zoom.
After lunch and an IPA at Public Coast Brewing, we stopped at Cannon Beach for more zooms mixed in with some rod chasing. I don’t want to call it “bring” because it means bringing back the aspen stick… There were a lot of beachgoers on a Monday in September, so I wonder how crowded it is in the summer. Oh, I stepped on the biggest bud I’ve ever seen. Or maybe a jellyfish, who knows.
Tillamook Creamery apparently didn’t allow dogs outside, but Aspen knows how I feel about cheese and ice cream, so she agreed to sleep in the car when we stopped for a tour. I can confirm that there are cheese samples and different ice cream flavors. I love berries and Marionberry did not disappoint. Full of bellies, we headed to Cape Lookout State Park to spend the night in a tent. We arrived at sunset, parked in the reserved spot and quickly made our way to the beach. The sky was bright orange as the tide receded. We then headed back to the legislative session in Aspen in the evening. Covered in darkness, we could hear the ocean pulsating, but it seemed like we had to walk a mile to find it. The beach was ours.
Aside from the cheese and ice cream, I was most excited to visit the Neskowin Haunted Forest. A link to the Travel Oregon website describes the Haunted Forest and mentions some of the beach’s features, including a quick hike to the top of Offering Rock. We arrived at low tide but quickly abandoned the journey when we saw a rope dangling from the bank of the ramp. Although shallow, we crossed the creek to reach an old Sitka spruce, and I can vouch that our toes were numb on our morning visit in September. I quickly put on socks and shoes, wishing I had brought a towel, Ruth pulled it off barefoot, knowing we had to go back and Aspen not knowing what it was. I found the haunted forest story more interesting than the real story, but it was another off-leash beach where I found a large dead starfish that I included in the photos. What’s a bit odd is that if I found a dead squirrel in the woods, I wouldn’t want to photograph it… a little natural taxidermy using salt water could change all that.
Bullards Beach State Park
The next stop was the spectacular Cape Perpetua, which stretches from the coastal fringes to the stormy ocean. Explore the beach carefully so that you don’t fall into the drain pipe of the Pacific Ocean. There are 26 miles of trails in the area, but we only had time to try it out. We visited the West Shelter, built by Civilian Conservation Corps staff, overlooking the coast. Although Aspen isn’t afraid of heights, she doesn’t like loud noises, so when we made a quick stop at Thors Well, she decided to stay in the car. Ruth and I took a short walk down to the rocky beach to watch the tide through the well. I heard the best time to visit is just before high tide, so you can see the changes when the tide comes in, but low tide was still impressive.
We stopped our road trip for a few days with my family to stop in the Riley Ranch Park District and drive an OHV (All Terrain Vehicle) through the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The activity wasn’t dog friendly, but the Aspen forest sniffed around the campground. Additionally, a walk along the access road to the hill leads to a sandy expanse that is only open to pedestrians and perfect for dogs to really stretch their legs.
Our next stop was Bandon at Washed Ashore – Art to Save the Sea. Aspen sniffed Henry’s fish, but had to stay in the car while we toured the interior exhibits. The exhibits are made of plastic that, you guessed it, washes ashore after floating in our oceans. Plastic creatures from the ocean have drawn special attention to the extent of waste and consumerism in the modern world. Of course, in years past, who knows how long the trash floated before returning to land…
A few blocks away we found Tony’s Crab Shack. I lucked out with the smoked salmon sandwich – highly recommended. If you’re counting, this is Aspen’s third sleeper car. Fortunately, the beach weather was mild enough in September that the Aspen factory was on airplane mode, so she decided to sleep in the car. As a reminder, if you need to leave your dog in the car for a while, check the weather and know your dog’s temperament. We also loved spending time at the beach in Aspen. From Bandon we drove about 10 minutes south to the Devil’s Kitchen Access Point in Bandon County Natural Area. There are plenty of off-leash beach options along the coast, but be aware that some areas are closed to dogs to protect the west snow.
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After our visit to the beach, we turned south and went camping at Harris Beach State Park since the reservation season was over there. If we weren’t in such a rush, I’d love to explore the trails at Humbug Mountain State Park. There are trails surrounded by rainforest from sea level to the summit of Humbug. It looks incredible, but it’s mostly covered in poison oak, so it’s no big deal that we keep driving. Aspen still cherished our sunset playtime along Harris Beach more than our lead walks.
Our destination the next morning was Rainbow Rock, but the tide was high so we couldn’t get around the rock, so while we waited for it to recede, we grabbed breakfast sandwiches from First Rice Baking Company. I drive back to Oregon on rosemary rolls. . We talked them into leaving, took them to the beach and sat on a rock while I took smaller and smaller bites, trying to prolong the life of my sandwiches.
As the tide was still not high enough, we went to Samuel H. to visit the natural bridges. We headed north to the Boardman State Scenic Corridor. We took a short walk on the main trail before jumping off the natural bridges so we headed back to what we discussed as a maintained or user trail. We saw flags tied to trees along the trail and if they are not maintained they plan to make it official soon. The ocean foamed beneath us as we decided to go as far as we comfortably could, with steep cliffs flanking an increasingly narrow stretch of land. We stared wide-eyed at the path that clung to the headland leading to a dangerous perch that would no doubt have graced many an Instagram account. We headed back to the main trail for what we hoped was a loop until we saw poison oak encroaching on the trail. This was an unattractive option: as we retraced our steps, we saw all the poison oak we hadn’t seen on our hike. Was that 10 minutes ago?! When we got back into the car, we changed our pants and shoes, put those things in a plastic bag and wiped as much as we could with aspen cleaning wipes. Note: Next time stay on the main road.
Again
