An entry level onto U.S. Highway 101 within the coronary heart of Oregon’s Central Coast, the neighborhood of Reedsport has nearly all the pieces you’d need for a day journey on the coast. We’ve visited Reedsport twice this yr, filling our lengthy weekends in quaint eating places alongside the Umpqua River and discovering a family-friendly discovery heart and a stunning roadside cease with an interpretive viewing space for the native elk inhabitants.
Whale Watching Platform
Visiting the Umpqua Lighthouse and Museum
Both instances we’ve made tenting reservations at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, as soon as in a heated cabin and as soon as in our new (to us) camper trailer. As the identify implies the important thing attraction at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park is the Umpqua River Lighthouse, a 65-foot lighthouse constructed in 1890 that now operates with a 616 prism Fresnel lens casting it’s white and ruby purple signature sample 21 nautical miles out to sea.
Umpqua Lighthouse on a Cloudy Day
An glorious vantage level for seasonal whale watching, the lighthouse and museum are constructed on the bluffs over trying the Oregon dunes, a well-liked vacation spot for ATV adventuring (make sure you deliver your binoculars). If you go, make sure you buy tickets for a lighthouse tour contained in the present store.
Umpqua Lighthouse Museum, Cafe, and Gift Shop
Umpqua Lighthouse Tour
Led by museum docents, lighthouse excursions are provided year-round between the hours of 9am and 6pm. You’ll be taught in regards to the building of the lighthouse (and the unique lighthouse that collapsed when the Umpqua River skilled a flood of damaging magnitude in 1857), how the unique keepers labored and lived, and the way the sunshine was transformed from oil to electrical energy at present.
Touring the Umpqua Lighthouse
The two-story museum, housed within the authentic U.S. Coast Guard station, you possibly can discover a whole bunch of paperwork, images, and artifacts that current the evolution of the nautical lifesaving practices all through Oregon’s historical past. The second flooring reveals are replicas of how enlisted members and officers lived and labored within the facility.
Exhibits within the Umpqua Lighthouse Museum
One of the highlights of tenting at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park is strolling as much as the overlook at night time. Quite actually a crown projecting beacons of sunshine into the darkness, this photograph doesn’t do the expertise justice.
Umpqua Lighthouse After Dark
While we camped on the close by state park campground, you’ll discover a handful of close by tenting and lodging choices. In the morning, make sure you head to the Sugar Shack Bakery for warm espresso and a few of the most scrumptious pastries I’ve had on my many adventures throughout the nation. For a close-by journey, go for a hike on the the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Sugar Shack Bakery
Book Your Stay
Happy Trails!