Step out of your vehicle and into a place with natural beauty that truly inspires. Just a quarter mile from any of the parking areas to the beach, yet the rigors of everyday life are stripped away by the time your feet hit the sand. Although the walk is short, there are several different trails to the beach and lead you to the Cape Falcon overlook or to the Oregon Coast Trail. Be sure to pick up a map on the way into the park. All of the trails to the beach are through a mature forest; one trail follows the winding path of the Short Sands creek. This trail gives way to the spectacular view of the ocean and the creek meeting. This is your first glimpse of the ocean and Short Sands beach.

Soak in the view from 500' above the ocean on the breathtaking crescent sweep of white sandy beach stretching to the south. Cape Foulweather is stunning and inspirational with its picturesque promontory. This popular whale watching spot also provides a good view of the Devil's Punchbowl environs. Imagine Captain Cook's first sighting on that stormy March day in 1778. The adjacent gift shop is privately owned.

Excellent walking and hiking trails overlooking pristine beaches and unusual sandstone rock formations sculpted by wind and waves.

A parking area with an expansive coastal vista stretching from Port Orford Heads to Orfords offshore reef and distant Cape Blanco and the lighthouse there. The beach is great for beachcombing; it's not unusual to find floats and agates here.

If you enjoy vertical basalt cliffs and scenic river canyons, the Ogden Wayside is for you. The park is perched at the top of a striking canyon. Bring a camera!

Come and explore an old cinder cone located just east of Bend. Hike up and around on one of three trails. The trails wind through stands of juniper and sage. All of the trails lead to the summit. Once at the top, get ready for a grand panoramic view of the high desert.

Pistol River State Park is set in the dunes of the southern Oregon coast. The river supposedly got its name when a militia soldier lost his pistol in the river during the infamous Rogue River Indian War. In March of 1856, a decisive battle was fought here.

The view is absolutely breathtaking and it's one of the best spots to soak in a view of one of the most beautiful places on earth: the magnificent, awesome Columbia River Gorge. Any visit to the Gorge would be nearly perfect with Women's Forum as the starting place to a fun-filled day of adventure and discovery. With the scenic Vista House and the wide expanse of the Columbia Gorge in the background, more photographs of the Columbia Gorge are probably taken from this point than anywhere else (but don't let that stop you ... go ahead and take a few shots of your own).

The Port Orford Lifeboat Station was constructed in 1934 by the Coast Guard to provide lifesaving service to the southern portion of the Oregon Coast until 1970. A museum, operated by the Point Orford Heritage Society, is now housed in the station. The museum is free (donations accepted, of course), and is open April-October, Thursday-Monday, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. A 36-foot motor lifeboat used at this station is on the premises and waiting to be restored.

Need a place to play? Where you can enjoy nature viewing at its finest? This is a place where those weary of hectic schedules and jangling telephones can find peace, a place where life can be pondered from a different and unique perspective. Most of all, a place carefully designed and maintained for people -- for the mother and her baby out for a Sunday drive, for the father teaching his son how to fish, for the teenager who wants to get away for a bit, for the couple on a weekend camping trip, for the grandparents who just want to take it easy for a week.

Beautiful, quiet secluded forest area with picnic tables and a hiking trail leading to Pearsony Falls, the Rogue River and Mill Creek Falls. No drinking water at this site.

Red Bridge State Wayside lies along Oregon Highway 244 and offers visitors overnight camping and daytime opportunities. Situated along the banks of the Grande Ronde River, the park is forested with ponderosa pine and cottonwoods. Uncrowded, quiet summer evenings greet campers and day-users alike. Enjoy a day of fishing or cool off in the gentle waters of the river.

A fine place for a romantic stroll with tidepools, islands, and the headland with its hidden cove. Sailboarders come from everywhere! When Lincoln City's beaches are crowded or windy, this sheltered spot just north of town is surprisingly quiet. A short path descends to the beach at the pebbly mouth of a lazy little creek. The north beach is topped by a jumble of quaint old cottages until the beach narrows to the massive Cascade Head. Fragments of lava form ragged islands where comic, long-necked cormorants dry their black wings atop guano-stained roosts. At low tide it's possible to clamber around the headland's tip to a secret cove and beach. Don't linger too long or you'll have to wait hours until the next low tide to get out!

Rocky Creek is a spectacular ocean-front park on a forested bluff overlooking the ocean. Offshore rocks provide spectacular wave action in storms and are nesting areas for birds and sea lions. The viewpoint is an official Whale Spoken Here site for watching migrating and resident gray whales.

Spring at Rooster Rock is where spring fever happens. Imagine the first warm, sunny days of spring where meadows of wild roses and the spicy scent of Oregon grape combine with an endless panorama of the Cascade mountains, blue sky and the deep blue waters of the Columbia River. During the first sunny days of spring, people suddenly call in sick at work or school. That's when our parking lot fills up!

Two and a half miles. That's all it is from the parking lot (elev. 1,650') to the summit of Saddle Mountain (elev. 3,283'). Be prepared to marvel at the sheer volume of natural beauty packed onto the mountain, from a mature forest setting to fields of wildflowers to an open rocky summit. The view from the top of the mountain is one that cannot be described ... it must be experienced.

This corridor is a 12 mile, forested linear park with a rugged, steep coastline interrupted by small sand beaches. This park was named in honor of Samuel H. Boardman, the first Oregon Parks superintendent. He and others of his generation felt this shining green emerald coastline should be saved for the public. What gems they gave us: admire the 300-year old sitka spruce trees, gaze at the amazing Arch Rock and Natural Bridges, and walk the 27 miles of Oregon Coast Trail that weave through giant forests.

Sarah Helmick is located six miles south of Monmouth off Highway 99W. Helmick lies along the floodplain of the Luckiamute River and is forested in Douglas fir, grand fir, maple, ash, Port Orford cedar and cottonwood. There are two reservation picnic areas for groups up to 150 people each. Electricity, water, picnic tables and restrooms are provided at each site. There is plenty of shade from the bigleaf maples that tower above you. A quiet spot to walk along the trails that border the Luckiamute River, with plenty of birds and native plant life to investigate.

Seal Rock State Wayside has large off-shore rock formations which are the habitat of seals, sea lions, sea birds and other marine life. The wayside includes interesting tidepools as well as excellent ocean views and a sandy beach. Developed for day-use, the picnic area is in a pleasant stand of shore pine, spruce and salal.

This would be a great place for a convention if you were a bighorn sheep. In other words, the terrain is rocky, mountainous, desolate and beautiful. This is the third leg of state parks joined together at Mitchell Point (also see Wygant and Vinzenz Lausmann).

Seven Devils Wayside is the jumping-off point for sandy beach adventure. At this access point, you can travel several miles up and down the open beach. Agates are often the beachcombing goal of visitors to this out-of-the-way spot.

In 1915, a local dairy farmer named George Shepperd gave all that he had (this tract of land) to the City of Portland as a memorial to his wife. Today, thousands of visitors along the Historic Columbia River Highway visit this beautiful spot, with its roaring waterfall cascading down steep cliffs into Youngs Creek and out to the Columbia River far below. The upper fall is around 42' tall. The lower tier is around 50' tall.

Perched on rugged sandstone cliffs high above the ocean, Shore Acres State Park is an exciting and unexpected combination of beautiful natural and constructed features. Once the grand estate of pioneer timber baron Louis Simpson, Shore Acres features lushly planted gardens with plants and flowers from all over the world. Something is in bloom almost every day of the year.

Nestled in the lower elevation of Oregon's Cascade Mountains lies a temperate rain forest. It is here that the Trail of Ten Falls/Canyon Trail (770k) (Acrobat required to view map) can be found. The Canyon Trail and the falls descend to a forest floor covered with ferns, mosses, and wildflowers. You will also find stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, and cedar. While thousands visit the park every year, it is large enough for you to find quiet places to sit and watch for birds (download a bird list as a text file.)

An excellent whale watching and photography viewpoint. Walk the historic 804 Trail (.75 miles one-way with resting benches scattered along the way). The park is known for tidepooling, rock fishing and the yearly smelt run (smelt are small, silvery relatives of salmon). Breathtaking sunsets.