Coast of Oregon

Some ideas if you will make it to the north Oregon coast: Ecola State park near Cannon Beach - day use only but very camera worthy. Use a needed repair as an excuse to visit Cannon Beach Hardware. Not a very good hardware store but the bar is great.

Mid coast I like to visit Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. Nice tide pools, drive on the beach, watch the dories come in, and if fit, climb the sand dune.

Rt 138 Umpqua Hwy is very scenic, Diamond Lake and many waterfalls follow to Roseburg.
Rt 199 from Grants Pass to Crescent City, CA is beautiful. There is a lighthouse that you can walk to at low tide. The big redwoods forest is just south of Crescent City.
We went in early August and there were blackberries everywhere along the coast. We found some snow along the road around Crater Lake.
You will love Oregon!

Now if you have the time and don't mind the extra miles I recommend blowing north up I-5 to travel the coast north to south. All the pullouts for scenery are on the water side and it is much safer and easier to get on and off the highway with the heavy summer traffic, heading south. Some of the pullouts are on curves so makes it dicey trying to get on and off the highway with traffic when heading north.

My recommend for the Oregon coast is the Oregon coast and take in as much as you can. Near Dunes though rented a vehicle to drive the dunes, great fun.

All of southern Oregon coast is small cities. Neat Rocky cliffs and beaches. 101 is slow and full of tourists. Winchester area is awesome for dunes, but lacking in everything else. If you haven't seen the redwoods, go south to del Norte county in California and enjoy.

Most of the OR Parks reserve sites will already be taken but a lot of the parks have some that are held back. We have had good luck if we get to the parks about checkout time and waiting. Check the Or Parks website for which ones are not all reserve. In Southern OR we like Harris Beach near the CA border.

If you're going to Crater Lake, I would suggest that you head out towards Medford, then Grants Pass and 199 over to Crescent City on the coast. From there you'll head north and your adventure will begin.As was said before, all of the state parks were full as of last year, you can make res a year in advance, but there are a lot of REALLY nice private parks and most are about the same cost as state parks.
As far as 199 is concerned, I have pulled my 35' TT and Excursion both ways and my 40' Tradewinds with toad from Crescent city and had no problems.

The state parks are awesome. Your first stop should be Cape Blanco State Park. They don't accept reservations but if you get there early in the day you'll get a site. Beautiful large sites, a lighthouse to tour and a practically secluded gorgeous beach. It's near Port Orford on the south coast.

We've also stayed at these state parks: Bullard's Beach at Bandon, Carl Washburne at Florence, Beverly Beach at Newport, Harris Beach at Brookings and Fort Stevens at Astoria.

You will miss the best part.:E Do yourself a big favor, stay on the coast to Astoria then head east. It is a spectacular trip. While at Florence take a buggy ride on the dunes but take an cheap camera, you will have sand in places you didn't know you had.

We're heading north toward Florence then heading east towards Montana.

Which way are you going after you hit the coast. North or south?