Coos Bay

The old lumber towns of Coos Bay, North Bend, and Charleston are sometimes referred to as Oregon’s “Bay Area,” once an extremely busy commercial hub where the timber industry thrived. Today, visitors are drawn here by three landmarks immediately southwest of Coos Bay via the Cape Arago midway: Shore Acres State Park, Cape Arago State Park, and South Slough National Estuarine Preserve. (Look for signs to the midway between Bandon and Coos Bay on 101.) Once the grounds of a 20th-century private estate, Shore Acres is now an impressive 743-acre garden, the winner of numerous landscape design awards, and most notable for its many unusual botanicals. (Open year round daily from 8 am to dusk.) At nearby Cape Arago State Park, an easy trail leads north along a ridge to an excellent vantage point for viewing the marine animals that make these offshore rocks their home. On clear days, you can see south to Bandon, but in a winter storm, watch out! Winds can reach epic proportions on this ridge. (Open year round, daily, from 8 am to dusk; 541-888-3778 or 800-551-6949.) You might also enjoy a visit to South Slough National Estuarine Preserve, one of seven tidal inlets that collectively form the Coos Estuary. An Interpretive Center is open to the public (daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, from 8 am to 4 pm; 541-888-5558). It houses exhibits, a video viewing area, and a bookstore, and there is an outdoor amphitheater for special presentations (or just for resting). Several easy trails, varying in length from ¼ mile to 3 miles, give you immediate access to this preserve, which is peaceful yet teeming with life. Try the wonderful Estuary Study Trail, a 3-mile series of scenic loops.