Category Archives: state parks
Grant’s Getaways — Surf Fishing & Clamming
Check out the low tides June 20-28 — June 24 is the lowest tide of the summer and it’s at a decent morning time! The low tides also make for great tidepooling.
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Fishing, clamming & crabbing resources
Construction update
Reblogged from Cottonwood Canyon State Park:
Working toward a Sept. 25 opening, contractors and park crews are making steady progress on the few facilities that need to be added near the park entrance. The interior of the park will be trails (usually by re-using the old jeep roads), but there will be a picnic area, welcome station, water and a small primitive campground closer to the highway.
Heceta Head Lighthouse shines once more
After nearly two years of restoration work, the iconic Heceta Head Lighthouse has reopened! About 100 people attended the lamp lighting on Saturday, and the tower is now open for tours 11 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. Top-to-bottom repairs from the vent ball (the round knob on top) to the workroom floor have left the lighthouse in terrific shape with a gleaming white tower, bright red accents and new windows. It has been returned as much as possible to the way it looked in 1894, allowing you to step back in time when you visit.
A team of more than 100 subcontractors and craftspeople, most of them from Oregon, completed the project, which was awarded a 2013 Oregon Heritage Excellence Award from the Oregon Heritage Commission. Thanks to their dedication, Heceta is now back to being the brightest light on the Oregon coast.
You can see footage of the restoration and the lighthouse as it looks today by watching the latest edition of Grant’s Getaways:
A local artist and illustrator, Marcy Tippmann of Swisshome, created a commemorative painting of the lighthouse in honor of Heceta’s unveiling. Proceeds from sales of poster prints, which are available to buy ($5) at the lighthouse when hosts are on duty and Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park store, will go toward a future project to restore the two oil houses next to the lighthouse.
Heceta Head Lighthouse is located in Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint, a 549-acre park with trails, tidepools, and a sandy beach 12 miles north of Florence off of U.S. 101. A $5 day-use parking permit, state parks camping receipt, or Oregon Pacific Coast Passport is required to park. Heceta’s “sister lighthouse,” Umpqua River, which was constructed from the same blueprints, is 32 miles to the south in Winchester Bay and open for tours daily 10 a.m. -4 p.m.
