2 Best Sights in The Oregon Coast, Oregon

See where the 30-member Lewis and Clark Expedition endured a rain-soaked winter in 1805–06, hunting, gathering food, making salt, and trading with the local Clatsops, Chinooks, and Tillamooks. This memorial is part of the 3,200-acre Lewis and Clark National Historical Park and is a faithful replica of the log fort depicted in Clark's journal. The fort lies within a forested wonderland, with an exhibit hall, gift shop, film, and trails. Park rangers dress in period garb during the summer and perform such early-19th-century tasks as making fire with flint and steel. Hikers enjoy the easy 1-mile Netul Landing Trail and the more rigorous but still fairly flat 6½-mile Fort to Sea Trail.

The largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America extends for 40 miles from Florence to Coos Bay. This favorite destination for ATV riding encompasses some 31,500 acres and draws more than 1.5 million visitors annually. Within the recreation area, 515-acre Honeyman Memorial State Park is a base camp for dune-buggy enthusiasts, mountain bikers, hikers, boaters, horseback riders, and dogsledders (the sandy hills are an excellent training ground). There's a campground, too. The dunes are a vast playground for children, particularly the slopes surrounding cool Cleawox Lake. If you have time for just a quick scamper in the sand, stop by the Oregon Dunes Overlook off U.S. 101, 11 miles south of Florence across from Crown Zellerback Campground; or hike the short and easy path to some towering dunes at John Dellenback Dunes Trailhead, which is 11 miles south of Reedsport, just south of Eel Creek Campground.