Power Kite Forum

Catalog of Oregon Beaches

archkiter - 2-8-2007 at 10:37 PM

Hi All,

I am trying to put together a catalog of beach and wind conditions for the entire Oregon coast line. Any information, experiences, or stories welcome. Hopefully this will be a useful resource for people looking for a great beach to fly at.



stace

:P

edit: Check out the Catalog here- http://home.comcast.net/~stace78/stacecase/oregonbeachmatrix... it's up and running :)

archkiter - 13-8-2007 at 11:53 PM

I've started a list of State Parks along the coast with beach descriptions with an eye towards finding out how much of the coastline can be traversed by buggy.

Here is matrix so far: http://home.comcast.net/~stace78/stacecase/oregonbeachmatrix...

Parks are listed from North to South and parks in bold are ones that I have visited recently and have buggied or flown kites at. I would love to hear feedback from others who have visited various beaches along the coast and what your experience was there.

This is a living document that hope to update when I get more information and fill in the gaps.

Thanks!

Stace

sunset-Jim - 14-8-2007 at 07:33 AM

Here are some that I recently visited.

Lost Creek The beach is very long with (at least this time of year being august) much of it being semi-soft. Access is a bit tough. A small buggy will probably fit on the 100 yd or so path down to the beach but a wide axle would have to be carried.

Beachside A lot like Lost Creek other than the path is much shorter, maybe 20 yds.

Smelt Sands A definite no. A heck of a nice beach though to lounge on, listen to the waves crash on the rocks and to sift thru the pebbles.

Nice job putting this together Stacey. This could be very usefull. It's making me consider maybe another vacation is in order for uhhh, research purposes, ya, that's it... research :smilegrin:

BigSiler - 14-8-2007 at 07:43 AM

Awesome..
A very Cool Idea.. thx

I fly down at the south jetty here in florence, would that be what you call Jessie Honeyman ? Close though :) Honeyman is just little south of the jetty...

Thanks again for this great idea..

archkiter - 14-8-2007 at 09:12 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll add your comments to the list. Thanks for clearing up the South Jetty info Siler- I couldn't remember how far up the road this was from Honeyman. Nice beach though!

I know that that are more local/ unnamed access points in many of the towns as well- I hope to add that information soon as well.

archkiter - 14-8-2007 at 10:34 PM

Updated with your comments! - keep 'um coming :)

I think you might be right Jim- time to do some "research" :singing:

archkiter - 19-8-2007 at 03:27 PM

Update again with a bit more info....still more work to do... and research :wink2:

http://home.comcast.net/~stace78/stacecase/oregonbeachmatrix...

archkiter - 19-8-2007 at 08:30 PM

I threw together a little page just on Sunset Beach too :)

http://home.comcast.net/~stace78/stacecase/sunsetbeach.html

just having a bit of fun learning dreamweaver ;)

Bucky - 18-9-2007 at 02:00 PM

Great Panorama!!

Gotta love our beach!

Bucky - 18-9-2007 at 02:36 PM

OK, here's a little known buggying spot I love.

Clatsop Spit Beach!!

It's located about as far north as you can go on the oregon coast without falling into the Columbia River

What I like about this beach, is that unlike most other Oregon Beaches, it runs mostly SW to NE, about 45 degrees offset. Perfect for those NW winds that happen periodically.

Now for the past 2 years, the most desired portion of the beach (near the jetty) has been almost impossible to get to without a 4wd due to the "Jetty Restoration Project" that's been going on there, which has completely barricaded the easy way in. (Unless of course you don't mind dragging your buggy for 2 miles the long way around.

BUT GOOD NEWS!!!!
They are finally finished with the Jetty, and have begun tearing down the fences!!! Yeah!!!!! Soon, I will have access to my favorite spot again!

To get there, enter Ft. Stevens State ParS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s north entrance, and about 4 miles until you see "South Jetty Viewing Area", then take a left. Once you've parked, walk out parallel with the jetty until you get to the beach. (I have no idea what the path out there will look like. It used to be a wide sandy path, but that was before the mega-dump trucks and cranes came.)

If you have 4wd, drive past "South Jetty Viewing Area" exit and continue to the next left (less than a mile). There is a 4wd-only trail that will take you out to the beach. Drive W\SW until you reach the jetty (about 2 miles).

Be careful though, the beach is on the river side, so when the tide comes in, it tends to come in suddenly, and when it does, the beach disappears...All of it!! So plan to get out before that happens.

Not the biggest, or best beach, but a great alternate place to go when the winds are less than perfect. Plus, as a bonus, it's practically abandoned, even on hot summer days.

archkiter - 19-9-2007 at 10:41 AM

Thanks for the info Bucky. Can you get by with regular tires or do you need bigfoots at Clatsop? (I've been on that beach before, but the tide was pretty high at the time, and like you said they were working on the Jetty).

I'll be sure to add this info next time I update the site. Maybe I'll see you out there sometime!

Stace

PS- (General Update) I've added a symbol for those state parks that have campgrounds. There are still a few other National park campgrounds in the Siuslaw that I need to add too....

Thanks for all the feedback!

Bucky - 19-9-2007 at 02:16 PM

Standard tires will work, but you're better off with Bigfoots.

The hardpack is not as spread out as it is on Sunset, so you'll get much more room to manuver with Bigfoots.

reefro - 20-9-2007 at 01:06 PM

very nice, wish there was something like this for northern california :) although it definitely wouldnt be as big, you guys have some nice beaches it looks ilke.. will definitely have to try it out someday

Bucky - 15-11-2007 at 02:08 PM

California gets the sun, we get the huge uninhabited beaches.

Come up anytime! There is a really cool kiting community up here (very welcoming!)

Eli @ Above It All Kites in Seaside, Oregon (or any of the other locals on this site) can direct you to all the good spots.