Product Description

Welcome to Oregon's Coast -- 363 miles of cliff-edged capes, public beaches, wild rivers, sand dunes, rainforest, and coastal mountains. Many of the top attractions are within easy reach of Highway 101, but others are accessible only by trail. To help you explore both the civilized and the wild parts of Oregon's spectacular shore, this book blends two kinds of guides -- a detailed Travel Guide for touring by car and a complete Trail Guide for planning adventures on foot.

The book is divided into 18 sections from Washington's Long Beach south to California's Redwood National Park. Each section begins with a Travel Guide that includes an overview map and a description of the area's car-accessible attractions. Both the map and the text are annotated with symbols identifying campgrounds, lighthouses, museums, and other popular destinations. Here too are tips for bicycling, birdwatching, kayaking, canoeing, and horseback riding.

The overview maps show major Highway 101 mileposts, so it's easy to use the Travel Guide as a highway logbook. As you drive from one area to the next, simply flip forward or backward through the book to the next Travel Guide map.

Following each Travel Guide section are descriptions of that area's hiking trails. To help you choose a hike, symbols in the upper right-hand corner of each hike's heading identify trail features. For example, 64 of the hikes have symbols recommending them as best trails for hikers with children, 36 hikes begin near campgrounds, and 44 pass through old-growth forest. Travelers with limited physical abilities need not miss the fun, because a list at the back of the book describes 42 paved, planked, or graveled trails accessible to everyone. Altogether, the guide covers every trail in Oregon's scenic coastal region.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59464 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
William L. Sullivan is the author of six books and numerous articles about Oregon, including a regular outdoor column for Eugene Weekly. A fifth-generation Oregonian, Sullivan began hiking at the age of five and has been exploring new trails ever since. After receiving an English degree from Cornell University and studying at Germany's Heidelberg University, he earned an M.A. from the University of Oregon.

In 1985 Sullivan set out to investigate Oregon's wilderness on a 1,361-mile solo backpacking trek from the state's westernmost shore at Cape Blanco to Oregon's easternmost point in Hells Canyon. His journal of that two-month adventure, published as "Listening for Coyote," was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in creative nonfiction . Since then he has authored a popular series of "100 Hikes" guidebooks to the regions of Oregon. Other titles in the series are "100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon," covering Mt. Hood, the Columbia Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, and the Portland area; "100 Hikes in Southern Oregon," including Crater Lake National Park, the Rogue River, the Siskiyous, the Trinity Alps, and Mt. Shasta; and "100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades," covering the Three Sisters, Mt. Jefferson, Bend, and Eugene areas.

He and his wife Janell live in Eugene, but spend summers in a log cabin they built by hand on a roadless stretch of Oregon's Siletz River.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Hike #7, Tillamook Head

Easy (to Indian Beach) 3 miles round-trip 400 feet elevation gain

Moderate (to WW II bunker) 3.9-mile loop 900 feet elevation gain

Difficult (shuttle across headland) 6.1 miles one-way 1350 feet elevation gain

Tillamook Head rises 1000 feet from the ocean, with jagged capes and rocky islands. The Lewis and Clark expedition crossed this formidable headland in 1806 to buy the blubber of a stranded whale from Indians at Cannon Beach. At a viewpoint along the way Clark marveled, "I behold the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed."

The headland itself is a tilted remnant of a massive, 15-million-year-old Columbia River basalt flow. Incredibly, the lava welled up near Idaho, flooded down the Columbia Gorge, and spread along the seashore to this point.

From Highway 101, take the north exit for Cannon Beach and follow Ecola State Park signs, keeping right for 2 miles to the park's entrance booth. A day-use parking fee is collected here. For an easy 3-mile hike suitable for hikers with children, turn left at the booth and head for the Ecola Point picnic area. As you enter the parking lot, look for a trail sign on the right. The path that starts here climbs around scenic bluffs past 3 of the best viewpoints in the park. After 1.5 miles a left-hand spur drops to Indian Beach, a good turnaround point. Ahead, the main trail bridges Canyon Creek to the Indian Beach picnic area parking lot.

For the longer hikes at Tillamook Head it's best to start at the Indian Beach picnic area. Drive there by turning right at the park's fee booth for 1.5 miles.

This trail starts as an old gated road on the right-hand side of the Indian Beach parking turnaround. After 100 yards keep left at a fork and climb, steeply at times, through old-growth spruce and alder woods. Wear boots, as there are a few slippery spots. After 1.6 miles turn left at a trail crossing near a primitive camping area for backpackers. In another 0.2 mile you'll find the dark, 6-room concrete bunker, which housed a radar installation in World War II. Just beyond is a cliff-edge viewpoint, breathtakingly high above a rugged rock beach.

A mile to sea is Tillamook Rock, a bleak island with a lighthouse that operated from 1881 to 1957. Nicknamed "Terrible Tilly," the light was repeatedly overswept by winter storms that dashed water, rocks, and fish into the lantern room 150 feet above normal sea level. The island was finally bought by funereal entrepreneurs who bring in urns of cremated remains by helicopter.

If you're ready to return on the loop to your car, simply walk back from the viewpoint to the trail crossing and go straight on a well-graded abandoned road 1.6 miles downhill to the Indian Beach parking lot.

If you'd prefer to continue across Tillamook Head, turn left at the trail crossing. The trail climbs and dips for 2.6 miles, passing some excellent views north (including the one Clark liked), before switchbacking down through the forest 1.7 miles to a parking area at the end of Sunset Boulevard.

To find this northern trailhead, drive Highway 101 to Seaside's southernmost traffic signal, turn west on Avenue U for two blocks and turn left on Edgewood (which becomes Sunset) for 1.2 miles to road's end.

OTHER HIKING OPTIONS You can skip Ecola State Park's day-use fee by starting at the Sunset Boulevard trailhead and hiking the other way across Tillamook Head. Another free option is to park in Cannon Beach. Simply walk north along the park's entrance road 0.9 mile, and take a well-marked but little-used 1.1-mile trail to the entrance booth. This path often parallels the road, but passes 2 nice viewpoints.

Customer Reviews

A great book for exploring the Oregon Coast
William Sullivan, the author of this guide book, is reputed to be a fifth generation Oregonian who grew to love the Oregon coast as a child spending time in the family cabin in Lincoln City. As a fourth-generation Oregonian and veteran of numerous day trips and camping trips as a child and adult to the Oregon coast, I have found the book to be a great guide and an eye-opener to places and trails that for years I had driven by without noticing or stopping.

I live in Salem, Oregon and for the last few years I have carried this book in the trunk of my car. I try to get to at least one new place or hike out of the book every time I go to the coast (i.e. the 'shore', for you east-coast types).

If you are stuck in Portland over a weekend on a business trip or planning a vacation in Oregon, this is the book to buy if you want to get off Highway 101 and see some of the spectacular sights on the Oregon coast.

The only shortcoming of the book is the lack of any color photographs.

Very detailed info
This guide was great. It enabled me to plan for hikes, and had maps and all information needed to get to the places and take the hike without buying separate maps, etc. Good basic information on the hikes, what to expect, etc. My only complaint was that there was very little "subjective" information on how hikes compared with others, such as "This hike has the best views in the area", which would help decide which to do if you don't have alot of time.

Great travel book for Oregon Coast
I have used extensively this book for traveling at the south oregon coast. The directions to the trail heads are very clear, the maps are well done and the hike descriptions are first rate. Sullivan is a wonderful writer. His other hiking books are also very well done. I recommend any book that he has written. His hiking books are the best that I have ever seen.