This is a series of posts about our Southern Oregon Coast road trip in November, you can start here if you would like.
From Eel Creek, we drove south on HWY 101 to continue our Southern Oregon Coast road trip. Our first stop was for a second cup of coffee at Human Bean. I don’t know why but I just get a craving to stop at coffee stands while traveling, it is not a habit I have in my “at home” life.
I did not have a current Oregon State Parks pass so when I saw the sign for Bullard Beach State park, I pulled in hoping for an open ranger station or at least a kiosk where I could buy one. Turns out that Thanksgiving Day is not a good day for finding such things and the state parks’ stops along the southern section of HWY 101 do not have kiosks (they are reserved for stops where fees are actually required which it is not at Bullard).
This was our first visit to Bullard Beach State Park and opted to drive the road through it to see what was available. The sign on 101 promised a lighthouse so we kept our eye out. The campground itself was closed due to construction and the road wandered through park and the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge for 3 miles before we actually did reach said lighthouse.
The Coquille Lighthouse sat the mouth of its namesake river and turned out to be a scenic location similar to Cape Disappointment. It was built in 1896, decommissioned in 1939 and restored as a historic point of interest in the 1970s.
There was a trail from the campground and it was connected to the beach if so inclined.
I was bummed that we missed the season it is open, I guess we will have to come back in the spring or summer next time.
We walked around the lighthouse, observing at different angles. It also made a great place for taking a snap of my first holiday coffee cup of the season.
Behind the lighthouse there was a short trail that took us up and over to the jetty that juts out into the Pacific Ocean. Unlike the one at Cape Disappointment, this one was paved!
It was interesting to walk along and see the effects of the surf, especially in places where the waves pound in earnest.
There were also two survey markers with vastly different wear.
It came to a point when it was a little bit of a jump to continue as the concrete sections are shifting. I made this my turn around point.
The jetty had a great advantage point for not only the beach looking north but Coquille Point to the south (another beach hike mentioned in the Day Hiking Oregon guide book we had.
After spending about half an hour here, we returned back to HWY 101 with the intent of stopping in Bandon, Oregon, next. We had visited briefly in 2020 when we had our last Oregon Coast road trip, this time we found much more to do. You can read about it in my next post: Washed Ashore In Bandon, Oregon With Gluten Free Chowder and A Sea Stacks Stroll.
You can find out more about Bullard Beach State Park on the Oregon State Parks website and the history of Coquille Lighthouse here. This is the land of the Coquille Tribe, you can find out more information about them here.
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