Harris Beach

Appropriately, Harris Beach is located within Harris Beach State Park, on Oregon’s rugged southern coastline. It is just off the coastal Highway 101, north of the town of Brookings. Backed by verdant hills, this relatively quiet sand beach stretches for several hundred metres. Also relatively wide, a small gentle stream flows into the Pacific Ocean here, making it an attractive place for young children to play with a fishing net.

However, there’s no net big enough for the creatures that migrate along this area of coastline beyond the rocky sea stacks just offshore. Gray whales are frequent visitors during the winter and spring months. Harbour seals and sealions also inhabit the area, while Bird Island is a breeding ground for rare species including the Tufted Puffin.

Though facilities at Harris Beach are limited, there are a handful of picnic tables and also public rest rooms. There is a camping ground suitable for those with tents and RVs just a couple of hundred metres away, sheltered by trees.

If you want to enter the water, you’ll have to cross the rocky waterline, which reveal tidal pools full of life at low tide. There is parking within the boundaries of the state park.