Stay at the lighthouse
keeper's bed and breakfast at Heceta Head and you can watch the
crashing surf of the Pacific long after other travelers have departed
the day use beach. But you won't be entirely alone.
Hundreds of seabirds nest on cliffs below the lighthouse and on nearby
offshore rocks Part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife
Refuge,
these rocky islets provide important habitat for Tufted Puffins, Common
Murres, Doublecrested and Brandt's Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots,
Western Gulls and Black Oystercatchers.
You
can explore the tide pools at Heceta Head State Park's beach
or hike from the beach to the lighthouse and bed and breakfast. The
lighthouse, in operation since 1894, has the most powerful light on the
Oregon coast - visible from up to twenty-one miles away.
Walk to the overlook at
the lighthouse during migration season and you
may spy the water spouts of gray whales as they journey between Baja
California and Alaska.
Directions: From Highway 101
in Florence travel 13 miles north and turn at the sign for Heceta Head.
OTHER NEARBY ATTRACTIONS:
Sea Lion
Caves 11 miles north of
Florence, Oregon. This
commercial site is a sanctuary for the endangered Steller or
Northern Sea Lion. Expect to pay a fee if you use the elevator to
descend to the sea cave. From the cave, you may also see nesting
Rhinoceros Auklets and Pigeon Guillemots.
