The Oregon coast was not in our travel plans. When we finished up Northern California we had planned to head to Crater Lake and then to Bend, Oregon for the week before hitting up Mount Hood. Wild fires had other plans for us though. Luckily, at this point in our journey we had gotten used to rerouting and coming up with a plan B.
When we saw a thick layer of grey smoke on the web cam at Crater lake, yes I said webcam and you can check it out here, we knew we needed to change some things around. The coast in California treated us well and was smoke free so we decided to just head up the coast and see where we ended up! The biggest problem with rerouting your trip is usually finding somewhere to camp on a whim. State and National Parks fill up fast and months in advance. Private campsites are a good option but we have noticed with all the wild fires people are fleeing for the coast and that makes finding a reservation more of a challenge.
Fortunately, Oregon is a great place for boon-docking and has some pretty relaxed rules. All of the Oregon beaches are considered public land and as long as there is not a “No overnight parking” sign you are good to park up to 12 hours. Emphasis on the park. You can not set up full camp but you can park and sleep on some amazing beaches!
We typically drove most of the day, stopping at little towns (our favorite was Florence) or sometimes stopping to play with Rosie on the different beaches, which she loved. Then began eyeing boon-docking spots in the evening. Once we found ourselves a spot that was a safe distance from the main road next to the beach we settled in. We would often bring a glass of wine down to the beach and watch the sunset before crawling in our little trailer and falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean. We never had anyone bother us and often had a neighbor of two. In the morning we would bring our yoga mats to the beach and start the day with some stretching followed by coffee and an amazing view. Once we finished our morning routine we would pack up and continue up the coast.
Two of our favorite spots that we boon-docked was around Gold Beach, Oregon and Yachats, Oregon. We did find that boon-docking spots we easier to find on the Central and Southern coast than the northern coast. The more north we went the more “No overnight parking” signs we saw.