4 Best Sights in Port Orford, The Oregon Coast

This secluded, 1,850-acre park, especially popular with campers, usually has warm weather, thanks to the nearby mountains that shelter it from ocean breezes. A 6-mile loop leads to the top of 1,765-foot Humbug Mountain, one of the highest points along the state's coastline. It's a pretty, moderately challenging hike, but the summit is fairly overgrown and doesn't provide especially panoramic views. The campground has tent and RV sites.

Said to be the westernmost point in Oregon and perhaps the windiest—gusts clocked at speeds as high as 184 mph have twisted and battered the Sitka spruces along the 6-mile road from U.S. 101 to the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The lighthouse, atop a 245-foot headland, has been in continuous use since 1870, longer than any other in Oregon. Hughes House is all that remains of the Irish settler Patrick Hughes's dairy farm complex built in 1860. The lighthouse and Hughes House are open in summer only. No one knows why the Spaniards sailing past these reddish bluffs in 1603 called them blanco (white). One theory is that the name refers to the fossilized shells that glint in the cliff face. Campsites at the 1,880-acre park are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Four cabins are available by reservation.

Atop the bluff that is Port Orford Heads, a trail loops the rocky outcropping between the Pacific and the Port Orford Lifeboat Station, taking in the hillside below, from which crews once mounted daring rescues on the fierce sea. From May through September, the lifeboat station and adjoining museum is open for free tours Wednesday–Monday, 10–3:30. Their motto? "You have to go out . . . you don't have to come back."

As you round a bend between Port Orford and Gold Beach, you'll see one of those sights that make grown-ups groan and kids squeal with delight: a huge, open-jawed Tyrannosaurus rex, with a green Brontosaurus peering out from the forest beside it. You can view 23 other life-size dinosaur replicas on the trail that runs through this property that's been delighting visitors since 1955.