A celebration of the Oregon Coast

and a couple of peak experiences to spice things up

The central Oregon coast is hundreds of miles of the greenest greenwood, threaded through by the arteries of thick rivers. It’s lush Sitka spruce, incense cedars, Douglas fir, and an almost impenetrable understory of ferns, creeping buttercups, salal, huckleberries, wax myrtle and wild rhododendrons. Mosses grow everywhere, decorating the trees with soul patches and beards of luxe velvet whiskers. The marshland around the river mouths teem with flora and fauna.

The beaches and dunes (oh, those dunes, those rolling golden mountains of sand) are timeless stretches of forever. The wave-worn tidal expanses are littered with shattered clamshells on their way to becoming sand, cluttered along their wind-carved faces with driftwood, crab molts and sand dollars. 

On the Oregon Coast there is space to breathe; to stretch out and run, or ride a bike or horse for miles without seeing another soul but that of a snowy plover. 

One day, I took a two-hour horseback ride through the dunes, the “advanced rider” version, with just two other women. The wind was up pretty intensely (“welcome to Oregon summer!” Our guide said) but even so, cantering along miles of silvery-gold sand as it blew by the water’s edge was an experience out of a fantasy novel.

One of most rewarding aspects of riding (though setting is important, and it’s a great way to see unknown places) is the bond I forge with a horse each time. By the end of the two-hour ride, I felt so connected with the energetic, responsive paint gelding I rode that I could think of something, and he would happily do it—with no conscious “technique” applied.  

The beach between a horse’s ears is a pretty wonderful view

Meanwhile, Mike decided to try off-road ATV riding on the dunes. This unfamiliar sport is big in western Oregon, and he wanted to find out why.

Several hours later, Mike picked me up from the stable with an adrenaline-junkie gleam in his eyes. “ATV-ing was awesome! I did great big carving turns up and down the dunes. It was crazy out there!” He described miles of massive sand dunes, many of them with steep cliffs, deep sink areas and drop-offs. “I couldn’t believe they just turned me loose with no guide.”

“And I’m sure that’s what keeps the hospitals around here in business,” I said.