7 Whimsical Towns to Visit on the Pacific Coast
The Pacific Coast doesn't pick one mood. One day it's misty Oregon headlands wrapped in fog. The next it's sun-baked California bluffs above the open ocean. Sequim sits in the rain shadow of the Olympics with the longest natural sand spit in the country running off its shore. Cannon Beach has a 235-foot sea stack with tufted puffins nesting on its grassy slopes. Each of these seven towns brings its own offbeat character to the same long coast.
Anacortes, Washington
Anacortes sits on the northern tip of Fidalgo Island and serves as the Washington State Ferries terminal for routes to the San Juan Islands. Cap Sante Park on the harbor side offers wide views over the marina and east toward the Cascades. Washington Park on the western edge of town covers about 220 acres of forest and shoreline with a 2.4-mile loop road, camping, and views of Burrows Island Lighthouse offshore. The W.T. Preston Snagboat Museum displays a fully restored 1929 stern-wheeled snagboat that once cleared snags from regional rivers. Anacortes also serves as a hub for whale-watching tours into the Salish Sea.
Cambria, California
Cambria sits along the rugged Central Coast just south of the Hearst Castle complex in San Simeon. Moonstone Beach Drive runs along the bluff with a one-mile boardwalk and direct beach access. The polished agates and moonstones that wash up here gave the area its name. Hearst San Simeon State Park preserves natural and cultural areas including the Old San Simeon Village. The Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery a few miles north has dedicated viewing areas where thousands of northern elephant seals haul out for the breeding and molting seasons. Nitt Witt Ridge, the eccentric self-built home of trash collector Art Beal made entirely from salvaged materials including beer cans and abalone shells, is a California Historical Landmark on Hillcrest Drive.
Cannon Beach, Oregon
Cannon Beach sits on Oregon's North Coast, anchored by Haystack Rock, a 235-foot sea stack just offshore. It's one of the most photographed coastal landmarks on the Oregon coast and supports a small nesting population of tufted puffins seasonally, typically arriving in spring and departing by mid-summer. The town center along Hemlock Street holds galleries, restaurants, and small shops, and the Cannon Beach History Center & Museum covers area history. Ecola State Park just north of town has 9 miles of coastline, the Crescent Beach overlook, and access to Indian Beach (a sheltered surfing spot) plus the trailheads for Tillamook Head. Pelican Brewing operates a beachfront pub here. The town's Sandcastle Contest each June draws sculptors from across the West Coast.
Crescent City, California
Crescent City sits at the gateway to Redwood National and State Parks. The Battery Point Lighthouse, first lit in 1856, is one of the oldest lighthouse stations on the West Coast, sitting on its own tiny island reachable on foot only at low tide via a rocky causeway. Climb the spiral staircase to the lamp room for a 360-degree view. Just minutes north, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park holds some of the largest old-growth redwoods on Earth, with the Smith River cutting through. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park ten miles south combines redwood forest with rugged ocean overlooks. Redwood National Park itself spreads further south. Crescent City was rebuilt after the tsunami caused by the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake leveled much of the waterfront, and the modern Beachfront Park is the result.
Ferndale, California
Ferndale is a Victorian-era town in Humboldt County built on the wealth of 19th-century dairy farming. The downtown is one of the most intact Victorian commercial districts on the West Coast, and the entire historic district is a state landmark. Ornate "Butterfat Palaces" line Main Street (the local term for the lavish 19th-century homes built by dairy families). The Ferndale Museum covers regional logging, dairy, and pioneer history. The Ferndale Repertory Theatre, founded in 1972, is one of the oldest continuously operating community theaters on California's North Coast. The Kinetic Sculpture Race, a three-day human-powered art-vehicle competition, ends here every Memorial Day weekend after starting in Arcata. Russ Park covers 110 acres of cypress and spruce forest above the town.
Rockaway Beach, Oregon
Rockaway Beach earned its reputation as a quiet seaside retreat in the 1920s when it was a popular weekend destination on the Tillamook County rail line. Today it offers seven miles of uninterrupted sandy beach, the unmistakable Twin Rocks sea stacks just offshore, and a much quieter feel than the more famous coastal towns. Lake Lytle just north of downtown has its own fishing pier. Manhattan Beach State Recreation Site covers part of the local beachfront with picnic tables, beach access, and surf fishing. The Rockaway Big Tree Trailhead leads to a short loop through old-growth Sitka spruce, including a tree estimated at over 800 years old. Old Oregon Smokehouse on Highway 101 has been smoking salmon, sturgeon, and tuna for decades.
Sequim, Washington
Sequim sits on the Olympic Peninsula on the southern shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and is widely called the lavender capital of North America. (Pronounce it "Skwim.") The town sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and gets only about 16 to 17 inches of rain a year, far less than the surrounding Northwest. That dry climate is why so many lavender farms thrive here. The Sequim Lavender Festival every July draws thousands. Dungeness Spit, the longest natural sand spit in the U.S. at 5.5 miles, runs out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the New Dungeness Lighthouse at the end. Olympic National Park sits just south, with Hurricane Ridge offering some of the most accessible alpine views on the peninsula.
Pacific Coast Highlights
Lavender at Sequim, redwoods at Crescent City, Victorian streets in Ferndale. These seven towns hit a different note on the same long coast. Some are anchored by single landmarks (Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Battery Point Lighthouse at Crescent City). Others are defined by what's just beyond town: Olympic National Park, Hearst Castle, the San Juan Islands. Connect a few on a Pacific Coast Highway road trip and the geography starts making sense.
