Bandon Dunes Archives - Pacific Northwest Explorer

Cape Arago

by Alan K. Lee

Introduction

Cape Arago, on the southern Oregon coast south of the mouth of Coos Bay, is not as impressive as some of the other headlands on the Oregon coast, but it has a diversity of attractions that no other place on the coast can match. It’s mostly known for the three state parks (Sunset Bay, Shore Acres, and Cape Arago) that line its shores. But there’s also a state natural site, a county park (Bastendorff Beach), a privately run RV park, the decommissioned Cape Arago Lighthouse, and a golf course, in addition to scenic offshore islands, sea stacks, rocky shorelines, a reef with an active sea lion rookery, five beaches, two campgrounds, a historic botanical garden, and miles of hiking trails. Tens of thousands of visitors make the trip to this remote section of the Pacific coast every year. And the surrounding area has an abundance of attractions as well.

Bastendorff Beach

The mile long Bastendorff Beach, located adjacent to the south jetty at the mouth of Coos Bay, is the largest of the five beaches on the Cape Arago shoreline. Bastendorff Beach County Park has a 99 site campground (74 RV sites with water and electric hookups and 25 tent sites with no hookups), an 18 unit group campground, two RV dump stations, a large day use area with two picnic shelters, a fire pit and barbecue, horseshoe and basketball courts, a children’s playground, and easy access to the beach. There is also a private RV campground (Sun Outdoors Coos Bay) at the southwest end of the beach.

Yoakam Point State Natural Site

Yoakam Point separates Bastendorff Beach from Lighthouse Beach. Hiking trails (mostly unmaintained but passable) give access to scenic views of the rocky cliffs of the point, Bastendorff Beach, and Cape Arago Lighthouse. The site has no rest rooms or other amenities – just scenic splendor. (You might be tempted to scramble down the cliff from Yoakam Point to Lighthouse Beach, but I would advise against it. The cliff lined beach, like all Oregon beaches, is public, but the bluff is lined with private homes with no public access point. Access from Yoakam Point is possible but dangerous. Best to leave this one to the residents. They think they own it anyway.)

Cape Arago Lighthouse

Cape Arago Lighthouse is located on Chiefs Island just off Gregory Point between Lighthouse Beach and Sunset Beach. The existing lighthouse structure is the third in a series of lighthouses on the island, dating back to 1866. The first was replaced by a taller structure with a better light in 1909. That was replaced by the current structure in 1934. In 1966 the light was automated and continued in service until 2006 when it was decommissioned.

The lighthouse keeper’s residence was on the mainland, connected to Chiefs Island by a wooden bridge. The bridge stood until it was destroyed by storms in the winter of 2012-13. The first two lighthouse towers, other structures on the island, and the keeper’s house have all been demolished over the years. All that remains are the third tower and some of the piers that supported the bridge.

Sunset Bay State Park

A beautiful, crescent shaped beach at Sunset Bay State Park wraps around a shallow bay protected by a reef and flanked by rocky outcroppings. The inner bay makes for a safe swimming area and a boat ramp on the north end provides a good launching point for small boats, kayaks, and standup paddle boards.

My wife and I have kayaked out of Sunset Bay on numerous occasions over the years. On some of those days the calm waters of the bay belied rougher water offshore (large swells and/or significant wind chop) and we either stayed in the bay or close to it. But other times the ocean conditions were benign enough to allow us to safely get out into deep water and explore the surrounding coastline.

On one of those occasions, a sunny, windless day with a flat, glassy ocean, we spent most of a day paddling south to Simpson Reef to watch the sea lions, and then back north, where we circumnavigated Chiefs Island where the Cape Arago Lighthouse sits. And a lot of the time we just drifted on the amazingly flat ocean and soaked up the sunshine and the views of the shoreline. Quite a day.

Sunset Bay State Park offers not only one of the finest beaches on the Oregon coast, but also 65 campsites (30 RV sites with full hookups and 35 tent sites with electricity and water), eight yurts (three are pet friendly) and a group tent camp that will accommodate up to 25 people. Three of the campsites and three of the yurts are accessible to campers with disabilities. We have camped there many times and have always enjoyed our stay.

Shore Acres State Park

The park is named for Shore Acres (originally spelled Shoreacres), the estate of Louis Simpson, son of the 19^th century shipping magnate, Asa Meade Simpson, who made a fortune shipping logs and lumber, first to California, and later to as far as Australia and Africa.

Louis Simpson’s first mansion at Shore Acres was completed in 1908, but burned down in 1921. It was replaced by an even larger mansion in 1927. But Simpson’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when demand for timber all but disappeared during the Great Depression. He went bankrupt in 1940 and his creditors sold the estate to the State of Oregon.

Original Gardener’s Cottage at Shore Acres Gardens

In 1942 Oregon loaned the estate to the U.S. Army for use as a radar installation. The Simpson mansion was used as a barracks and officer’s club. The mansion suffered from the harsh climate and lack of maintenance and was torn down in 1949. The only original structure remaining at Shore Acres is what was once the gardener’s cottage.

The estate’s formal gardens fell into disarray, but were restored in the 1970s. Covering five acres, the gardens now draw thousands of visitors each year. In December the gardens are lit up each evening with a spectacular Christmas lighting display using thousands of lights.

From the gardens, a short trail leads to Simpson Beach, once the Simpson’s private beach, similar to but smaller and less used than the one at Sunset Bay.

The shoreline at Shore Acres consists of eroded sandstone cliffs and ledges. Storm watchers come from all over to view the huge waves crashing into the rocks during winter storms. Even in summer, the shoreline is fascinating and people clammer over the rocks to sightsee and birdwatch. In December and again in late spring Shore Acres is a prime spot for whale watching.

Cape Arago State Park

Like Shore Acres, what is now Cape Arago State Park was once part of Louis Simpson’s estate. He donated the land to the State of Oregon in 1932. Located at the end of the Cape Arago Highway, the park has a covered picnic shelter, picnic tables, and restrooms, although the restrooms are currently (as of the summer of 2025) closed. There are also trails to South Cove, where there is a sandy beach, and to North Cove with its rocky shoreline.

Other local attractions

The town of Charleston is located on Coos Bay about a mile east of Bastendorff Beach. It’s home to a large commercial fishing fleet and has a number of sport fishing charter operations. It’s also the gateway to South Slough, one of the best kayaking and canoeing spots on the Oregon coast. And it’s a good place to stop for a bite to eat or get a cold beer after your Cape Arago adventures. Try Miller’s at the Cove Sports Bar and Grill for surprisingly good food and a good selection of cold beers on tap.

The Cape Arago area is remote enough that it’s not really a day trip destination from any population center, so it’s best to make a weekend of it or stay longer. Fortunately, the Coos Bay-North Bend area is large enough to have many hotels, motels, BNBs, and restaurants. Take a day (or more) to explore Cape Arago, but leave some time to also explore the two cities. There’s a casino if you enjoy gambling. There’s also a good art gallery or two, interesting antique shops, nice parks and museums, and a trail along the bayfront. I’ll cover Coos Bay and North Bend in more detail in a future post.

About twenty-five miles east of Coos Bay, Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area (not to be confused with Silver Falls State Park near Salem) boasts two large and scenic waterfalls, both more than 200 feet high, and three hiking trails that take you to the base of each falls and to the top of Golden Falls.

The town of Bandon, about 15 miles south of Coos Bay, is located at the mouth of the Coquille River. The Old Town section offers a variety of interesting shops, an art gallery well worth visiting (Second Street Gallery), several popular seafood spots (try Tony’s Crab Shack), and numerous restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, and a good bakery (Bandon Baking Company and Deli). A little east of Old Town on Hwy 101, Face Rock Creamery offers a wide variety of cheeses and has an extensive (and free) tasting area where you can sample most of them.

Across the bay from Old Town, the historic Coquille River Lighthouse in Bullards Beach State Park is open to the public and worth a visit.

South of Old Town you’ll find one of the most scenic shorelines anywhere on the Pacific Coast, with many offshore islands and sea stacks, and miles of sandy beach.

And Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, just north of the town of Bandon, offers five world class eighteen hole courses, a 13-hole par three course, a large driving range and practice facility, and lodging and restaurants. This is truly one of the greatest golf destinations in the world. And there are other golf courses in the area. Bandon Crossings, south of Bandon, is a scenic and challenging eighteen hole layout that is significantly less expensive than Bandon Dunes. And Sunset Bay Golf Course, located next to Sunset Bay State Park, is an interesting 12 hole, par 47 course.

Beyond Bandon, the southern Oregon coast, from Bandon to the California border, is spectacularly beautiful and ranks, along with the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, the northern California coast, and Big Sur, as one of the must see sections of the entire Pacific coast.

Conclusion

Cape Arago and the surrounding area has so much to offer visitors that almost everyone will find something there that will make them want to come back. My wife and I visit the area often. Almost every year we spend at least a weekend revisiting our favorite spots. And I’m sure we will continue to do so in the future.

Posted August 2, 2025

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Bandon, Oregon

by Alan K. Lee

Bandon-by-the-sea

Bandon, Oregon, on the southern Oregon coast, happens to have been my home for the first seven years of my life. Although I did most of my growing up in Salem, I consider Bandon my home town as much or more than I do Salem. I go back to Bandon often, most recently in July this year (2025).

History

Bandon was founded almost 150 years ago by George Bennett (often referred to as Lord Bennett), an Irish peer from Bandon, Ireland. In its early days, the economy of Bandon, Oregon was primarily agricultural. Bandon has been known for both its cheese and cranberries since the 1880s. The first jetty was also constructed in the 1880s, and Bandon was soon home to a fishing fleet and a robust shipping industry.

One of the things Lord Bennett brought to Bandon from Ireland was gorse, a thorny, thick growing plant with bright yellow flowers. In Ireland it was used for privacy hedges and property boundaries because it is almost impenetrable. In Oregon it went wild and was one of the state’s first invasive plants. Besides being thick and thorny, it is also a very oily plant and burns readily. In 1936 a small forest fire started from a slash burn that got out of hand, spread to the gorse near the town, and then to the town itself, destroying all but 16 of the 500 structures in the town. The fire decimated the community and all but ended shipping to and from the harbor.

In my youth, Bandon was primarily a mill town, with fishing and agriculture secondary industries. Today, the lumber and plywood mills are long gone. There is still a small fishing fleet that operates out of the harbor, Bandon is still one of the leading cranberry producing areas of the country, and dairy farming is still an important component of the economy. But it is tourism that drives the economy today. The three main tourist draws are the beaches, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, and the old town section of Bandon.

The Beaches

The beaches on either side of the Coquille River are dramatically different. To the north, a wide flat beach stretches for ten miles to the Cape Arago headland, interrupted only by Fivemile Point. The north beach can be accessed from Bullards Beach State Park, Whisky Run, located just north of Bandon Dunes, and Seven Devils State Park, another mile or so to the north.

The beach to the south of the Coquille River is a spectacular collection of sea stacks and offshore islands, including Face Rock and Table Rock, that are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. This is rightly regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches on the Oregon Coast.

Access can be had from the south jetty area, from the wayside at the end of 11th Street, and from Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint on the Beach Loop Road. Farther south on the Beach Loop Road are other beach access points at Devils Kitchen and Bandon State Natural Area.

Coquille River Lighthouse

The Coquille River Lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Coquille River on the north jetty, across the river from the old town section of Bandon. It was constructed in 1895-96 and began operating on February 29, 1896. In addition to the lighthouse itself, there was a foghorn, a lighthouse keeper’s residence, and a barn. Various improvements were made in the following years, including a boathouse for the lighthouse tender. None of the other structures remain.

In 1939 the Coast Guard took over the lighthouse and deemed it unnecessary. The lighthouse was replaced by an automated light on the south jetty. The lighthouse sat abandoned for 24 years until it became part of the new Bullards Beach State Park in 1963. It was another 13 years before renovation of the lighthouse began, but it finally opened to the public in 1979. In 1991, during Bandon’s centennial celebration, a solar powered light was installed, ending the Coquille River Lighthouse’s 52 years of darkness. Further renovation of the lighthouse was done in 2007. The bottom floor of the lighthouse is staffed by volunteers and open to the public, but the tower and the light are not.

Circles in the Sand

Denny Dyke began creating labyrinths on the Bandon beach in 2011 as part of his ministry, Sacred Journeys. The labyrinths are intended as a form of walking meditation. Over the next few years Dyke created hundreds of labyrinths, and he and a team of volunteers continue to create dozens of labyrinths every year, each unique and lasting only until the next high tide.

The Circles in the Sand labyrinths have become true works of art in the thirteen years that Dyke and his team have been creating them. They have also become very popular events, as have other walking labyrinths in other locations.

Golf

If you’re a golfer, you have likely heard a lot about Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. There are now five full length courses: Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old MacDonald, and Sheep Ranch.

All of the Bandon Dunes courses are consistently rated in the top 100 courses in the United States, and the 13 hole par three course, Bandon Preserve, is a challenge in itself. A few miles south of town, Bandon Crossings offers a lesser known, much less expensive, and equally challenging course that should be on every golfer’s radar.

Old Town

Bandon’s Old Town area is loaded with restaurants, galleries, gift shops, and outdoor art exhibits. Art lovers will want to visit Second Street Gallery, and everyone should take in the Washed Ashore exhibit, which displays sculptures and other artworks created entirely from marine debris picked up from the beach. Washed Ashore is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about plastic pollution of the oceans and waterways, and to making positive changes in consumer habits.

Good eats abound in Old Town. Start your day at Bandon Coffee Cafe or Bandon Baking Company. Stop at Face Rock Creamery to sample locally made cheeses and ice cream. Seafood lovers will want to sample the fare at Tony’s Crab Shack and Bandon Fish Market. Pub fare and quality draft beer are both to be had at Foley’s Irish Pub and Bandon Brewing Company. Decent and affordable Mexican food can be had at La Fiesta. And if more upscale dining is what you’re looking for, try The Loft Restaurant and Bar or Alloro Wine Bar and Restaurant.

Accommodations

There are many hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and other accommodations in Bandon. Useful websites include: Visit the Oregon Coast, Bandon Chamber of Commerce, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Trip Advisor, Airbnb, and Vacasa.

There is a campground at Bullards Beach State Park with 103 full-hookup sites and 82 sites with water and electricity. And there are a number of commercial RV parks in the immediate area.

Getting There

Bandon isn’t exactly easy to get to. It’s about a 2½ hour drive from Eugene, three hours from Medford, and 4½-5 hours from Portland. There are no commercial flights to Bandon Airport. United Express does have daily flights from San Francisco and twice weekly flights from Denver to the Southwest Regional Airport in North Bend, but there are no direct flights between North Bend and Portland or other cities. There is no railroad serving Bandon, and there does not appear to be any bus service to Bandon. But Bandon’s remoteness means that it is less crowded than the northern or central Oregon coast, and the spectacularly beautiful beaches and interesting old town make it worth the trip. And, of course, there is Bandon Dunes, if you’re a golf fanatic.

Consider combining a visit to Bandon with a drive south along the spectacular Southern Oregon Coast and through the Redwoods of the northern California coast, one of the most beautiful and least visited sections of the Pacific coast. My wife and I did just that in 2022. Give yourself a week or more for that trip because there is just so much to see and do.

Best Times To Visit

For my money, September and October are the best months to visit Bandon and the rest of the Oregon coast. The summer crowds are gone, the high winds that frequently makes the beaches uncomfortable on summer afternoons are less frequent and the weather is often better in the fall than any other time of the year. But there is really no bad time to visit.

Originally posted July 24, 2018. Most recently updated November 8, 2025.