When visiting with some of my Oregon clients last year, they had suggested that I see the southern coast which is more remote. Last January I had gone to the central Oregon coast, and made my base at Newport, Oregon. But I didn’t have time to go much farther south. However, prior to my annual Portland, Oregon visit, I made some extra time and visited that southern Oregon coast.

After studying maps and Google, the great oracle, I decided that Bandon would make a good base. Bandon is a small coastal town, population about 3300 in 2024, but as it’s a popular tourist destination, the town has some nice places to stay. Oregon in late September is a region in flux – some summer like weather, but fall definitely begins to make it’s presence felt. Unfortunately, the autumn colors had not yet arrived, but the rains and coastal fog did make some appearances.

My hotel was located right across the road from a beach about 4 miles south of downtown Bandon. Beach access was wonderful – just a short walk across the road then down a trail through some trees and grass. I booked enough time in Bandon to really be able to do some decent exploring and scout out some good photo locations.

The town itself is laid back and people seemed quite friendly – a bit different than in central southern Oregon where the political divide in the US is very present. The coast is like most of the coast along the upper half of the western US – quite hilly with some mountains, and a mix of wonderful beaches with lots of ruggedness.

Walk two miles and the scenery changes. Across from my hotel, the beach was fairly open. I’m sure in mid-summer, that beach would be crowded with lots of people to see. Even in late September, once the sun came out and morning chill subsided, beach goers and sunbathers were quite abundant.

The first day I was in Bandon, it had rained overnight into the morning, and it was quite foggy along the coast. This fog, and then the gradual clearing, made for some really cool light, and I was able to capture some interesting images not far from my hotel.

Later on I got hungry and went back to Bandon at the harbor. I got a great lunch with some fried clams, cod and shrimp. Everything was wonderful. By the way, the next day, I went to Tony’s Crab Shack at the Bandon harbor and got an incredible crab sandwich. The crab was freshly caught Dungeness, all shredded. Man, it was tasty!

While I was visiting my buddy, David, over in Colorado earlier in the summer, he gave me a hard cider drink to try. Whew! That stuff was really good. So, while I was at Tony’s, I saw some hard cider on their drink menu. It was great, but it was 8% alcohol! So, I ended up spending quite a while walking the harbor boardwalk.

In our bathroom at home, I have a photograph of the Coquille River Lighthouse that my Dad took on his one and only trip along the Oregon coast many years ago. So, one of my goals while there was to photograph the lighthouse as a tribute to my Dad.

After the cider buzz finally died, I decided to drive out along the river toward the coast to get a better view of the Coquille River Lighthouse. Here is one shot I took with a flock of pelicans flying by just as a snapped the shutter.

As my day was free, I spent quite a while around town, and then decided to take another shot of the lighthouse with a closer view.

As the lighthouse was on the other side of the Coquille River, I decided to head over to the state park where the lighthouse is located and do some exploring. It was tough to get a photo of the lighthouse as there were so many visitors, so I just explored the park for awhile and then found a decent view in the later afternoon/early evening. The haze was beginning to come in. Maybe it was just the light angle, but as the sky began to get a little color, I got my shot all set-up. I hope my Dad would have liked these lighthouse photographs.

I have a lot more photos from other beaches near Bandon, but I am going to save those for another post. Hopefully, you’re not too sick of looking at the Coquille Lighthouse. I wish my Dad was still around to see these photos. I think they turned out pretty well.

Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog. It means a lot to me to have so many visitors and friends from all over the world. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, autumn is coming quickly. That means cooler temps and more color. And for my southern hemisphere friends, spring is here. Go have fun out there!