Beaches
The Brookings beaches we keep going back to: Harris Beach sea stacks at sunset, Lone Ranch tide pools, and the rock at Whaleshead that spouts like a whale.
Whaleshead Beach →Drive north into the Boardman corridor and you'll find the beach that named itself. Just offshore sits a sea stack shaped like a whale's head, split by a narrow rock channel. Catch the right swell and a wave punches through the gap and throws spray straight up, like the whale is coming up for air. Come on an incoming tide for the best show, and walk the beach while you wait for it.
Lone Ranch Beach →About four miles north of town, at the south end of the Boardman corridor, Lone Ranch is the easy one: park, grab a picnic table, and you're on the sand in a minute. At low tide the rocks open up into tide pools full of anemones and sea stars. It's the beach we take visitors to first, and the one we end up back at most often.
Harris Beach State Park →Five minutes from downtown and the most photographed beach in Brookings, for good reason. Sea stacks line the shore, and just beyond them sits Bird Island (also called Goat Island), the largest island off the Oregon coast. Low tide opens up the rocks for tide pooling; the rest of the time it's long walks and a picnic with a view. Stay for sunset. When the sky goes orange behind the stacks, that's the shot.