The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the drier, eastern flank of the mountains. The Deschutes provided an important route to and from the Columbia for Native Americans for thousands of years, and then in the 19th century for pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The river flows mostly through rugged and arid country, and its valley provides a cultural heart for central Oregon. Today the river supplies water for irrigation and is popular in the summer for whitewater rafting and fishing.
The Sandy River is a 56-mile (90 km) tributary of the Columbia River in northwestern Oregon in the United States. The Sandy joins the Columbia about 14 miles (23 km) upstream of Portland.
The Coquille River is a stream, about 36 miles (58 km) long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains a mountainous area of 1,059 square miles (2,740 km2) of the Southern Oregon Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean. Its watershed is between that of the Coos River to the north and the Rogue River to the south.
The Yaquina River is a stream, 59 miles (95 km) long, on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport.
The Elk River is in southwestern Oregon in the United States. About 29 miles (47 km) long, the river drains a remote 92-square-mile (240 km2) area of the Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean.
Cape Meares is a small headland on the Pacific coast in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The cape forms a high steep bluff on the south end of Tillamook Bay, approximately five miles (8 km) northwest of the city of Tillamook. Much of the cape is part of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department-administered Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint with three miles of hiking trails, which includes the Cape Meares Lighthouse. The cape is named after John Meares, a British explorer.
The Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) is a long-distance hiking route along the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It follows the coast of Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River to the California border south of Brookings.
Cape Disappointment State Park is a public recreation area located southwest of Ilwaco, Washington, on the bottom end of Long Beach Peninsula, the northern headlands where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. The state park's 2,023 acres (819 ha) encompass a diverse landscape of old-growth forest, freshwater lakes, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and oceanside tidelands. Park sights include the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, North Head Lighthouse, and Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Cape Disappointment is one of several state parks and sites in Washington and Oregon that make up the Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks.
Heceta Head Light is a lighthouse on the Oregon Coast 13 miles (21 km) north of Florence, and 13 miles (21 km) south of Yachats in the United States. It is located at Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint, a state park, midway up a 205-foot-tall (62 m) headland. Built in 1894, the 56-foot (17 m)-tall lighthouse shines a beam visible for 21 nautical miles, making it the strongest light on the Oregon Coast.
Oswald West State Park is part of the state park system of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Cannon Beach, on the Pacific Ocean. The park covers 2,448 acres (9.91 km2), with many miles of hiking trails both inside the park grounds and linking to other parks and landmarks beyond.
Heceta Head is a headland that stands 1,000 feet (300 m) above the Pacific Ocean in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The Heceta Head Light is located on its south side. Heceta Head is named after the Basque explorer under Spanish Commission, Bruno de Heceta, who explored the Pacific Northwest in the 1770s. The headland marks the end of a lower-lying stretch of the coastline to the south dominated by sand dunes; the coastline to the north is more varied. Devils Elbow is the bay south of the headland at the mouth of Cape Creek, and with the headland formed Devils Elbow State Park, which is now part of Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint.
Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the Oregon Coast. It is one of six National Wildlife Refuges in the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Located on Cape Meares, the refuge was established in 1938 to protect a remnant of coastal old-growth forest and the surrounding habitat used by breeding seabirds. The area provides a home for a threatened bird species, the marbled murrelets. Peregrine falcons, once at the brink of extinction, have nested here since 1987. The refuge, with the exception of the Oregon Coast Trail, was designated a Research Natural Area in 1987.
Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor is a linear state park in southwestern Oregon, in the United States. It is 12 miles (19 km) long and thickly forested along steep and rugged coastline with a few small sand beaches. It is named in honor of Samuel H. Boardman, the first Oregon Parks superintendent.
Quartzville Creek is a 28-mile (45 km) tributary of the Middle Santiam River in Linn County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is paralleled by the Quartzville Back Country Byway and used for recreation, including camping, fishing, hunting, kayaking, and gold panning. The lower 12 miles (19 km) of the creek, from the Willamette National Forest boundary to Green Peter Reservoir, was designated Wild and Scenic in 1988.
Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint is a state park in Lincoln County in northwestern Oregon, United States. Administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the 59-acre (24 ha) park lies along a bluff between Whale Cove and Rocky Creek. The park extends south along the Otter Crest Loop Road to the Rocky Creek Bridge.
The Rogue River in the U.S. state of Oregon begins at Boundary Springs on the border between Klamath and Douglas counties near the northern edge of Crater Lake National Park. The Rogue River flows generally west for 215 miles (346 km) from the Cascade Range through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the Klamath Mountains to the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach. Communities along its course include Union Creek, Prospect, Trail, Shady Cove, Gold Hill, and Rogue River, all in Jackson County; Grants Pass, and Galice in Josephine County, and Agness, Wedderburn and Gold Beach in Curry County. Significant tributaries include the South Fork Rogue River, Elk Creek, Bear Creek, the Applegate River, and the Illinois River. Arising at 5,320 feet (1,622 m) above sea level, the river loses more than 1 mile (1.6 km) in elevation by the time it reaches the Pacific.
The Pistol River is a coastal stream that meanders for 21 miles (34 km) through the Southern Oregon Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean near the unincorporated community of Pistol River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Flowing generally southwest from its origin near Sugarloaf Mountain in the Siskiyou National Forest, the river enters the sea at Pistol River State Scenic Viewpoint, 10 miles (16 km) south of Gold Beach. The river received its name after pioneer James Mace lost his pistol in it in 1853.
Big Creek is a stream that enters the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Lane County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at Saddle Mountain Spring in the Central Oregon Coast Range, it flows generally west through the Siuslaw National Forest to the ocean north of Heceta Head. Near its mouth, it passes under Big Creek Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 101.
Ritner Creek is a tributary of the Luckiamute River in Polk County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The creek begins near Bald Mountain in the Central Oregon Coast Range and flows generally southeast to meet the Luckiamute southwest of Pedee and north of Kings Valley. The confluence is 31 miles (50 km) upstream of the Luckiamute's mouth on the Willamette River. Named tributaries of Ritner Creek from source to mouth are Sheythe, Love, Clayton, and Kinsey creeks.
Rocky Creek is a short coastal stream in Lincoln County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near the western extremities of the Central Oregon Coast Range and flows generally west to the ocean south of Depot Bay and north of Otter Rock. It has no named tributaries.
