Where:
Oregon Coast

Oswald West State Park

This popular park has a 30-site campground, a super beach popular with surfers and is the jumping off point for several good hikes. From Portland, take Route 26 west to 101, then go south on 101 past Cannon Beach for 14 miles. The park is shortly after you pass through a tunnel and there are good signs. You can use any of three parking lots. The first is the trailhead for Cape Falcon. The second (on the left) is the largest and has bathroom facilities and a path to the beach that passes under the highway. The third, on the right, is closest to the campground.

People wonder why there is no Oswald East State Park. The West comes from Governor Oswald West, who was elected governor of Oregon in 1910. It was under his administration the beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean were protected for public use. West was a proponent of what he called the "Oregon System" which included initiative and referendum systems still in use in many western American states today. He was also a fervent prohibitionist.