Road-tripping the Oregon Coast in February was a spur of the moment decision for us.

We were in Portland trying to figure out our next move as to where we were going to drive next on our U.S. west coast road trip.

We had decided it might be a good idea to head straight for the California border then hug the coastline southbound from there.

It was the middle of winter and we were desperately seeking warm weather. We had also been avoiding living out of our van because vanlife is just not fun in the cold.

But the thought of missing out on seeing the Oregon coast was too much and we thought to ourselves why waste the opportunity to see a beautiful coastline?

Oregon Coast Road Trip In Winter

Florence

We hit the road and first stop on our Oregon coast road trip was Florence, a town located on the Siuslaw riverfront.

Upon arriving we headed straight out to the south jetty to see what the Oregon coast had to offer.

It was cold and windy but we had a blast checking out the piles of driftwood that had washed ashore.

We contemplated staying in Florence for the night but with a few hours of light still left we decided to go and check out some sand dunes we had read about just south of Florence.

The sand dunes were massive! We couldn’t believe how big they were and spent some time running up and down them like two little kids.

Coos Bay

The sun was setting so we headed for Coos Bay McDonalds to use the wifi as we wanted to see where we were going to venture next.

On arrival to Coos Bay the weather had taken a turn for the worse and was pelting down rain. The weather report wasn’t looking too good for us and they were predicting more heavy rain and thunderstorms for the following two days.

We ended up camping out in the McDonalds car park for two days until the weather cleared up. We had everything we needed though, free wifi, coffee and a bathroom so we couldn’t complain too much.

We woke to sunshine on the third morning of our great McDonald's camping marathon, grabbed a couple of large coffees and hit the road!

Bandon

We arrived in a small historic town by the name of Bandon which is perched on the south side of the Coquille River.

One of the stores that caught our eye was 'Bandon Sweet's and Treats' so we parked up and checked out some of the local shops.

The Sweet's and Treat's store had just about every kind of flavored sweet known to man and more flavors of popcorn then we've ever seen! Everything was free to taste!!

After gorging on many, many sweets, we headed to the mouth of the Coquille River to check out the huge sea stacks we'd read about.

Cranberry Sweets & Treats Store in Bandon.

Bandon South Jetty Park in Bandon, Oregon.

Port Orford

After lunch we continued south weaving around the cliffs and coves along highway 101 arriving at a town by the name of Port Orford.

We drove down to the boat harbor to check out the beach and possibly somewhere to sleep for the night.

As it turns out there were a few small waves breaking in the cove and I ended up going for a paddle. When I came in we decided that we would sleep in the boat harbor car park overnight.

This spot was absolutely perfect; we were parked right up in front of the ocean with a million dollar view and barely anyone around except for a few old fishermen mending their nets. We heated up some soup, set up the laptop to watch a movie and hunkered down for the night.

At around 1 am we were woken up by gale force winds and huge waves crashing over the break wall and over our van. The van was shaking madly and getting severely smashed wave after wave.

We immediately backed up and headed for higher ground in another car park further back from the water. The spot which we had thought was so perfect almost ended up in us almost getting washed into the ocean!

The torrential rain and wind continued throughout the rest of the night before finally subsiding early morning. The sun came out and it was as if the storm had never even happened.

Gold Beach

By the time we reached Gold Beach (30 minutes south of Port Orford) the bad weather had come in again with steady rain and misty clouds making for an earie but electric feeling.

We stopped at the local grocery store to grab some food supplies for the road ahead. Gold Beach is only a small town with not a lot to offer so we headed just south of the town and pulled up at the beach to make some breakfast before moving on with our road trip south.

Brookings

Our next and last stop along the Oregon coast was the town of Brookings.

Just before entering Brookings we took a right turn down a road which took us to the north jetty of the Chetco River. As we pulled up to the jetty we noticed a bunch of miniature kennel-like houses, and to our surprise cats started appearing from inside them.

We walked over to check them out and we realized that they were abandoned kitty's. A sign stated that the local Sheriff had built the home for these abandoned cats. It was quite sad to see these cats had been left behind but at the same time it was quite inspiring.

We fed the cats and filled up their water bowls before heading over the bridge and into the city.

As we drove into town we noticed a giant blow up crab on the side of the road and at closer inspection we noticed a sign reading “Crab Festival Today” so naturally we decided we had to attend.

The festival seemed a little unorganized but we didn’t care as we just wanted to eat some fresh crab.

After enjoying a couple of crab rolls at the festival we went for a walk along the river. As we walked closer to a wharf we noticed something swimming in the water which turned out to be three of the cutest little river otters. They were playing together and we managed to get reasonably close.

After our otter encounter we drove to the beach and we were welcomed by a stunning rainbow.

Brookings was our last stop on our Oregon coast road trip before crossing the border into California and continuing down the Northern California coastline.