Yachats Live Cam

The Little Log Church Museum: The first church built in Yachats is now a museum of local historical artifacts and frequently used for weddings and memorial services.

The Cape Perpetua Recreation Area: Just three miles south of the Cape PerpetuaOverleaf, Cape Perpetua is the tallest point on the Oregon Coast. A viewpoint at the very top of the cape provides a 180 degree view of unsurpassed beauty. At the Visitor's center, you will enjoy exhibits, movies and whale-watch from their fine observation area. The Center is open daily from Memorial Day until October and weekends during the winter. Ten wonderful hiking trails reach out from the Center - some going to the ocean and others inland through Siuslaw National Forest. There is a 19 mile auto tour that starts just north of the Center and winds through the Forest, dropping back into Yachats after about a 45 minute drive.

Sea Lion Caves: This attraction is open every day of the year except Christmas. The caves are a huge sea grotto and the only mainland home for wild sea lions in North America. Located at the base of a 325 foot headland, you descend, via an elevator, 200 feet to view, hear, and smell hundreds of sea lions.

Heceta Head Lighthouse: This is the most photographed lighthouse in America. Found at Devil's Elbow State Park, it is a popular beach and picnic area. A trail leads to the lighthouse and keeper's house. Daily tours of lighthouse during the summer and on weekends the rest of the year.

The Sea Gulch: This is a delightful place to visit - especially for children. People, animals, and all manner of things are carved out of wood using only a chain saw.

Oregon State Marine Science Center: The Center is- open daily, year round and provides a close-up look at Oregon marine life and regional plant and animal inhabitants. The children will enjoy the octopus, touch tide pool, and skeleton of a Minke whale.

Oregon Coast Aquarium: This Aquarium is most famous for its movie star resident, Keiko, the killer whale (star of "Free Willy"). The 2 1/2 acre facility has indoor and outdoor exhibits featuring fish, sea otters, seals, sea lions, turtles, frogs and many shore and marine birds. To help you avoid long lines, the Overleaf sells tickets at the front desk to this attraction.

The Newport Bayfront: This is a working bayfront that also caters to tourists. Antique shops and art galleries rub shoulders with working canneries and tackle shops. The docks are jammed with commercial fishing and pleasure boats. There are Undersea Gardens, Wax Works and Ripley's Believe It or Not for the children's delight.

Yaquina Head Light Station: This station located right on Yaquina Bay was built in 1871. It is the only such facility with a combined keeper's dwelling and light tower. Replaced in 1874 with Yaquina Head Lighthouse, it is now maintained as an historic exhibit, open from 12 to 4 on weekends in the winter and daily in the summer.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse: This is the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon coast. It is home to thousands of common murres and other birds on the rocks off the headland - especially during nesting in Spring. It is also an excellent place to watch seals and whales. A concrete, wheelchair accessible ramp leads to man-made tide pools. The headland is open year round. The lighthouse is open daily for tours from June through September. A new interpretive center is now open.

Outdoor Activities

The Yachats area is bounded on its west by sandy and rocky beaches and the Pacific ocean; on the east, by national forests and wildernesses. It is spliced with rivers, creeks and bays. This stunning geography provides something for everyone who enjoys and appreciates the outdoors. Sheltered from highway noise and busy cities, Overleaf Lodge is just a short drive from a multitude of outdoor adventures.

BEACHCOMBING: A stroll on any beach near the Overleaf is likely to bring home agates, jaspers, driftwood, shells, and - maybe - a glass float riding the current from Japan.The most successful hunter is one who haunts the beaches on the outrunning tides from December through March.

HIKING: The historic 804 trail runs just outside your room at the Overleaf. If you follow it for a half mile, you will drop down on a six-mile-long sandy beach. M-ore ambitious hikers will enjoy the 10 trails available at Cape Perpetua Recreation Area or at any of the three wilderness areas just a few miles from Yachats. The trails are of differing levels of difficulty and length. Many have interpretive signs that point out botanical, marine, and geologic features.

BIKING: Hwy.101 is a designated bike route. Off of 101, the roads are narrow and have no marked bike lanes. One 5-mile round-tripper clings to the ocean's edge. A 10-mile ride (mostly on paved roads) follows the Yachats River Road where you may spot elk grazing and end up at a covered bridge or a small seldom used park. A road in the Cape Perpetua Area is open to mountain bikes.

FISHING: The central Oregon coast offers just about every kind of fish and fishing. You can fish off the rocks or at the docks, on your feet or in a boat, from the sea, the bay, a river, or a lake. All fishing - except crabbing and claming - requires a license. Dungeness crab are caught at the Alsea Bay just 7 miles north of Overleaf. Crabbing is best in late spring and summer. Classes in crabbing and claming are held during the summer. Digging clams is a year round sport at Alsea Bay, but the best digging is in spring at minus tides of 2 feet or better.

Sandy beaches near Yachats offer good surf fishing. The most common catch is perch and striped bass.. Surf fishing goes on all year. Yachats is one of the few places where sea-run smelt come into spawn on the beaches. Between March and September they come in on waves to lay their eggs on the peculiar basalt sand found on Yachats' coastline.

Chinook salmon are taken from the Alsea Bay and River August - September and coho enter the bay in numbers from the middle of September to early November. Sea-run, cutthroat trout are caught from July to November. Eckman Sough, the Yachats River and the lakes of Florence are also excellent places to fish. There are many places to rent boats and equipment and to purchase supplies.

Chartered fishing boats leave Newport year round. On a 5-hour trip, you will fish for ling cod, red snapper, sea bass, cabezon, rock cod, sea trout, china rock, and more. Gear is furnished. Halibut and salmon seasons usually begin in early May - call ahead to find out what restrictions are in place.

GOLF: There are 22 golf courses on the Oregon Coast. Two 18-hole courses are just 25 miles south of Yachats. Sandpines was selected by Golf Digest as 1993's "Best New Public Course in the U.S." and was awarded 4 1/2 stars. It offers 18 challenging holes featuring tall pines, gigantic sanddunes and water. Ocean Dunes is the other course and is also a fine 18-hole challenge. Crestview Hills Golf Course is a 9-hole course just 6 miles north of the Overleaf.

 DUNE BUGGY RIDES: There are several dune buggy operations about a 40-minute drive away. The buggies charge over ridges 45 degrees in slope and then down steep banks with occasional backward slides. Not for the fainthearted!

HORSEBACK RIDES: You can rent horses at C & M stables about 20 miles south of Overleaf. The stables offer beach rides, dune trail rides, sunset rides, coast range rides and corral rides.

AIRPLANE RIDES: For a modest price you can get a gull's eye view of our beautiful coastline. Flights leave from Newport Airport and from M & M Seaplane Operations at Woahink Lake in Florence.

WATER SPORTS: You can water ski, windsurf, swim or drive motorboats at several nearby location. Water and air temperatures are chilly most of the year so its advisable to wear a wet suit.