Planning a trip?

Oregon's South Coast is your destination. Check out these wonderful Bay Area activities.

74 Hike to the Cape Arago Lighthouse Hike to the Cape Arago Lighthouse

The Cape Arago Lighthouse is hard to miss and hard to reach, sinc ...

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75 Go fly a kite at the beach Go fly a kite at the beach

There's no better place to do it than on the Oregon Coast. Beache ...

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73 Visit the unique Umpqua River Lighthouse

A white beam of light flashes, scanning the horizon beyond the mouth of the Umpqua River, followed in five seconds by a red beam from the tower of the Umpqua River Lighthouse.
Structurally, the Umpqua River Lighthouse is identical to the Heceta Head Lighthouse some 30 miles to the north. They were built using the same plans and began beaming their warnings to mariners the same year. Yet, the Umpqua River Lighthouse is unique in Oregon. It is the only one that flashes red beams from its light tower.

The giant Fresnel lens in the tower doesn't actually include red glass. The original candle burned so hot that designers couldn't find any red pigments for glass that could withstand the heat. Instead, they attached a brass frame to the outside of the lens. It rotates in unison and holds panes of glass colored with pigeon blood pigment and flecks of gold to create the red ray of light. The lens itself is immense. It stands 9 feet, 8 inches tall and 6 feet, 4 inches wide. The turning assembly weighs almost two tons.
The lighthouse sits on a bluff some 165 feet higher than the ocean and separated from the water by rolling sand dunes. It's no mistake that the lighthouse was built on a base of 140 tons of rock ” designers had learned from experience to be careful when placing a lighthouse.

The lighthouse is operated by the Douglas County Parks Department, which also operates a museum nearby in an old Coast Guard administration building. Outside the museum sits a rescue boat of years past and inside are pictures of the lighthouse and other pieces of local history.
72 Sandboard on down the hill 74 Hike to the Cape Arago Lighthouse
 

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