Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area Oregon July-Sept 2026

I just finished up my latest season at Yaquina Head Outstanding area on the Oregon coast.  Yaquina is an amazing place with just over 100 acres, some of the best tide pools in Oregon, the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon coast (and still operational) a huge migration of seabirds to mate and fledge in the spring\summer, 60 Harbor Seals and pups that live there year round, and a stop on the Gray Whale migration every year.  This beautiful place host over 500,000 visitors a year mostly in June, July and August!

Cobble Beach and Tidepools

Yaquina is a place where BLM has to balance the need for resource preservation with visitor experiences to instill in those half a million visitors a love and passion for the resource to help preserve it.  Sometimes the effort is successful and sometimes not as much with the resource suffering.  The good news is that the vast majority of visitors understand and try to do the right thing but there are always a few “special" visitors that feel entitled to do what they want.  Part of the role here is interpretation, education and protection of the resource. 

August is the busiest month at the site, a month we call “Angry August".  Some visitors are so focused on “having a great vacation" and “seeing all the sites on their list" that they lose site of why they are there.  We encourage folks to slow down, drink in the beauty and wonder and to maybe sacrifice some places to visit for a better experience.  Quality vs quantity.  Sometimes it works and sometimes folks are so focused they can't see the forest for the trees (or the ocean for the waves J)

That all said, Yaquina never fails to make an impression.  The wonder of the seabirds covering the rocks for just a few month, hatching and fledging their young, and then flying off to the open ocean in August to not return again until April is always a treat.  This year I got to watch the fledges grow up from hatchlings to flying off with their parents.

The harbor seals always delight and they had pups that were old enough to be venturing out on their own, curious about the people and delighting visitors with their antics.  One in particular, who was named Winston by the staff, was a constant presence watching us every day and letting us share in his childhood.

A special treat this year was the almost daily presence of gray whales.  The grays typically start their migration north in March and are finished by first of June.  This year we had a pod that discovered good feeding grounds immediately offshore of the tidepools and put a show on for all of us.  Since they were feeding very shallow they would often show their side fin or “sharking" when rolling on their side to feed.  We had several adults but also a cow with a calf that we got to watch grow up over the summer.  It was magical.

The lighthouse as always was a treat and we were able to share it with more visitors this summer through lighthouse tours and looks.  They lighthouse was built in 1872 and has been active ever since.  Its 93’ tall and is still using the original Fresnel lens from Paris built in 1868.  As always the view from the top never fails to take your breath away.

Finally, one of the main reasons people come to visit, the Tide pools.  The tide pools at Yaquina were formed from a volcanic lava flow from Eastern Oregon (a vent of the Yellowstone super volcano) that formed Cobble beach (a daily challenge to walk on) and the tide pools.  Deep crevices protected by volcanic headlands that protect the beach provide the perfect environment for marine life to flourish.  Anemones, sea stars, nudibranchs, coralline algae, several types of crabs, mussels, barnacles, sculpins and almost any other type of marine life (including octopus) thrive in the pools and make it a favorite spot for visitors.

One of the things that makes this really all work is the skill, knowledge and dedication of the staff to protecting this unique place and insuring visitors have a great experience.  I can't say enough about how amazing the rangers and staff are and how much passion they bring to their roles. 

As amazing a place and staff (and friends) are there, it was time to move onto the next stop on the adventure.  A month at Petrified Forest National Park helping out and then down to Kartchner Caverns State Park in Arizona until end of February.  A little change in environment (and fresh seafood L) but looking forward to some warmer weather and a bit more sun J.  Really looking forward to the first experience working in a cave!

Stay tuned for the next update from Petrified Forest!