It’s no secret that the Pacific Coast is one of my absolute favorite places in the USA to road trip. Below are some of the animals in the tidal pools that you’ll see on the Oregon Coast as well as up and down the Pacific Coast.

Ochre Sea Star

These big purple and orange starfish are always my favorite to look for on the Oregon coast tidal pools! The further north I travel on the coast the more I tend to see although you can find these sea stars along the entire coastline.

Definitely look for them at Canon Beach and the northern areas of the Oregon coast clinging to rocks! 

Fun Facts about the Ochre Sea Star:

• Its Latin name is Pisaster ochraceus.
• They come in purple, orange and brownish-red.
• Scientists aren’t sure how the sea star gets its colors.
• Ochre sea stars can live for over 20 years! 
• They eat barnacles, snails, limpets and mussels.

Sea Slater:

If you’re looking for sea slaters you’ll be looking for cliffs on Oregon coastal beaches like Seal Rock and Ecola Beach State Park where sea slaters love to hide inside the cracks. (Although they can be found along the entire Oregon coastline.

These are very skittish creatures and it took me quite a while to get the photo I did above as they move quickly! These critters tend to hang out in rock crevices at around high tide lines so don’t look too low if you’re searching for them. 

Fun Facts About the Sea Slater:

• Its Latin name is Ligia pallasi.
• Also known as a rock louse or sea roach.
• Sea Slaters are isopods.
• They breathe using pleopods which require the animal to stay moist.
• They live up to 2 years.

Check out this interactive map to see where Sea Slaters live! 

Giant Green Anemone:

Giant green anemone are easy to spot and prolific along the Oregon coastline! These were easiest and the first wildlife for my children to spot along the coastline as we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. 

If you gently lay your one finger on the top of the anemone you can watch it’s sticky feeling tentacles close up around your finger. You are triggering it’s response to capture its prey.

Fun Facts about the Giant Green Anemone:

• Its Latin name is Anthopleura xanthogrammica.
• They can be found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico. 
• It mostly eats small fish, crabs and mussels.
• They use stinging cells to capture prey (although they are harmless to humans). 

Purple Sea Urchin:

These fragile beauties are a little harder to spot in tidal pools than anemone but just as beautiful! You never know when you peer over that next rock into a tidal pool when you’ll find an army of purple sea urchins!

Fun Facts about the Purple Sea Urchin:

• Purple sea urchins are edible! People eat the meat inside called uni.
• Sea otters and sea stars also eat purple sea urchins. 
• Overpopulation of purple sea urchins are damaging California’s kelp forests.
• Purple sea urchins can “walk”. 
• The toothlike plates that surround an urchin’s mouth are called “Aristotle’s lantern.”

Crabs:

Shore crabs: (like the one shown above)

Shore crabs are the most common crabs found on the coastline. These guys can be found both in the water and on the shore!

Hermit crabs:

Contrary to popular belief hermit crabs can actually smell dead or dying snails and then will use their shells as a home, they do not kill snails for their shell. Although they may battle other hermit crabs over the same shell. 

As hermit crabs grow larger they need to continually find larger shells. They are also nocturnal which makes them hard to be found on the shore line! 

Sand crabs:

Sand crabs look far different than your typical “crab” appearance you might expect, and can be found burrowing in the shifting sand of the shore line under the waves. These wave breaks bring fresh plankton which is food for the sand crab.

You can actually monitor the health of a beach based on the sand crabs. It is also referred to as the Pacific Sand Crab or Mole Crab. DID YOU KNOW? Sand crabs can only move backwards! Not side to side or forward!

Other Animals in the Tidal Pools:

• Barnacles
• Chiton
• Snails
• Limpet
• Sculpin
• Sand Dollar
• Nudibranch

Other Sea Creatures that Wash Up on the Beach:

One of my FAVORITE ways to see new sea creatures that wash up on Oregon beaches is by following the Seaside Aquarium FB page! They do a fantastic job of posting curious things washing up on the beach and educating the public about what they find! 

During our trip to Hug Pointe State Park, one of my favorite spots on the Oregon Coast, my daughter found a huge jellyfish on the shore front at low tide!

I HIGHLY recommend NOT touching anything washed up if you don’t know what it is! Several types of jellyfish (among other sea creatures) can still leave quite the sting if touched!

Man times you’ll find jelly blobs on the beach which I’ve always generically referred to as comb jellies growing up in Florida. However jelly blobs can be a huge number of different things such as sea gooseberry, hooded nudibranch, eggs from sand snails, lugworm eggs, jellyfish and much more!

Other places to visit in Oregon:

The Oregon Coast is my absolute most favorite place to be in the United States – hands down! I LOVE the ocean, caves, and had seen sea lions up and down the coast. So I was wondering if it is worth seeing the Sea Lion Caves in Florence, Oregon? The reviews online are pretty brutal but here are the pros and cons. Then you can decide are sea lion caves worth visiting?

My kids and I were on a 9000 mile road trip (yes 9000 miles!) so as you can imagine our budget was meticulously planned out. When planning our trip I had decided not to visit the Sea Lion Caves based on reviews and cost as we drove through Florence simply because we wanted to spend our money elsewhere. It’s not cheap. Adult tickets will run about $14 each which is a bit steep.

I knew we would see sea lions up and down the coastline, and although we’re pretty hard core cave fans, we didn’t have an unlimited budget on such a long trip. BUT we literally drove past the Sea Lion Caves on US 101 and we had some serious FOMO (Fear of Missing Out!) so we turned our van around and decided to visit. We literally drove past it and turned around to go back! Crazy I know!

Why did I turn around? Because of this sign right here in the front of the building. The Sea Lion Caves is the LARGEST sea cave in the USA. I’ve been in 40+ caves in the USA and I just literally can’t drive past a cave without stopping. And how could I pass up seeing the largest sea cave in the US!?

Open in 1932, the Sea Lion Caves is a privately owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary. None of the animals are caged or enticed to be here. This is a natural safe haven for sea lions, birds, and whales.

I gulped a little as I paid the admission price and prayed it would be worth the cost. There’s no doubt the view was stunning as pretty much any ocean view off of US 101 is!

I honestly wasn’t really sure what to expect. Most of the reviews I’d read online had simply said it was an expensive way to see a bunch of sea lions. But it ended up being more than that. Although of course viewing the sea lions in the cave is touted as the experience, there were other things to see and do. For us, it was a great way to pass an hour or so after driving in the car for so long.

As we were walking down the steep hill to get to the cave entrance I realized that there were several observation areas looking out to the ocean. It wasn’t until I got to the furthest one and looked down that I saw hordes of sea lions basking in the sun. If you’re going to visit, make sure you go down every long path or stair case – the views will be your reward!

We’d seen sea lions up close at Pier 39 in San Francisco as well as some in Astoria and at Yaquina Head, but I’d never seen SO MANY in one area! I wish I’d brought binoculars to see them closer but it was very cool.

Before we went down into the caves we also saw a mama whale with her baby hanging out in the cove area. It was the first time any of us had seen a whale in the wild so it was an amazing experience. It was hanging out there for the full 1-2 hours we were there and constantly on the water surface rolling around. My kids were so excited!

Once you take the elevator to get down into the sea cave it’s much more than JUST a sea cave! They have signs and exhibits you can read about that tell you more about this famous sea cave. In the middle of the floor is also an area where you can see a sea lion skeleton. I wasn’t expecting such a nice set up.

As you can see above the amount of sea lions inside the sea cave doesn’t disappoint! We also saw (and heard) plenty of pigeon guillemot which was a new species for us to see. They were quite interesting!

Be forewarned though – the sea lion caves smell exactly as you would imagine with hundreds if not thousands of sea lions in and out! It was really fun though watching the sea lions swimming about and loudly barking. I could have stayed there and watched much longer if my kids weren’t with me!

Remember, we’re animal lovers and cave nuts so this attraction was a great experience for us. I definitely wish I had binoculars as well for inside the cave. If you’re truly on a strict budget and can’t spare the cost of admission it isn’t the END of the world if you skip it.  But if you need to stretch your legs, can’t miss seeing a one of a kind attraction, or are obsessed with nature and caves like we are, you’ll want to stop here.

I’m really glad we turned around and visited the Sea Lion Caves in Florence, Oregon. It was a great place to stop and stretch our legs on the Pacific Coast Highway and we left feeling like it was worth the stop. Yes, it is essentially a tourist trap, but I’ve never been to anything like it and enjoyed our time there.

A lot of reviews said they spent 15 minutes there but with the 5 of us in our family watching the educational videos, reading the signs, taking both trails to see the various observation points as well as the extra staircase inside the cave we ended up being there about 45-90 minutes(ish).

You’ll need to be able to handle some short steep trails and up to 40 stairs to get around. Plus a bonus – there’s a pressed penny machine AND benches to sit at once you get down the stairs from the gift shop!

Other Pacific Coast Adventures:

There are so many amazing places to visit on the Pacific Coast Highway but these are some of my favorite places to stop when driving up the Oregon coast on a road trip. Truly the best way to travel this vacation is to just hop in the car and leave yourself a minimum of a week to meander and wander up the coastline. That’s how we’ve approached this and to be honest I wish I could move to the Pacific Northwest – it’s the most beautiful place in the United States!

We’ve actually done this road trip several different ways but this article will take you from the southern Oregon coast up to the northern Oregon coast. There are tons and tons of scenic stops along the way and if you have the time – take every single one! We didn’t find a bad view. It is absolutely stunning and gorgeous the entire way up the Oregon coast. Grab a water bottle and your jacket and let’s go!

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Coos Bay, Oregon

From a railway museum to a pioneer cemetery, printing museum, and several state parks – Coos Bay is steeped in history and beautiful views of the Oregon coastline. Choose your visit carefully or you could find yourself lost indoors in cool museums instead of enjoying the beauty outdoors.

Sea Lion Caves – Florence, Oregon

The Sea Lion Caves in Florence are pretty well known and a popular tourist spot for seeing gobs of sea lions. If you’re on a tight budget, however, you may want to skip this attraction and just keep an eye out for other sea lions on your way up the Oregon coast! If you’ve got the time and the funds though, this attraction is popular for a reason! Read more about it here!

Thor’s Well – Yachats, Oregon

Maybe you’ve come across a stunning photograph of Thor’s Well on Pinterest or Google – crashing waves spitting up outside of a hole in the earth at sunset. But what you might not know is that capturing those photos are incredibly dangerous and can only be done at high tide. (My photo above is at low tide.) To be really honest this is probably the one stop I would have skipped simply because of the danger and the fact that it looks nothing like all of those gorgeous flowing waves you see online unless you’re risky enough to go at high tide.

Just before the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center in Cook’s Chasm, Oregon you can park on the west side of Highway 101. It isn’t well marked and you’ll have to climb down onto the rocks which are completely flooded at high tide.

Seal Rock State Recreation Site – Seal Rock, Oregon

Seal Rock was another fantastic surprise that we discovered along the coast on our road trip. It’s an absolutely ginormous rock cliff that you can fairly easily climb down to the beach next to. You can see my husband standing on a large rock with Seal Tower majestically overshadowing him! There are some tidal pools of course here as well but we really just enjoyed the enormous cliff structures and views of the ocean!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse – Newport, Oregon

In order to see Yaquina Head Lighthouse you’ll need to pay a fee to enter the grounds and understand that any tours that might be available fill up fast! We pulled in during the morning hours to grab our tour time and came back later to do the tour. However don’t let this deter you from going – it’s an absolutely breathtaking view and can be very windy so bring a jacket!

Behind and below the lighthouse are several flights of stairs that lead to the rocky beach below where you are sure to see sea lions or harbor seals in the ocean. Bring some good walking shoes for this rocky beach – you definitely won’t want to be barefoot here! There are also tidal pools as well.

Where to Look for Tidal Pools on the Oregon Coast:

I grew up in Florida and one of my favorite things about the beach was the amount of sea life I could find everywhere! But NOTHING prepared me for the amazingness of tidal pools on the Oregon coast! I had never been to such colorful diversified tidal pools before! We stopped (I think) at literally every scenic point on the way up the coast so if you’ve never seen tidal pools before – LOOK FOR ROCKS!

Seriously – I quickly learned the first way to spot a tidal pool is to scan the beach for large rocks and boulders that sea life would attach itself and hide behind. Climb up on top of the rocks (but be mindful of strong waves!) and look down in between rock beds and at the base of large rocks for your most abundant sea life.

Lighthouses on the Oregon Coast

As you can imagine with it being a coast line Oregon has no shortage of fabulous lighthouses. In fact just visiting lighthouses would make an amazing road trip by itself! This photo guide of lighthouses is perfect for your themed road trip! These are some of the lighthouses you can look up and schedule into your road trip:

*Tillamook Rock – abandoned and in the distance but seen from Ecola State Park
*Cape Meares
*Yaquina Head
*Yaquina Bay
*Cleft of the Rock – privately owned
*Heceta Head – visible from the Sea Lion Caves
*Umpqua River – Oregon’s first lighthouse
*Cape Arago
*Coquille River
*Cape Blanco
*Pelican Bay – privately owned
*Warrior Rock Light – on Sauvie Island

Mariner Square – Newport, Oregon

If you’ve got the time for an extra half day stop and a little cash to burn Mariner Square in Newport is another fantastic lazy day to walk around and enjoy the sunshine! There you’ll find the Oregon Undersea Gardens, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and The Wax Works. (Don’t forget to check Groupon to save money on tickets!) Bigfoot fanatics especially will enjoy the Ripley’s here. And the Oregon Undersea Gardens is small but the featured aquarium show in the bottom of the boat is absolutely top notch! I absolutely LOVED it! Just down the street is a fabulous little sandwich shop / fish market where you can eat your deli sandwich and watch them process the freshly caught fish in a production line through a glass window.

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Depoe Bay is a great spot to stop and stretch your legs or schedule a whale watching trip! If you’re looking for a great beachside town to relax in then I’d definitely consider this one! Otter Crest Loop, Boiler Bay State Wayside and Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area are all popular spots to stop here!

Haystack Rock – Cannon Beach, Oregon

You don’t have to have ever been to Oregon to know about Haystack Rock which is probably the most recognized rock formation across the USA. What surprised me, however, is the greenery I saw growing on the rock formation! Normally you only see the Haystack Rock outline so this was a pleasant surprise! In fact it’s a protect bird sanctuary and you cannot climb on the rocks past the base!

There are oodles of tidal pools here in Cannon Beach and this is where was saw the BEST giant purple and red / orange starfish on the coast! Look at the sides and bottoms of rocks just around the water line! There were plenty of tourists and it stays pretty busy here but is still totally worth going to see this iconic view! Finding lodging nearby is rather pricey, however, and camping is near non-existent. But we did pass Wright’s for Camping which is really close to the beach (but probably too tight for your biggest RVs!).

Ecola State Park – Cannon Beach, Oregon

Ecola Beach State Park was first brought to my attention in our quest to visit the Twilight film locations in the area and I wish we had spent more time here! This is definitely on my list to see when we go back to Oregon! The scenic views were my favorite on the coast and produced dozens of stunning ocean photographs like you see above. It stretches 9 miles of coastline with plenty of tidal pools to see, surfing opportunities, hiking trails, scenic views, secluded coves and even an abandoned lighthouse!

One note of caution if you are driving an RV or camper trailer, I recommend leaving them at your campground if possible! The road to get into Ecola State Park was narrow and windy and had me holding my breath in our tiny rental car! I was SO thankful we weren’t driving anything larger in!

Hug Point State Recreation Site – Tolovana Park, Oregon

Hug Point is one of my absolute favorite accidental discoveries on our road trip up the Oregon coast. Be mindful of high tide times as you could technically get stranded if you’re not paying attention! Hug Point is an absolutely fascinating must see section of beach on the Oregon coast! Before the Oregon Coast Highway was installed rocks were literally blasted out of the cliff sides so that stagecoaches could “hug” the shoreline and pass through the area. They could, however, only drive across these rocks at low tide.

You can still see a stretch or two of this original historic Oregon “highway” blasted into the side of cliffs. It’s absolutely stunning! It is slippery up on the “road” so be careful – but definitely walk it! It’s worth the view!

If you want further down the beach a little ways you’ll be delighted to find some waterfalls and a rather large sea cave that you can walk into as well! But bring a flashlight – it’s very dark in there! And again, be mindful of the tidal times! When we stopped at Hug Point the first time we had absolutely no idea what was there and so this was one of my favorite discoveries!

Seaside Aquarium – Seaside, Oregon

The Seaside Aquarium is small but absolutely fantastic! I highly recommend going here and if nothing else following them on Facebook. They are super active there and frequently share images of what has washed up on the seashore there! My personal favorite was feeding the sea lions! Look how cute he is! They do tricks and everything too and the fish you buy for them is extremely reasonable!

Oregon Film Museum – the Goonies Trail – Astoria, Oregon

Aside from visiting film locations for the Twilight movies was my husband’s passion to see anything related to the Goonies movie from the 1980’s! Unless you are a die hard Goonies fan, I would not recommend visiting the Film Museum. It is rather pricy and very small. My husband, however, was totally geeking out like I had never seen before so I was happy for him.

The museum is actually the old Clatsop County Jail and was actually used in the opening chase sequence for the Goonies. There are a few other film props in the museum but all I remember is Goonies props and decor everywhere! If you’re looking for an AWESOME Goonies gift check Etsy here!

And of course in town we HAD to visit the Goonies house! It’s up a steep dead end hill so we had to park and walk up. Do a google search though because last I heard they had closed the road off to Goonies fans due to privacy issues. As you can imagine there are tens of thousands of people clogging their little street each year! I’m so thankful we got the chance to go!

Fort Stevens State Park – Hammond, Oregon

This photo is in front of the Peter Iredale shipwreck – right on the shoreline at Fort Stevens State Park! This is another location we should have spent more time at – although it was FREEZING the day we went in June! Fort Stevens State Park has 4300 acres including beaches, this shipwreck, forests, wetlands, and a military defense installation used from the Civil War to World War II that is quite impressive! They even have a campgrounds there!

We could have spent hours walking through the old fort area and another few hours up and down the beaches – just an absolutely (huge!) fantastic place with very good signs directing you to different areas of the park.

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