[Florence, OR, Jan 17, 2026]
We woke up to a crisp but sunny morning. Our hotel’s breakfast room had a gorgeous view of Florence and the Siuslaw River bridge.
Sea Lion Caves
Our first stop for the day was the Sea Lion Caves. The system of sea caves and caverns is located about 11 miles north of Florence. It is the 10th longest sea cave in the world and the longest in the United States. A comparable cave is the undeveloped Painted Cave on Santa Cruz island in Channel Islands National Park, California.
In winter, sea lions come into the cave to seek shelter from winter storms. However, due to the mild winter we have been having, the sea lions were not yet at the cave when we visited. The gift shop attendant warned us about this before she sold us our tickets. She gave us a small discount for each ticket and a free rain check, good for up to 1 year from the date of our visit.
The views of the coast from manmade trail and deck that lead to the cave were awesome. There was even an elevator, which was built in 1961. Signs along the way educated us on the history of the Sea Lion Caves.
Captain William Cox was the first to discover the cave from his small boat on a calm day in the 1880s. He purchased the land from the State of Oregon and owned it until the 1920s. The next owners, a group of 3 men, spent all of their savings building the trail into the cliffside and the stairs down into the cave. Not long after, Highway 101 was built. It was gravel until 1934 so there wasn’t a lot of traffic at first. But word of mouth spread, and visitation increased steadily until WWI. The family of one of the three partners is still part-owners, and the sea cave remains in private hands.
Although there were no sea lions, we enjoyed the cave and the view of the Heceta Head lighthouse, which we were visited next.
Heceta Head Lighthouse
The Heceta Head Lighthouse was built in 1894. It shines a beam visible for 21 nautical miles (24 regular miles or 36 km), making it the strongest lighthouse on the Oregon coast. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) maintains the light, while the the U.S. Forest Service maintains the assistant lighthouse keepers’ house, which is now a bed-and-breakfast inn.
The lighthouse is named after the Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta, who explored the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century. Of course, this area was already home to Native Americans.
We parked the car under the gorgeous Cape Creek bridge and took the short trail up to the lighthouse.
In winter (Nov – Feb), the first floor of the lighthouse is open from 11 am – 2 pm and a ranger is on site. She told us about how hard the lighthouse keepers worked to maintain the lighthouse. Before electrification, they had to haul heavy buckets of coal up to the light every couple of hours. They also had to keep the place super clean. A superintendent would come for an inspection and swipe his white glove on surfaces to check for residue!
A trail behind the lighthouse continued on all the way to Hobbit Beach, which was our next destination. But we decided to only go up a little bit to get a bird’s eye view of the lighthouse. From up there, we could see the tiny but powerful bulb that sends the beam 21 miles into the sea.
Hobbit Beach
We continued just about a mile north on Hwy 101 until we reached the small parking area for Hobbit Beach on the side of the highway. The trail is only about a mile long and took us through the forest before reaching a beautiful beach. It was a great little hike!
Oregon Sand Dunes
For our last activity of the day, we headed back south to Florence to check out the sand dunes. They stretch for 40 miles and there are several different ways to experience them. I knew I didn’t want to do a lot of hiking on the dunes themselves. I discovered I am not into hiking in sand when I visited Great Sand Dunes national park in Colorado. Jessie Honeyman state park was really close, so we decided to head there. Clearwox lake inside the park was flanked by a sand dune on one side and forest on the other. I enjoyed the sand dune there but I was also a little underwhelmed by it. I regretted not choosing the other easy option, which we didn’t have time for – the drive out to the South Jetty. Next time!
For dinner, we headed to the Bonfire at Three Rivers Casino. We had a delicious dinner with great service and we left with our bellies and hearts full.
