Located in the Oregonian city of Cannon Beach, the beautiful Cannon Beach is a large four-mile-long beach with light brown sand. Cannon Beach has been named the 2nd Best Beach in the Top 50 Beaches in the United States list in 2022 by Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as "Mr. Beach." Portions of this popular beach are situated below oceanfront bluffs. This beach has a magnificent backdrop of oceanfront hills and residential houses. Many offshore rock formations are present in the water near Cannon Beach and the most iconic offshore rock formation along the Cannon Beach shoreline is a 235-feet tall intertidal basalt sea stack named Haystack Rock - this rock is the third largest intertidal rock formation in the world. This beach was named as the sixth best beach in the United States by TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards in 2020. In addition, the beach was also listed by the travel division of the American media company U.S. News & World Report as one the 27 best beaches in the United States. Renowned academic Dr. Stephen Leatherman has listed Cannon Beach as the "Best Overall Beach" in Oregon in his book America’s Best Beaches. The city of Cannon Beach was also listed by National Geographic as one of "America’s Best Beach Towns." A creek occasionally flows through the beach into the Pacific Ocean. As an interesting fact, the beach and the city of Cannon Beach are named after a cannon from the 19th century United States Navy schooner Shark - this cannon was discovered near Cannon Beach’s current location in 1898 and it sparked the name change of the city from "Elk Creek" to "Cannon Beach."
Located in the town of Jenner, Goat Rock Beach is a long and wide beach situated northwest of the Russian River Bridge in Sonoma Coast State Park. Goat Rock Beach is a popular destination for beachcombing and there are many sea stacks and a large rock arch offshore. Goat Rock Beach offers a couple of amenities including restrooms, picnic tables, barbecues, and driftwoods. There are many fun activities at Goat Rock Beach including beachcombing, bird watching, wildlife watching, kayaking, and beach walking – but swimming here can be very dangerous because of large waves. Please note that fishing is prohibited here and you must stay at least 50 yards away from the shore if the local colony of seals is present. Getting to Goat Rock Beach is easy – after you get off of Coast Highway, drive down to the northern end of Goat Rock Road to reach a parking lot that is within walking distance of the beach.
