Top Camping Beaches in Oregon
Located within Fort Stevens State Park in the coastal city of Warrenton in Clatsop County, Fort Stevens State Park Beach - also known as Fort Stevens Beach - has a long beige sand beach. The beach is positioned on the Clatsop Spit along the northern Oregon coast, near the mouth of the Columbia River. It has a beautiful backdrop of dunes and coastal vegetation, offering incredible views of the Pacific Ocean.
Fort Stevens State Park Beach is renowned for the wreckage of the British ship Peter Iredale, a 275-foot-long, four-masted steel boat that crash-landed on Clatsop Spit in 1906. The ship ran aground on this beach while it was traveling from Mexico to the Columbia River due to heavy fog and currents. Despite the shipwreck, the entire crew made it safely to shore, and no one was seriously injured or died. Currently, the skeletal remains of Peter Iredale are still visible on the beach, which is protected by state and federal laws.
The beach is part of Fort Stevens State Park, which is one of the largest state parks in Oregon, spread over 4,300 acres and is home to beaches, freshwater lakes, a campground, golf courses, hiking trails, biking trails, museums, a visitors center, and Fort Stevens, the former site of military installations once used to guard the mouth of the Columbia River. In the 1950’s, the area was converted into a state park after the military decommissioned the fort.
