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Smelt Sands State Recreation Site, Newport, OR

Photo: Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Smelt Sands State Recreation Site

Coastal state recreation site near Newport with tidepools, rock fishing, whale-watching views, and a historic hiking trail.

Newport, OR

About Smelt Sands State Recreation Site

Smelt Sands is an Oregon State Parks site on the coast near Newport, valued for watching whales and photographing the scenery. Visitors can walk the historic 804 Trail, a hike of roughly three-quarters of a mile one way with benches along the route. The site is also known for tidepooling, rock fishing, and a yearly run of smelt, small silver fish related to salmon. Sunsets here are often especially striking. The land was assembled through private purchases in the early 1970s, and a former county road right-of-way was later opened for public hiking.

  • #coast
  • #beach
  • #tidepools
  • #whale-watching
  • #hiking

What's around here?

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