Survival Guide to Oregon Coast Labor Day Weekend: Weather, Traffic, Finding a Room

Published 08/31/22 at 6:55 PM PST
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast) – Summer's last blast along the Oregon coast will be a mighty headache if you're not prepared. There's lots of dos and don'ts for the holiday weekend, especially when it comes to traffic, snagging your lodging or camping well ahead of time, and even day trips. (Above: Seal Rock. All photos Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

Weather This Weekend

Conditions out there look to be rather stellar, with temps around 70 degrees, and fairly to mostly sunny for all three days. But they get warmer and more inviting the farther south you go: the extreme south Oregon coast around Port Orford begins to hit the upper 70s and gets mostly sunny. It's downright tropical, compared to even its northern counterparts in Reedsport, Newport, Pacific City or Seaside.

See Oregon Coast Weather - Washington Coast Weather

Those heading to the Washington coast will find it a bit cooler once you start getting north of Ocean Shores, and fairly cloudy skies are forecast for the three-day holiday.

Near Yachats, Cook's Chasm area

There are many that will be taking quick day trips out to the Washington coast or Oregon coast. For those travelers and for overnighters, make sure you pack some extra pants and shoes in case you fall in a big pool of water and get soaked in threads you don't want soaked. Nothing screams uncomfortable like sitting in the car sopping wet on the long drive home.

Lodging / Camping Advice

Waldport

If you're thinking about camping on the Oregon coast, you're likely out of luck. All reserved campgrounds were filled up awhile back, but you may have some luck with the few first-come, first-serve sites often found in county or municipal campgrounds. See Oregon Coast Camping.

Hotel rooms were filled awhile back as well: you're not likley to find anything this late, except in rare circumstances. A very few lodgings do have openings – check the Oregon Coast Hotels page for possibilities. You'll have to call around for last-minute availability, however. It will take some work.

It's been a bit of an off summer for hotels and vacation rentals, likely thanks to inflation and gas prices. Vacation rentals have tended to have more openings than regular hotels and motels, so you may have better luck with the Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals page. Of course, these cost substantially more than hotel rooms.

Traffic Issues, Speed Traps, Gas

Nehalem

With everyone else trying to get away from it all, they're bringing “it all” with them, ironically.

Gas prices this year are the big stickler. Fill up in your home town: gas prices on the Oregon coast tend to be 10 to 20 cents per gallon higher (because of increased trucking costs).

Speed traps are aplenty. Highway 26 between Portland and Seaside has a few spots, including the rest stop on the western face of the Coast Range. But cops are known to move around and linger at gravel pullouts at random.

Highway 18 just west of McMinnville is a sticky area as well: much of the ticketing happens from state troopers coming from the opposing lane and clocking you with their car radar.

In the end, this is simply not the weekend to do any speeding at all.

On the south Oregon coast, Highway 101 will still get rather jammed in places like Bandon or Port Orford, but it's not nearly as packed as the northern half of the coastline.

Traffic choke points include just south of Coos Bay at the Cape Arago Highway where the speed limit lowers abruptly, coming in or out of the northern part of Newport, much of Lincoln City, and the areas just south of Seaside.

This Year's Big Issue

There's still a severe labor shortage all up and down the Oregon coast, so be warned of extra wait times at restaurants and other facilities. Be nice to the overworked people there as they're running extra ragged.

As Bandon's Margaret Pounder put it for the entire region: “Plan to pack your patience, as our businesses are short staffed.”

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