Trees to Sea Scenic Byway

Oregon's Trees to Sea Scenic Byway runs 68 miles from Banks to Cape Meares, one of the state's newest scenic byways, designated in 2018 as Oregon's 29th. The route follows Highway 47 out of Banks, turns west on Highway 6 toward Tillamook, loops through the Wilson River and Latimer Roads, then finishes on Highways 101 and 131 at Cape Meares Lighthouse. A century ago, the Banks end of the route was a railroad line hauling old-growth timber, a corridor now preserved as the Banks-Vernonia Linear State Trail, and much of the drive climbs through the site of the Tillamook Burn, a series of fires that scorched 355,000 acres between 1933 and 1952. Stops along the way include the Tillamook Forest Center, the Tillamook Creamery, and Cape Meares State Park, where the 1889 Cape Meares Lighthouse stands 200 feet above the crashing Pacific. The name captures the drive exactly: dense regrown forest giving way, in one continuous route, to open ocean headland.

• Cape Meares Lighthouse
• Tillamook Burn
• 68 miles
• Banks-Vernonia State Trail
• Tillamook Forest Center
• 2018 designation
• Wilson River Loop