Aviator Beryl Markham wrote in her brilliant 1942 memoir West with the Night, “To see ten thousand animals untamed and not branded with the symbols of human commerce is like scaling an unconquered mountain for the first time, or like finding a forest without roads or footpaths, or the blemish of an axe. You know then what you had always been told — that the world once lived and grew without adding machines and newsprint and brick-walled streets and the tyranny of clocks.”

For me, seeing the ocean has a similar effect. If you live in the city, work in the city, and hang out after work in the city, it’s easy to forget the natural world that exists outside of all the terrible traffic and towering buildings.

One of my goals this fall is to take a few days, drive down Highway 101, and pause at several especially gorgeous and untouched spots on the Oregon coast. Sunny weather has, for the most part, passed, but the beach can sometimes be even more incredible in colder, stormier weather.

From Seattle to the farthest point of the trip, it’s about 368 miles. First, hit Hug Point State Park (delightfully named!), then on to Cape Meares, then Cape Lookout State Park (where you can also reserve a yurt and stay the night), then stop and see Thor’s Well in all its water-spewing glory, and finish the journey at the Heceta Head Lighthouse just north of Florence. If you need a spot to camp at the end of your journey, try the yurts at Jessie M. Honeyman State Park near Florence.

(In case you’re wondering what on earth a yurt is, they look something like this.)

If you don’t have time to take a drive, let these amazing photographers whisk you away–momentarily at least–to a happy place untroubled by the “tyranny of clocks.”

Hug Point State Park
1. Ashley Boll: @ashley_boll

Thor’s Well
2. Robin T.: @robintuck1

Cape Lookout State Park
3. Bella Fenner: @b10fen

Cape Meares
4. Katie Ell: @katierose_e

Heceta Head Lighthouse
5. Jared Etheridge: @jaredetheridge