Port Orford Heads State Park

This article about the geographical entity. For the American band, see Talking Heads post-breakup, for the UK stoner rock band, see The Heads (UK band)The Heads is a rocky cape on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States. It is located in northern Curry County, just outside the town of Port Orford, along a mountainous stretch of coast bounded to the east by the Coastal Range. The cape is part of Port Orford Heads State Park. It is approximately 5 mi (8 km) south along the coast from Cape Blanco, the westernmost point in the state of Oregon.

Port Orford (Tolowa: tr’ee-ghi~’- ’an’ ) is a city in Curry County on the southern coast of Oregon, United States. The population was 1,133 at the 2010 census. The city takes its name from George Vancouver's original name for nearby Cape Blanco, which he named for George, Earl of Orford, "a much-respected friend." Port Orford is the westernmost settlement in the state of Oregon, and the westernmost incorporated place in the 48 contiguous states.

Paradise Point State Recreation Site is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.

The Elk River is in southwestern Oregon in the United States. About 29 miles (47 km) long, the river drains a remote 92-square-mile (240 km2) area of the Coast Range into the Pacific Ocean. Rising in the mountains in northern Curry County, in the Siskiyou National Forest at confluence of its north and south forks, the river initially flows generally west along the south edge of the Grassy Knob Wilderness. It then flows northwest, approaching the coast north of Port Orford and entering the Pacific between Cape Blanco to the north and The Heads to the south.

The Sixes Hotel in Sixes, Oregon is a historic 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) property with a hotel building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sixes is an unincorporated community in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It is along U.S. Route 101 and the Sixes River, east of Cape Blanco and the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. Accounts vary as to the origin of the name "Sixes". The community was named after the river. One local postmaster said Sixes was named for a Native American chief. Another source said that in 1851, the river was usually called the "Sikhs River" after the Chinook Jargon word for "friend", and on maps it was called the "Sequalchin River". Another source says the Native American name for the river was "Sa-qua-mi". Hodge's Handbook of American Indians says that one of the variants of the name of the local tribe, the Kwatami (a subdivision of the Tututni), was "Sik-ses-tene", which is said to mean "people by the far north country". Though this is most likely the real source of the name, the spelling "Sixes" was probably used by miners drawn to the Oregon gold rush who were familiar with the Chinook word "sikhs". The current spelling was used as early as 1855, and Sixes' post office was established in 1888. The Sixes post office has since closed.

Humbug Mountain State Park is a state park located on the Oregon coast. It is administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The park can be accessed via the US Route 101, 6 miles (10 km) south of Port Orford, and 28 miles (45 km) north of Gold Beach. It covers 1,842 acres (7.45 km2) of land around 1,759-foot (536 m) Humbug Mountain, one of the tallest headlands on the Oregon coast.

Orford Reef is a reef located off Cape Blanco on the southern coast of Oregon in the United States. The reef is situated around eight small rock islands: Best Rock, Long Brown Rock, Unnamed Rock, Square White Rock, Seal Rock, Conical White Rock, West Conical Rock, and Arch Rock.The reef includes forests of bull kelp up to 100 feet (30 m) long, which provide protective habitat for numerous animals, including the bat ray, big skate, broadnose sevengill shark, cabezon, kelp bass, leopard shark, spiny dogfish, kelp greenling, plumose anemone, and numerous species of rockfish. The reef also supports more than 39,000 seabirds, including 5% of the common murre nesting population in Oregon. The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon contains a simulated version of Orford Reef in its Passages of the Deep exhibit.

Humbug Mountain is one of the highest mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon to rise directly from the Pacific Ocean. It lies on the state's southern coast, about 6 miles (10 km) south of Port Orford and 21 miles (34 km) north of Gold Beach. The mountain is completely within Humbug Mountain State Park, and U.S. Route 101 passes by its northern base. Its slopes feature an old-growth temperate rainforest. Two trails run from the state park campground to the mountain's summit, one 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, the other 2 miles (3.2 km) long. Both are part of the much longer Oregon Coast Trail. The area is popular with hikers, campers, cyclists, and whale watchers although biking and camping on the mountain itself are prohibited.

Purple Mountain is a 2,358-foot (719 m) mountain in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is one of many densely forested peaks located in the Oregon Coast Range. Purple Mountain is located in Siskiyou National Forest, 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) northeast of Humbug Mountain, which rises from the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon coastline. The Elk River passes by the northern base of the mountain some 2,000 feet (610 m) below the peak, only 900 metres (0.56 mi) away.

Arizona Beach State Recreation Site is a 68-acre (28 ha) Oregon state park in Curry County, Oregon, in the United States. The beach is at an average elevation of 7 feet (2 m). Public recreational facilities at Arizona Beach State Recreation Site include a parking lot for beach access, observation areas for viewing marine mammals and birds and tables for picnicking. The park is open year-round. Arizona Beach was in private hands until 2008 and was the site of a campground. Since it was acquired by the state at a cost of $3 million in 2008 the campground was torn down as it did not meet state requirements. The beach is on the Pacific Ocean and gets its name from the warm temperatures that are unusual for the Oregon coast. The area surrounding Arizona Beach is rugged. There are few places along the coast where the Pacific can be accessed from a sandy beach. Headlands shelter the park and keep the cool Northwest Pacific winds away and creating temperatures that are higher than what is normal in the rest of the area. Two creeks, Mussel and Myrtle, flow through the park and into the ocean. Arizona Beach State Recreation Site is home to a variety of wildlife including elk, peregrine falcons, brown pelicans, pigeon guillemots and pelagic cormorants. The offshore rocks at the park are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Thirteen species of seabirds make their nests on the rocks of the refuge. The birds found on the rocks are pigeon guillemots, tufted puffins, common murres, rhinoceros auklets, Brandt's, pelagic, and double-crested cormorants, Leach's and fork-tailed storm petrels. The rocks also provide a habitat for harbor and northern elephant seals and California and Steller sea lions. Public access to the rocks is not permitted.

Mussel Creek is a small stream, about 4 miles (6 km) long, in Curry County in the U.S. state of Oregon. It arises in the Siskiyou Mountains and flows generally west to its confluence with Myrtle Creek in the Arizona Beach State Recreation Site. The creeks flow under U.S. Highway 101 and through the park, where they merge and enter the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles (16 km) south of Port Orford.