Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Earlier this year, we asked readers to pick their favorite Oregon State Parks. Now, we're headed to the top 15 to check in, bringing back a comprehensive guide to each one.



Just south of Florence, on the north side of the sprawling Oregon Dunes, four lakes sit hemmed in by the sand, offering a very different kind of experience on the coast.



Two of those lakes – Woahink and Cleawox – are part of Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park, a 515-acre park where hundreds of thousands of people go to boat, hike, swim, and zoom across the huge swath of sandy dunes.



The state bought the land in the early 1930s, and it quickly became a popular destination. The park was home to several Civilian Conservation Corps projects during the '30s and in 1941 it was named in honor of Jessie Honeyman, a Portland-based advocate for public parks and scenic preservation.



In the 1950s, Life magazine named Honeyman one of the best state parks in the U.S., though since 2000 its popularity has waxed and waned. Some years the park sees almost a million day-use visitors, but other years it's less than half that. One constant has been the campers, who average 155,000 annually, crowding the campsites and yurts.



Honeyman is the kind of place where a family can comfortably spend a long weekend, and the park seems designed to encourage just that. Trails run from the campground to the lakes, from the lakes to the woods, from the woods to the dunes. A lot of parks on the Oregon coast rely on the beach for all the fun, but here there’s just so much more to explore.

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Terry Richard/The Oregonian

OREGON DUNES

Honeyman is known as a gateway to the Oregon Dunes, and while the state park caters to recreationalists of all stripes, it remains popular among the OHV crowd, who bring all manner of off-road vehicles to play with in the towering hills of sand. There’s easy access to the dunes via a parking area on the south side of Cleawox Lake.

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Flickr/Rick Obst

THE CAMPGROUND

Like most coastal state park campgrounds, Honeyman packs a lot of sites into a relatively small space. There are 355 campsites in all, as well as 10 yurts, six group camp areas and a hiker/biker camp. Some sites offer a little more room and privacy, but generally speaking the campground is crowded, attracting an average of 155,000 campers annually.

Make reservations online at oregonstateparks.org or by phone at 800-452-5687.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

CLEAWOX LAKE

Cleawox Lake is a popular day-use area next to the Oregon Dunes, where visitors can play in the sand, hike a short nature trail that runs along the eastern shore, or paddle around the lake itself. Park rangers are on hand with kayak, canoe and paddle boat rentals. There’s also the historic Cleawox Lake Bathhouse, which today houses historical information about the state park.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

WOAHINK LAKE

On the east side of the park is the larger Woahink Lake, a great spot for boaters as well as hikers, who can walk along the trail that lines the western shoreline. The trail is accessible from the main campground, but there are also two day-use areas and a group camp that offer access to the lake.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

HISTORIC BATHHOUSE

Built in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Cleawox Lake Bathhouse today houses historical information about the state park, including a history on Jessie M. Honeyman herself, an advocate for natural resources in Oregon during the 1920s and ‘30s. The park was officially named for Honeyman in 1941.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

OREGON'S BEST STATE PARKS

Oregonians' 12 favorite parks: We asked our readers for their favorite state parks, and they answered with a solid top 12.

Beverly Beach: With a nice beach, bridge and, yes, some crowds, Beverly Beach is a beautiful slice of the coast.

Silver Falls: The lush waterfall paradise is pure Oregon magic, with one of the very best hikes in the state.

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--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB

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