The official day 5 of our epic Pacific Coast Highway road trip began when we left Florence, Oregon and we started making our way towards California. As we turned a corner on the PCH, we saw two massive dinosaurs looming in the distance and decided to pull over to see what they were.
Turns out, we were at an incredible park that opened a few months before Disneyland on the west coast, that boasts 23 life size dino replicas on beautiful rainforest trails. We took a few photos in the parking lot and then decided to go in and check it out.
As you walk into the park, you get a quick history lesson on the age of the dinosaurs.
The trail is a loop around the property that walks you through the various stages of time and various dinosaur species.
You also get a quick lesson on the rain levels in this area of the state – it was crazy to find so many rainforests in the US! We had previously done hikes at the Marymere Falls and in the Hoh Rainforest, so this was a new surprise treat.
The dino statues are in good condition, and while kind of cheesy, are still pretty cool to see.
They also give you a few facts about each dinosaur as you pass by.
We took about 20 minutes or so to walk the trail, mostly because we were so blown away still by the incredible scenery. We legitimately did not expect to see so much greenery and dense forest within Oregon.
There were some crazy trees as we walked around, and those may have amazed us even more than the massive dinos.
At the end you also cross a fun bridge underneath the massive tree canopy.
Overall, we were very glad that we stopped and paid to walk through this exhibit. If you have kids, they will LOVE the dinosaurs. If you don’t, it’s still an amazing way to walk around yet another gorgeous Oregonian rainforest.
We loved being able to take another break in the day to explore things we would never have found if we weren’t on this road trip. Check out the rest of our Pacific Coast itinerary here!
