Lighthouse at orange sunset over ocean, West Coast

West Coast watchtower

If you can believe it, this wet and windy headland lies just up the coast from a desert landscape that inspired the 'Dune' novels and films. Beaming more than 20 miles into the open Pacific Ocean off the rocky Oregon Coast, Heceta Head Light has stood watch 200 feet above the crashing sea since its first lighting in 1894. The beacon sits halfway up a steep headland north of the Florence, a city known around the Northwest as a gateway to the Oregon Dunes: the 40-mile stretch of sand that inspired author Frank Herbert to create the arid and perilous planet Arrakis.