Oregon Coast Camping: Surfing, Simple Camping Meals & Life With a Chuk Box
In the fall, when the PNW gets cold and grey, I wanted to get out of town, test some gear, and spend some time looking for good campsites and even better surf spots along the coast.
I didn’t have a big plan or a fixed timeline.
I grabbed a few essentials, threw the Chuk Kitchen Box in the back of my truck, tossed in a board, and headed down the coast. I didn’t check the forecast. I didn’t map out campsites. I just knew there were good surf spots in Washington and along the Oregon coast, and I figured I’d see how far I could make it in a few weeks.
Trips like that, where you only really have one goal and everything else is open, usually end up being the best kind of camping.
Surfing, then a Quick Camp Breakfast
Most mornings were pretty simple.
Wake up near the beach or somewhere I pulled off down an FSR road. Pull on a jacket. Walk out and check the surf. Sometimes it was blown out and messy. Sometimes it was clean and firing. The good thing about going in the fall is that it was almost never crowded.
In Manzanita, I surfed a spot called Short Sands early one morning. It was a 15-minute hike down to cold water, an empty lineup, and great waves. Turned out to be one of my favorite sessions. Afterward, I went back to the truck, opened up my camp kitchen, and made a quick breakfast before a few more cars started pulling into the lot.
To me, those are the best kind of mornings.
Surf first.
Cook after.
Having a chuck box makes that easy. Everything’s already organized. Stove, coffee setup, and utensils all in the same place every day. No digging through bins. No unpacking half the truck.
Just open it, fire it up, and eat.
Empty Waves and Cooking Simple Meals by the Coast
Further south near Port Orford, I rounded a corner and saw some of the best waves I’d seen all trip. The perfect waves rolling in one after the other with no crowd in sight.
Without even thinking about it, I pulled over, suited up, and paddled out as fast as I could.
That session was one of the highlights and made the whole trip worth it.
When I got out of the water, I climbed back up to a pullout overlooking the spot and made breakfast right there. Eggs, tortillas, coffee. Simple camping meals, nothing elaborate. But sitting there eating while looking at the waves I’d just surfed is hard to beat.
That’s where a solid chuck camp kitchen box earns its keep. It turns a random roadside pullout into a legit cooking setup in under a minute.
Local Tips and Conversations Around the Camp Kitchen Go a Long Way
One of the best parts of this trip wasn’t even the surfing; it was the people.
I’d stop at a small café or bar in town and end up talking to someone local. They’d tell me about a quiet beach access point, or an FSR road where I could camp without being bothered. Most of those spots aren’t online, but you'll come across a lot when you chat with the locals. We put together a list of a few of our favorite Pacific Northwest Spots here.
A few mornings, people wandered over to my campsite, curious about my setup. The Chuk Kitchen Box tends to do that. I ended up making coffee for a couple of folks who just wanted to see how the whole camp kitchen worked.
That’s something I didn’t plan on, but it happened more than once. A quick coffee turns into a 20-minute conversation. Next thing you know, they’re telling you about their favorite surf spot or a new road to check out.
Why These Trips Work
I didn’t have a route mapped out. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone. I just knew I wanted to surf and spend time outside.
Having a reliable camp kitchen setup made that kind of unstructured camping easy. I could pull off almost anywhere, cook a solid meal, and keep moving.
Just drive, check waves, cook, repeat.
Sometimes the best trips aren’t the ones you plan for months. They’re the ones where you throw a board and a chuck box in the truck and head down the coast with no idea what you’ll find.
If you’re into surfing, simple camping meals, and figuring it out as you go, the Oregon coast in the fall is hard to beat.
And having a Chuk camp kitchen box along for the ride just makes it that much smoother.
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