Summer days are the getaway days for families on the go – perhaps to set out on a camping trip or a stream side picnic lunch. I recently discovered along the Oregon coast, it’s also a chance to try something entirely new.

On this Grant’s Getaway, all you need is a rake, a bucket and a spirit of adventure to try raking bay clams along the Oregon coast. Summer mornings along the coast are often met by folks in hip boots with shovels or rakes – but they’re not there to work, rather they’ve come to play; especially on a minus low tide on Tillamook Bay at a place where clamming is king.

There are six species of bay clams found in Oregon’s estuaries. Four are most popular for the rake and shovel crowd; they are called “Steamers,” “Butters,” “Gapers” and our clam of choice, “Cockles.”

Each clam-raker is allowed twenty cockles and must carry his/her own container and an Oregon shellfish license that costs $6.50 is required of each clammer 14 years and older.

I think that the best part of this recreation is that even the littlest ones can do it and have some success – it offers a little bit of mud or sand, a whole lot of estuary water, but there are lots of clams.

Recipe for Seafood Getaway Chowder (pdf)

Oregon Shellfish regulations (pdf)