Crescent Beach Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Ecola State Park Trailhead
- End point: Chapman Point
- Hike type: In and out
- Distance: 3.6 miles
- Elevation gain: 310 feet
- High point: 300 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
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Hike Description
This secluded little beach, hemmed in by two well-photographed headlands, Ecola Point and Chapman Point is only 1 1/4 miles from the busy parking lot at Ecola State Park. Only a small percentage of day trippers make it down to the beach, however, and you can enjoy the caves at Ecola Point and views of the sea stacks off both points - Sea Lion Rocks at Ecola Point and Bird Rocks at Chapman Point - in relative isolation. At low tide, the tide pools invite exploration and pelicans, sea lions, and seals are frequently spotted offshore.
First, take a little time to wander around Ecola Point. From various points around the parking area and from paved trails, you can get views south to Haystack Rock and Cape Falcon as well as north to the offshore Tillamook Rock Light and Tillamook Head. Off of Ecola Point itself, the largest sea stack, Sea Lion Rock, sports a natural arch. Look for all manner of sea birds: pelicans are profuse in the summer, as are cormorants, murres and gulls. (The trail farther out to the point has been permanently closed since 2015.)
Head back to the restrooms. The signed Crescent Beach Trail begins to the left side of these. Walk up some steps and then drop into lush woods. Sitka spruce, alder, sword fern and red elderberry dominate. There are more steps up and then you cross a service road and meet Ecola Park Road. Follow the road for about 70 yards and then drop down on the trail again. Get a view at a bench at the top of a cliff and then head into the spruce forest. Both elk and deer are common in these woods, so keep an eye out and an ear pricked! Emerge at a clifftop viewpoint and then you’re back into deeper woods. The trail runs into a lush gully. Cross a creek on a plank bridge and traverse up into a salal thicket. Then reenter the woods and rise through dense salal and spruce. The trail drops through a more open thicket to a junction. Keeping left would take you up to Ecola Park Road. Switchback right for Crescent Beach. The trail leads down through alder and young spruce. Switchback three times on a slippery tread. Make a short traverse into an open woodland of spruce, and switchback three more times to cross a footbridge; then, switchback down some wooden steps to the beach.
Walking north, you'll see a small waterfall splashing down to the driftwood-rimmed beach: it is lushly crowned by blooming seawatch, stonecrop, figwort and paintbrush in summer. At Ecola Point, there are caves and two tunnels that you can walk through. At low tide, you can go around the point to a series of pocket beaches, but choose the time of your passage very carefully. Turn back and walk to the south end of the beach at Chapman Point, with the distinctly-shaped Thimble Rock and the Bird Rocks offshore. Chapman Point itself is protected by the small John Yeon State Natural Site, named after the preservationist who bought the land in 1927 to prevent it becoming the site of a dance hall. Yeon later donated the land to the state.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Ecola State Park (Oregon State Parks)
- Green Trails Maps: Oregon Coast North #356SX
- Sky Island Graphics: Oregon Coast Area Trails
- Adventure Maps: NW Coast Trail Map & Guide
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs must be on leash
- $5 day-use parking fee
- Picnic tables, restrooms, interpretive signs
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Crescent Beach Hike
- Ecola State Park 1/2/16
- Walking Among the Wapiti 1/21/2015
- Wonders of Coastal Oregon: Yachats to Seaside and more
- Hiking West of Ecola Point: 5/25/13
- Cannon Beach and Crescent Beach 11/28
- Tolovana to Seaside(and more!) Oct 8th-11
- Four Counties, three dogs, two hikers and a beach
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Crescent Beach Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- I Heart Oregon (& Washington) by Lisa D. Holmes
- Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail by Bonnie Henderson
- 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- Best Hikes with Children: Western & Central Oregon by Bonnie Henderson
- PDX Hiking 365 by Matt Reeder
- Oregon Beaches: A Traveler's Companion by John Shewey
- Oregon Coast Hikes by Paul Williams
- Oregon's Best Coastal Beaches by Dick Trout
- The Oregon Coast Trail Guide by Jon Kenneke (eBook)
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
More Links
- Ecola State Park (Oregon State Parks)
- Ecola State Park (Cannon Beach.net)
- "Crescent Beach at Ecola State Park good for hiking year round (the day's weather allowing)" (Oregon Live)
- Architect & Preservationist John Yeon (Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)