Cannon Beach

When we moved to Portland, we made a list of all the places we needed to see in our short time here. Some of our favorite hikes this trip have been along the coast (Big Sur, Na’pali, Muir Beach), so Cannon Beach was high on the list. You may recognize the location from a little piece of 80s cinema – The Goonies. The last weekend in February, we truffle shuffled our way to the Oregon coast in search of some vitamin sea.

Look familiar?

Look again.

The forecast called for rain, but the weather ended up being absolutely beautiful! We found a 6 mile trail that wound up the coast and ended with a view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. The trail had some climbs and technical aspects, but overall was rated moderate. The most difficult part was navigating through all the mud! While Beth was not a fan (we were ill equipped with trail running shoes rather than hiking boots) Snickers had the time of her life. That pup lives for the trails.

There were quite a few people on the first half of the trail, but once it hit the beach not many people continued on. We stopped at the water to play in the surf for a bit then went on for another 3 miles. Snickers has come a long way from when she first met the Pacific; she still won’t jump in the water (can you blame her? It’s 50 degrees!) but she will “attack” the foam.

The second half of the trail was much drier and climbed a bit higher towards the Tillamook Lighthouse. That part of the hike got more direct sunlight, so we were able to shed some layers and feel the sun on our arms! It was much welcome after the chilly rains we’ve been having. We had some gorgeous views along the coast and couldn’t help but stop and take it all in. If you look closely in the second picture below you can see the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse – it’s the tiny speck on the far right. We looped around and ended up back at the beach. Rather than taking the same route, we walked part of the way back along the beach to get out of the mud for a minute, and had some fun running from the waves…they’ll sneak up on you as Matt found out.

On our way home, we stopped at the Cannon Beach Hardware store for lunch. Yep, a hardware store; there were a lot of screw and brew jokes, naturally. We downed some grub and had a beer before heading home. While it’s a drive, we definitely recommend making the day trip to the coast if you find yourself in Oregon.

Cheers!