2.8 hr
Overview
The Oregon Coast Trail cobbles together beach and headland hikes to stretch, with gaps here and there, from Clatsop Spit to the California border. The stretch between the community of Arch Cape and Cape Falcon, in Oswald West State Park, is one the of the least travelled and therefore one which affords some solitude - although civilization is never too far away. The woods are often dark and deep, but once the coastal cliffs are attained, the hiker gets views of Cape Falcon's rugged cliffs, actually three headlands, before descending to the more peopled, but beautiful Sitka spruce forest near Short Sand Beach. In addition to the in and out hike, there are a couple of other options here: Hike past the Oregon Coast Trail sign, which is at a telephone pole, and up a driveway to a nice suspension bridge over Arch Cape Creek. Next is a footbridge over a tributary. Here, the forest is composed of red alder, western hemlock, western red-cedar, Sitka spruce, and sword fern. Ascend gradually on an old road bed. Notice big cedar stumps in an area known as 'Parodice [sic] Gardens': You'll see the sign on a trail leading right with its "pair of dice" rolled to a 3 and 4 (maybe a craps seven) illustrated! The gardens seem to consist of a large patch of Skimmia japonica, which has fragrant cream-colored flowers; the female plants exhibit red berries in the fall. The trail levels and then rises again into older woods of spruce and hemlock. Deer fern, salal, sword fern, and red huckleberry are the common understory plants. Make three switchbacks up past some big spruces before traversing up in dense newer forest. The trail levels, dips, and rises through a salmonberry thicket before becoming level. Walk along an old road bed on the ocean side of the slope and see Highway 101 below. The trails drops through a salmonberry clearing and then passes more big spruce before rising again. Then the path makes a final drop on an old logging road hemmed in by alders to reach Highway 101. The Coast Trail resumes 50 yards south on the
Trail Stats
0.0 km
838 m
0 m
0 m
—
Photos
400px-ArchCapeShortSandMap
400px-ArchCapeShortSandMap
250px-ArchCapeShortSand2
250px-ArchCapeShortSand2
250px-Indian_pipe_%28Monotropa_uniflora%29%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-Indian_pipe_%28Monotropa_uniflora%29%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-Under_the_spruces%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-Under_the_spruces%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-Parodice_Gardens_sign%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-Parodice_Gardens_sign%2C_Oregon_Coast_Trail
250px-ArchCapeShortSand1
250px-ArchCapeShortSand1
400px-ArchCapeShortSand3
400px-ArchCapeShortSand3
TKO put tools to trail here.png
TKO put tools to trail here.png