Crescent Beach Hike

Overview

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

Trail Stats

Photos

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