Netarts Spit Hike

Overview

Netarts Spit's long narrow tongue closes off Netarts Bay between the headlands of Cape Lookout and Maxwell Point. This is the longest and arguably the most secluded spit hike along the north Oregon Coast. On this hike, get views from Cape Lookout to Maxwell Point, including the massive offshore stacks of Three Arch Rocks. The first section of beach north of the day-use area in Cape Lookout State Park cannot be hiked at high tide. When the tide is out, it's a 40-yard wide sandy expanse, with hard sand closer to the water. The high section of the first part of the beach is also overlaid with loose lava cobbles that are difficult to walk on. By keeping inland and heading up the center of the spit, you get to experience the shore pine and Sitka spruce thickets of the interior as well as the shore of Netarts Bay. Where the spit trails peter out, you can head over to the beach via the dunes. From the trailhead, walk past a picnic shelter on a gravel trail. The path enters a salal/Sitka spruce copse. The ocean is eating away the verge here and, if it's high tide, you can’t get to the beach. In that case, keep to the high ground and pass through a willow thicket to reach group campgrounds B and A. Cross an old parking area that is being given up to the ocean. Keep straight along a road into a closed part of the campground, passing a restroom building. From this campground loop, there are views east to the marshes at the south end of Netarts Bay. You can also ascend the dunes to view the surf. From the end of the campground area, a grassy road track leads into the vegetated center of the spit. There are stands of spruce, shore pine, willow and Scots broom. The vehicle road ends at a grassy expanse and becomes a well-worn footpath that tunnels into shore pine/spruce thickets. However, at certain times there is a lot of standing water on this trail, so you have to make diversions to higher ground on the left. Some of these paths are deer trails. At a narrow part of the spit, a spur leads to the bay shore, now under hig

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