Ona Beach to Seal Rock Hike

Overview

This interesting beach walk takes in some of the most scenic marvels of the central Oregon coast. From the mouth of Beaver Creek, walk south to inspect fossil-rich wavecut platforms composed of Yaquina formation sandstone. Two miles of sandy beach from the trailhead, cut up to Highway 101 to take in the views of the spectacular basalt formations at the Seal Rock State Recreation Site. Down on the beaches, you can scan the rocks for harbor seals and sea lions. At low tide, a marvelous contorted sandstone platform, where Hill Creek cascades through tide pools and mussel beds to the sea, becomes exposed. This last section of the hike, which begins at the Seal Rock Trailhead and ends at Smith Point is a very worthy short excursion in and of itself. Ona Beach is part of the recently retitled (2013) Brian Booth State Park, named after the first Chair of the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission. Ona is Chinook jargon for razor clam. Take the paved trail that leads out towards the beach. Some of this route maybe be flooded in winter/spring, in which case you can detour around the south side of the restrooms. A sturdy wooden bridge arches over Beaver Creek, and the path soon emerges onto Ona Beach. To the right, a small spit reaches to the mouth of Beaver Creek. Walk left under sandstone bluffs capped by tortured spruces and clifftop homes. The wavecut platform here is highly eroded sandstone of the Yaquina Formation, laid down during the Oligocene epoch, about 30 million years ago. Rounded concretions of harder rock, really agglutinations of smaller particles that formed around a shell, bone, or chunk of iron, protrude in symmetrical rows (Note that these formations will mostly be covered in sand in the summer). This area has been a trove for fossil hunters. One of the most prolific of these was Douglas Emlong, who found the remains of megafuana such as a desmostylian (a hippopotamus-like creature); an ancient sea-lion that resembled its bear-like ancestors; and a whale that possessed both teeth and baleen.

Trail Stats

Photos

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