Hiking Tillamook Head

Maps, Photos, Directions, and Trail information is below

Okay, so we didn’t make it all the way to Tillamook Head, I’ll tell you why later. We actually spent most of our time on the Clatsop trail loop. This trail is great, we took the access road up to the hikers camp. The road is obviously wide. The grade is constant uphill all the way to the camp. There is a creek running alongside the trail and the scenery is great. We were very surprised when we got to the hikers camp. We were expecting a rustic area set aside for camping. Instead what we found was 3 wooden shelters, each with four wooden bunks. There was also a covered picnic table and a fire ring. The camp also has a pile of firewood in sacks, for a $5 donation you can make yourself a nice fire without having to worry about finding any wood. The hikers camp sits at a crossroads of sorts, from here you can go to a viewpoint, get on the other half of the Clatsop trail, or take a trail to Tillamook Head and then Seaside. First we went the 1/8 mile to the viewpoint. On the way there is a WWII radar bunker. The equipment is gone, but it was interesting to look at the bunker. The view at the viewpoint is great, you are standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Tillamook Lighthouse (Terrible Tilly). After taking some pictures we headed back to the hikers camp. From there we continued to Tillamook Head. The trail has not been cleared from the winter storms and there are a lot of trees down across the trail. As we hiked we talked about how fun it would be to camp in the shelters and then hike into Seaside, once we decided that this was a good idea we wanted to turn around so that when we came back the trail would still be new to us. On our way back we saw two Bald Eagles flying along the edge of the cliff. I have never seen a bald eagle in the wild; I must say it was great. When we got back to hikers camp we got on the trail portion of the Clatsop Trail headed back to Ecola State Park. This trail was beautiful; the forest was green with ferns and other plant life. The trail affords many views of the ocean and at times Cannon Beach.

The trail was great and so was the weather, I can’t wait to return and stay at the hikers camp overnight.

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Trail Details
Length: 4.3 miles (This is the distance we hiked, the Clatsop trail is actually shorter than this)
Elevation Change: 1000 ft.

Maps
Google Earth
Google Maps

Photos
Click here to see the photo gallery

Other Sources
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_188.php
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/images/pdf/ecola-clatsop-map.pdf
http://www.oregon.com/hiking/tillamook_head.cfm

Getting There
The Clatsop trail is accessed from within Ecola State Park, in Cannon Beach Oregon. Park at the Indian Point Parking, go to the information post and you will see the trail heading north.