Tillamook Head Traverse Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Tillamook Head Trailhead
- End point: Indian Beach Trailhead
- Hike type: Traverse
- Distance: 6.3 miles
- Elevation gain: 1350 feet
- High point: 1,165 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: On summer weekends
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Hike Description
This traverse hike, a designated National Recreation Trail and also part of the Oregon Coast Trail, can be shuttled by beginning at either the Indian Beach Trailhead in Ecola State Park, just north of Cannon Beach, or the Tillamook Head Trailhead, although the latter is a better choice if you're doing this as a 12.6 mile out and back trip because you don't have to pay the state parks day use fee. The Tillamook Head Trailhead is just south of Seaside. The hike takes you up over a thousand feet above the ocean in old-growth Sitka spruce/hemlock forest, the high point being near the tree-cloaked summit of Clark's Mountain. There are only occasional ocean views, including from near Hikers Camp, which has a viewpoint of the Tillamook Rock Light. In this area, you'll also find the site of a World War II radar station. The end point is at Indian Beach, where Captain Clark of the Lewis & Clark Expedition noted that there had once been an Indian settlement.
From the Tillamook Head Trailhead, the trail begins opposite a gated development next to signs extolling Elmer Feldenheimer, whose widow donated the property just west of the trail that is now the undeveloped Elmer Feldenheimer State Natural Area. Cross a small creek, head up, and switchback. A sign proclaims Ecola Point is seven miles and Hikers Camp is four miles. This is lush Sitka spruce, hemlock, and alder forest, with deer fern, sword fern, and salal forming the understory. The trail veers right above a gully and levels. You'll pass a giant spruce and a gap in the trees giving a view out on the ocean. Soon, circumvent an area of spruce/hemlock blowdown and traverse up, switchback, and pass another huge Sitka spruce. There are 15 more switchbacks before you make a level traverse across an alder slope and head up. Pass a spur leading through a salmonberry thicket to the left. The spur reaches a road track: heading right on this would take you near the unprepossessing summit of Clark's Mountain. (Captain William Clark, Sacagawea, and a few other members of the expedition made this traverse in January 1806, no doubt using a long-established but brushy Indian trail, in order to purchase blubber (whale oil) from the locals at Cannon Beach, who were rendering a beached whale. The group also passed burial canoes of the Kilamox (Tillamook) along the route.)
On the main trail, continue through mossy woods and switchback up. The path drops and rises through hemlock wood with short stretches of boardwalk. The trail now descends and a spur leads right to a viewpoint. There’s more boardwalk, and then the trail drops along the edge of a cliff. In the vicinity of Clarks’ Viewpoint, the trail undulates along the edge of the cliff and passes a massive ten foot wide rotted stump. You'll also spot other huge springboarded stumps attesting to aggressive logging in the past. Find a viewpoint to the right as you enter second-growth spruce forest. Eight short switchbacks take you down to the Hikers Camp and its little log shelters, picnic shelter, and vault toilet. (The overnight shelters are available only to through-hikers of the Oregon Coast Trail; the way this is enforced is by the banning of overnight parking at each of the trailheads.) Make a right to follow a road track down past the World War II battery emplacements, now safely gated up. This track ends eventually at a viewpoint which looks across to the Tillamook Rock Light.
After passing the outhouse at Hikers Camp, go right on the hiking trail between two huge stumps and into secondary forest. This area can become overgrown, but there are many berries to be had along the way at the right time of year. The trail drops and you can see the service road below, the other leg of the Clatsop Loop Hike. Keep heading down past larger spruce trees, and then descend a grassy hillside of younger spruce, salal, and sword fern. Make two switchbacks, getting a view south to Neahkahnie Mountain, and then drop two more switchbacks before you wind down to some clifftop viewpoints. The trail turns inland past some large spruces. The road is again visible just below. Reach a bench and a lovely viewpoint over Indian Beach and back to Indian Point. Then head left and down across a footbridge over Indian Creek to the loop junction, whence you go right to the parking area at the Indian Beach Trailhead.
The section of the Oregon Coast Trail from Indian Beach to the Ecola State Park Trailhead was washed out in 2017. A new rerouted section was reopened at the end of 2020 (see the Ecola Point to Indian Beach Hike).
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Ecola State Park (Oregon State Parks)
- Green Trails Maps: Oregon Coast North #356SX
- Sky Island Graphics: Oregon Coast Area Trails
- Adventure Maps: NW Coast Trail Map & Guide
Regulations or Restrictions, etc.
- Ecola State Park (one end of the shuttle hike) has a fee of $5.00 per day.
- Dogs on leash
- Interpretive signs at the Tillamook Head Trailhead
- Restrooms and picnic tables at the Indian Beach Trailhead
- Vault toilet and covered picnic shelter at Hikers Camp (overnight shelters available only to OCT hikers)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Tillamook Head Traverse Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Tillamook Head Traverse Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes: Oregon Coast by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon Favorites: Trails & Tales by William L. Sullivan
- One Night Wilderness: Portland by Douglas Lorain
- 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Portland by Paul Gerald
- Hiking Oregon by Donna Lynn Ikenberry
- PDX Hiking 365 by Matt Reeder
- Oregon's Ancient Forests: A Hiking Guide by Chandra LeGue
- Day Hikes in the Pacific Northwest by Don J. Scarmuzzi
- 50 Hiking Trails: Portland and Northwest Oregon by Don and Roberta Lowe
- 100 Oregon Hiking Trails by Don and Roberta Lowe
- A Walking Guide to Oregon's Ancient Forests by Wendell Wood
- Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail by Connie Soper
- Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail by Bonnie Henderson
- 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- Best Hikes with Children: Western & Central Oregon by Bonnie Henderson
- Portland Hikes by Art Bernstein and Andrew Jackman
- Oregon Coast Camping & Hiking by Tom Stienstra & Sean Patrick Hill
- Oregon Coast Hikes by Paul M. Williams
- The Oregon Coast Trail Guide by Jon Kenneke (eBook)
- Oregon Coast Trail: Hiking Inn to Inn by Jack D. Remington
- A Hiker's Guide to the Oregon Coast Trail by David E.M. Bucy & Mary C. McCauley
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannon
- Hiking Oregon's History by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon Favorites: Trails and Tales by William L. Sullivan
More Links
- Ecola State Park (Oregon State Parks)
- Tillamook Head backpacking (I Heart Pacific Northwest)
- Seaside’s Very Own Rainforest: Tillamook Head (Seaside, Oregon)
- Tillamook Head Hike (Outdoor Project)
- Tillamook Head (Oregon Adventures)
- Tillamook Head (Oregon.com)
- The Tillamook Head Traverse Hike Leads to An Abandoned Bunker (That Oregon Life)
- "Tillamook Head hike walks on the wild side of Ecola State Park" (Oregon Live)
- Tillamook Head Trail (NRT Database)
- Clark's Mountain (Tillamook Head) (Summit Post)
- Tillamook Rock Lighthouse (Lighthouse Friends)
- "Terrible Tillie, Where the Departed Rest Not Quite in Peace" (New York Times)