The Rockaway Cedar, Cedar Wetlands Preserve, Rockaway Beach (bobcat)

• Start point: Island Street Trailhead
• End point: Rockaway Cedar
• Trail log:
• Hike Type: In and out
• Distance: 0.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 10 feet
• High Point: 60 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

At 154 feet in height and almost 50 feet in circumference, Rockaway Beach’s magnificent old cedar resides amid a tiny remnant of coastal bog among other big spruce and cedar trees. Along this developed stretch of coastline, it’s a surprise to explore the dark interior of such a primeval swamp, 45 acres in all preserved in the Old Growth Cedar Wetlands Preserve.

Hike into the salal on a rooty trail in coastal Sitka spruce/western hemlock forest. Especially note a couple of large spruce trees. Soon reach the platform around the Rockaway Cedar, one of Oregon’s biggest trees and, with its gnarly bark and contorted trunk, one of the most personable at an estimated 500-900 years old. Look up and note the hemlocks that sprouted high above and sent their roots down through the tree’s rotten core. The platform here was constructed to avoid soil compaction, so please stay on it.

Recent storm damage has obliterated much of the use trail system that once threaded this small but densely forested area. For further explorations, go left from the tree and note other large cedars. Hike through Saltair Creek’s soggy bottomland through tunnels of salal, evergreen huckleberry, and salmonberry. Short boardwalks and log slabs assist in the exploration, but these can be dangerously slippery when wet. Trails branch out, but all seem to end at a fallen tree or a soggy portion of the swamp.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Dogs on leash
• Don't block private driveways near trailhead

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Rockaway Cedar Preserve Hike

• Oregon’s north coast: some mini-hikes

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Rockaway Cedar Preserve Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• none

More Links

• Cedar Wetlands Preserve (Ocean’s Edge)
• Rockaway Cedar (Ascending the Giants)
• “Astoria, Rockaway Beach city trails lead to unusually big trees” (Oregon Live)
• Rockaway Beach Old-Growth Cedar Wetlands Preserve (Lil bit)
• Cedar Wetlands (light-in-leaves)
• Fun Fact (City of Rockaway Beach)
• “Viewing platform will help protect giant red cedar” (Tillamook Headlight Tribune)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)