Revision as of 00:34, 12 July 2018

View to Meyers Point, Pistol River State Park (bobcat)

Salal (Gaultheria shallon), Cape Sebastian (bobcat)

Looking north to Gold Beach, Humbug Mountain, and Cape Blanco from Cape Sebastian (bobcat)

Churning chasm, Cape Sebastian (bobcat)

Cave Rock, Meyers Creek Beach (bobcat)

The route from Otter Point to the mouth of the Rogue River (not a GPS track) (bobcat) Courtesy: Google Maps

• Start point: Otter Point Trailhead
• End point: Rogue River North Jetty
• Trail log:
• Hike Type: In and out
• Distance: 7.7 miles
• Elevation gain: 160 feet
• High Point: 130 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes, in sections
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

The rather obscure Otter Point State Recreation Site is just off the Old Coast Road north of Brookings. Otter Point juts into the ocean, a thick soft layer of terrace deposits over vertically folded layers of sandstone and shale. Views extend almost 100 miles from Cape Blanco in the north to Point St. George in the south. To lengthen your day, take the Oregon Coast Trail down to Bailey and hike south to the Rogue River North Jetty. Bring binoculars to scope out impressive Needle Rock in the Rogue River Reef far offshore, and to search for seals, sea lions, and seabirds when you’re at the jetty. There’s a hike and bike option also using Old Coast Road. Stash a bike at one end, and hike to it from the other.

From the north end of the parking lot, get a view north to Agate Beach below with its array of offshore stacks and the next promontory, Hubbard Mound, with Humbug Mountain farther north. Take the trail out to Otter Point, passing the junction with the Oregon Coast Trail. Hike through a Sitka spruce/shorepine/salal/evergreen huckleberry tunnel and arrive at the soft terrace headland, but don’t stand too close to the edges – these can collapse at any time. Vegetated spots support crowberry, lupine, paintbrush, angelica, and coast strawberry. Shrubs include coyote brush and blueblossom ceanothus. You’ll get the same views north, but from here you can see all the way south to Point St. George in California. With binoculars scan for the St. George Reef Light six miles offshore. Bailey Beach forms a wide sweeping stretch south to the Rogue River, and an interesting family of odd-shaped stacks are scattered around the point. Out to sea, look for the rocks of the Rogue River Reef, especially distinctive Needle Rock, which looks like it was transplanted straight from Monument Valley.

After taking in your fill, head back to the junction with the Oregon Coast Trail, and go right. Pass under spruce, alder, and waxmyrtle and then a small grove of Oregon-myrtle with larger spruce trees. Also look for silk tassel and azalea shrubs. There’s another view south over the beach. Switchback down twice above Old Coast Road, and pass through a salmonberry thicket. Tiger lilies bloom here as does starry Solomon-plume in early spring. Cow parsnip flourishes among the vines of big root (wild cucumber). Cross a creek on a footbridge, and arrive at the beach. the Rogue River North Jetty is 2.8 miles away, but you could also turn around at Miners Fort Point, only 1.8 miles from the creek.

Out on the beach, first look back at the Otter Point headland, and note its two distinct layers. Notice also the arch in the point, which you can only see from this angle. Keep walking south, and cross a second small creek. Vehicles are permitted on this beach, but you’re unlikely to encounter other humans at this north end. Foredunes vegetated with beachgrass back the sandy strand. You can make out the radio towers atop a forested knoll. There are rocks on the beach and more offshore as the tread becomes more cobbled. Pass the emergency locator #173 where there is a path that accesses the beach from Old Coast Road. Cross a small creek, and reach the first houses of the Rogue Shores development. There are more rocks offshore as you round Miners Fort Point, which is near the location where local settlers underwent a 30-day siege in a driftwood bastion after 23 of their number had been killed in a battle with the Rogue River Indians. The high headland to the south is Cape Sebastian.

Continuing along the beach, you’ll pass the last of the Rogue Shores houses and then dark Knox Rock offshore. When you arrive at the Rogue River North Jetty, constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1960-61, you can walk out to observe seals, sea lions, and various sea birds in the river and surf. Then walk along the north bank of the Rogue to a parking area, and come to the whimsical Fort Feline, a colorful village of small wood homes (including a lighthouse) for the local feral cat population. Volunteers from a charity called Jetty Cats Plus began building these structures in the early 1990s because the local animal shelter had no space for cats.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Otter Point day use open: 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Otter Point to Rogue River Hike

• Oregon’s South Coast 2-06 – 2-08-18

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Otter Point to Rogue River Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Oregon’s Best Wildflower Hikes: Southwest Region by Elizabeth L. Horn
• 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range by William L. Sullivan
• 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
• Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
• Oregon Coast Hikes by Paul M. Williams
• Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail by Connie Soper
• Oregon Coast Trail: Hiking Inn to Inn by Jack D. Remington
• The Oregon Coast Trail Guide by Jon Kenneke (eBook)
• Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
• Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
• Oregon’s Best Coastal Beaches by Dick Trout

More Links

• Otter Point State Recreation Site (Oregon State Parks)
• Otter Point (Gold Beach, Oregon)
• Otter Point State Recreation Site (Outdoor Project)
• Otter Point (Oregon Adventures)
• Otter Point and Bailey Beach (Oregon California Coast)
• Bailey Beach, Oregon (Gold Beach, Oregon)
• “Gold Beach uses Otter Point headland to break up sandy Curry County coast” (Oregon Live)
• Rogue River at Gold Beach (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
• “Coast’s felines get a housing upgrade” (Mail Tribune)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)