Beaver Creek Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Beaver Creek Trailhead (Brian Booth)
- End point: Snaggy Point
- Hike type: Lollipop loop
- Distance: 4.6 miles
- Elevation gain: 440 feet
- High point: 365 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: Year round
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
Beaver Creek's 375 acres were added to the Oregon State Park system in 2010 after the land here was purchased with state lottery funds and federal dollars from a Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Wetland Grant. The home on the property was remodeled to become a small visitor center, and a short loop trail leads from here to a viewpoint over the expansive marshes below. Another trail leads from the visitor center through a band of spruce forest. After a short stint on Beaver Creek Road, you can pick up the Beaver Marsh Trail from the Kayak Slough Trailhead. This leads across the marsh to a network of trails around the forested knoll at Snaggy Point. The connection across the marshes is only open seasonally when water levels drop, so during the height of the wet season (late fall into spring), you need to park at the Beaver Creek Winter Trailhead to access the Snaggy Point trails. In 2013, the Beaver Creek State Natural Area was combined with the state park at Ona Beach to form the new Brian Booth State Park, named after the first Chair of the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission.
First, stop in at the visitor center, open only during the afternoons seven days a week. Exhibits tell about the wildlife, plants, and ecology of the marshes. Bird feeders attract a variety of colorful species, especially in the spring and fall. From the visitor center, walk southwest past the parking area to pick up the short Overlook Loop, which arrives at an interpretive viewpoint over the wetlands. Return to the parking area and take the Beaver Marsh Trail down the slope through salal thickets. You'll pass pass an abandoned connector trail and walk under powerlines to enter a Sitka spruce/hemlock/alder forest on a chip trail bordered by skunk-cabbage. Soon reach Beaver Creek Road, where you need to go right and follow the road verge down to the Kayak Slough Trailhead. Pick up a grassy path that tunnels through willows and passes over a spiraea-lined channel. Next, you'll reach Kayak Slough, with its canoe launch deck. Continue to follow the trail as it winds through the open wetlands, which have been heavily invaded by reed canary-grass. The trail veers left at the drainage channel of Simpson Creek and then follows Beaver Creek upstream to a wooden vehicle bridge. After crossing the bridge, go right at the junction with the Beaver Loop Trail.
The path heads up and levels where it enters a small valley. There are various trail junctions here, but keep to the Beaver Creek Loop. The trail rises and drops again to pass under overhanging Sitka spruce, red alder and elderberry. Reach some sheds and a port-a-potty above the marshes of South Beaver Creek. Soon arrive at the service road which leads out to the Beaver Creek Winter Trailhead.
At this junction, keep left above a firewood shed. You'll see a small open valley down on your left. At a saddle, make a left at the junction with the Elk Meadow and Bear Valley Trails. Heading up the ridge, pass one junction and go left at the next onto the Snaggy Point Loop. The trail rises past a junction and keeps to the ridge crest on an old road track. At Snaggy Point, there is a picnic table with some views west along the marshes on Beaver Creek to the ocean. Drop down to a four-way junction, and go right on the Snaggy Point Trail. The trail descends through elderberry/salmonberry thickets. At the junction with the North Fork Trail, keep right, passing a field on your left. Next, keep right when you meet the North Beaver Trail as well. In the spring and fall, migrating newts seem to take over the tread, so step carefully. Reach the Beaver Creek Loop again and turn left.
The trail heads down with a mossy Douglas-fir/Sitka spruce gully to the right. Pass through an open grassy area, and then walk along the track with the wetlands to the right. Reach the junction with the Beaver Marsh Trail and go right across the bridge to return to your vehicle.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Trails at Beaver Creek (Oregon State Parks)
- Green Trails Maps: Oregon Coast Central #456SX
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- No fees
- Dogs on leash
- Visitor center open 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. daily
- Restrooms and picnic area at visitor center; port-a-potty at the sheds on the Beaver Creek Loop Trail
- Beaver Marsh Trail closed during the wet months
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Beaver Creek Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Beaver Creek Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Best Hikes With Kids: Oregon by Bonnie Henderson & Zach Urness
- 100 Hikes: Oregon Coast by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
More Links
- Brian Booth State Park (Beaver Creek) (Oregon State Parks)
- Brian Booth State Park (Oregon State Parks)
- Brian Booth Park (Oregon Adventures)
- Beaver Creek State Natural Area (Travel Oregon)
- Visit a newer park on the Oregon Coast (Oregon Forests)
- Grant's Getaways: Beaver Creek State Park (Grant's Getaways)
- Beaver Creek State Natural Area (Outdoor Project)
- "Beaver Creek State Natural Area will bring nature closer" (Oregon Live)
- "Critters love Beaver Creek State Natural Area, just inland from Pacific near Newport" (Oregon Live)
- "Hike, kayak at new state park on coast" (Statesman Journal)
- Vegetation Inventory and Botanical Resource Assessment for the Beaver Creek State Natural Area and Ona Beach State Park Complex of Properties (Oregon State Parks)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)