Cascade Head Rainforest Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Cascade Head South Trailhead
- End point: Fall Creek Trailhead
- Hike type: In and out
- Distance: 12.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 2530 feet
- High point: 1,340 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
The Oregon Coast Trail cobbles together beach hikes, trails over headlands, and highway shoulder walks to afford continuous passage from Clatsop Spit to the California border. Some sections, especially the road walks, are far less prepossessing than others. The Cascade Head section of the trail (Trail #1310) offers six forested miles up and over the headland. A few years ago, several small landslides and a serious windstorm that brought down a number of large trees on one slope forced the Forest Service to abandon the northern 2 ½ miles of the trail. From 2019 - 2021, Trailkeepers of Oregon has been working on resurrecting this section of the Cascade Head Rainforest Trail so that it will again be navigable by the general public. A shorter option (7.4 miles in and out), would be to hike from the Cascade Head South Trailhead to theCascade Head North Trailhead at FR 1861 and turn around there.
Much of Cascade Head is part of the Siuslaw National Forest. (The other, more popular, Cascade Head Trail, runs up the grassy ocean side of the headland on Nature Conservancy land – see the Cascade Head Hike.) The headland was scorched by the great Nestucca Fire of the 1840s, but pockets of old growth forest from before that time remain. The Cascade Head Experimental Forest was established in 1934 to study the forest environment here. Later, the Neskowin Crest Research Natural Area (1941) and the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area (1974) were designated. Together these protected sections have become a United Nations Biosphere Reserve, one of only three such reserves in the Pacific Northwest, which protects breeding areas of four endangered species (spotted owl, marbled murrelet, coho salmon, Oregon silverspot butterfly). Researchers here have found some of the highest conifer growth rates for any temperate forest on the planet and a vast diversity of mosses and lichens.
Note that all areas of the national forest’s research areas west of Highway 101 are closed between January 1st and July 15th to ensure the best success for nesting birds. However, you are still permitted to hike Trail #1310 during that time as long as you don’t go off trail.
From the parking area, hike up the slope to immediately enter an old-growth forest of Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, western hemlock and red alder. You'll cross a small creek, and switchback among salmonberry, elderberry, sword fern, and deer fern. Make a winding traverse in an understory of salmonberry thickets. The trail dips above a salmonberry bottom and passes a large Douglas-fir. Cross a couple of small creeks, and then pass over a footbridge at a third creek. Hike up through the salmonberry and alder, and bear right where the trail meets an old road bed. Continue to tunnel through the salmonberry/ elderberry jungle before switchbacking off the road bed and gradually rising to cross another old logging road.
Reach a third road bed, where the trail drops a little in now what is predominantly secondary Douglas-fir forest. Pass a grove of hemlocks before entering spruce woods again. The trail is very level for stretches before it leaves the road bed. The narrower tread undulates through a carpet of moss and woods violets, and then drops to cross an alder/salmonberry/elderberry saddle. After ascending the slope past an old trail post, you'll soon enter old-growth Sitka spruce forest. Cross a small creek to pass an impressive Douglas-fir on the right. A stepped boardwalk takes you across a salmonberry/skunk-cabbage swamp in an area of springs. There’s a massive spruce next to the trail at the far end of this boardwalk. Next, pass by a large hemlock and some more big spruce trees before dropping to cross the footbridge over Calkins Creek.
Continuing the traverse, pass above a mossy spruce-shaded seep, leaving the old growth and making a generally level traverse to reach the Cascade Head North Trailhead at FR 1861. From January 1st through July 15th, this road is closed west of the trail to all foot traffic (it is also gated at Highway 101).
The north section of the route begins across the road. The tread traverses along a steep hillside in a secondary forest of spruce and hemlock. Sword fern dominates the slope, and deer fern holds fast to the backslope. Stumps show evidence of logging in this area. The trail bends around the nose of a ridge and makes a long gently descending traverse down. Hike through a salmonberry thicket and pass into a pocket of old-growth Sitka spruce and hemlock. Soon, the trail reenters secondary forest with some large, springboard-notched stumps. Cross a soft slope of seeps before stepping over a small creek. The path then enters a dense younger woodland before traversing a slope where a windstorm toppled a number of large trees a few years ago. The massive Sitka spruce sections not only attest to the majesty of the trees but also the skill of the loggers who worked this area in 2019.
The path now makes two switchbacks and, continuing the descent, you’ll pass above a salmonberry thicket on a soft slope where the tread can be slick when wet. Eventually come to the bottom of the slope at an abandoned road bed, and bear right to follow this track. Fall Creek flows to your left as the trail burrows through an extensive salmonberry thicket that has been cut back. Pass a trail post, and follow a harder gravel tread to come out at a trailhead on Highway 101.
You may not want to return the way you came, so there are a couple of options. You can make this a hike and bike by stashing a bike here so you can cycle back the four miles to the Cascade Head South Trailhead. You could also walk back along the road although that would be a fairly unpleasant experience. Hitchhiking is not really an option: Vehicles are going at 55-60 mph and there isn’t any space for them to pull over although one possibility could be to walk up the highway to the FR 1861 turnoff and station yourself below it so they can pull out there.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Cascade Head Trails (USFS)
- Cascade Head Trails Closure Order (USFS)
- Green Trails Maps: Oregon Coast North #356SX
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Siuslaw National Forest
- Pacific Northwest Recreation Map Series: Oregon Central Coast
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Seasonal area closure from January 1st to July 15th: stay on the trail.
- No hiking of the abandoned section north of FR 1861 until reopening.
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Cascade Head Rainforest Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Cascade Head Rainforest Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes: Oregon Coast by William L. Sullivan
- Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail by Bonnie Henderson
- Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- 120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson
- Siuslaw Forest Hikes: A Guide to Oregon’s Central Coast Range by Irene & Dick Lilja
- A Walking Guide to Oregon’s Ancient Forests by Wendell Wood
- Oregon Coast Trail: Hiking Inn to Inn by Jack D. Remington
- The Oregon Coast Trail Guide by Jon Kenneke (eBook)
- Oregon Coast Camping & Hiking by Tom Stienstra & Sean Patrick Hill
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Scott Leonard & Sean Patrick Hill
More Links
- Cascade Head - Rainforest Trail #1310 (USFS)
- Cascade Head Scenic Research Area (USFS)
- Cascade Head Experimental Forest (USFS)
- Cascade Head (UNESCO)
- Cascade Head (Oregon Adventures)
- Hiking Trails Near Lincoln City, Oregon (USA Today)
- Mile 99.9 to Mile 118.4: Pacific City to (and over) Cascade Head (Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)