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Neahkahnie Mountain from Manzanita Hike

From Oregon Hikers Field Guide


TKO put tools to trail here.png
Neahkahnie Beach from the viewpoint on Neahkahnie Mountain (bobcat)
Spruce and hemlock on the new section of the OCT (bobcat)
Clearcut view from the OCT (bobcat)
Snow queen (Synthyris reniformis), Neahkahnie Mountain (bobcat)
Track showing the stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail to Neahkahnie Mountain (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo
  • Start point: Nehalem Road TrailheadRoad.JPG
  • End point: Neahkahnie Mountain Viewpoint
  • Hike type: Out and back
  • Distance: 6.9 miles
  • Elevation gain: 1425 feet
  • High point: 1,631 feet
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Seasons: All year
  • Family Friendly: No
  • Backpackable: No
  • Crowded: On weekends

Contents

Hike Description

In 2020, a new 2.1 mile stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT) was opened between Nehalem Road in Manzanita and the South Neahkahnie Mountain Trailhead. The new section, much of it developed by Trailkeepers of Oregon, crosses the Neahkahnie Headwaters Preserve, a property managed by the Lower Nehalem Community Trust. The new trail is popular with locals, but it’s also an attraction for visitors, allowing for a longer and less crowded approach to the Neahkahnie Mountain Viewpoint.

Check both ways carefully before you cross Highway 101 to the beginning of the new OCT section. The graveled trail is lined with a split-rail fence and passes a clearcut planted in 2019. For the first mile or so, it follows a phone line corridor, a grassy track that undulates and passes into the verging woodland of Sitka spruce and hemlock for short stretches. Highway 101 is never far away to your left.

Passing out of the corridor, the route enters a woodland with an understory of salmonberry, sword fern, and salal. You’ll see a house to your left before you enter a clearcut and switchback up twice. Large slash piles decorate the landscape, and foxgloves bloom profusely here in the summer. There are views up to the forested slopes of Neahkahnie Mountain. Some large spruce trees have been left standing in the clearcut. Switchback up three times to cross an old logging track and enter secondary forest.

Two more switchbacks take you to a view south of Nehalem Bay and the coastal hills above the Nehalem and Kilchis rivers. A sign tells you that you’re leaving the Neahkahnie Headwaters Preserve as you descend an alder-shaded slope with a rushing creek below. Dense thickets of salmonberry cloak the slope above the trail. The trail then switchbacks over a ridge and passes under arching elderberries. There are a handful of impressively large cascara trees in this area. Soon, you’ll emerge at a kiosk and Road 38555. Bear left to hike down the road about 100 yards, passing a gate. You’ll reach the South Neahkahnie Mountain Trailhead, from which you can make the 1.3 mile ascent to the Neahkahnie Mountain Viewpoint.

The trail switchbacks up four times under a canopy of secondary-growth Sitka spruce and a view towards Nehalem Bay from a meadow where checkermallow blooms. Mountain beaver burrow in this hillside, so make sure you don’t twist an ankle in their large holes. Four more switchbacks take you to an even better meadow view before you enter the forest again and switchback up five times, with the trail getting more eroded and rootier. Coast fawn lilies and trilliums bloom here in the spring. Cross the maintenance track that leads to a radio tower, and make a long traverse on the east side of Neahkahnie Mountain’s south ridge. The forest here is dominated by spruce and hemlock. A somewhat sketchy switchback takes you back along a rock face where a rootball of several trees forms an umbrella over the tread. When you reach the ridge, you can head right on a user trail to ascend to the Neahkahnie Mountain Viewpoint, or continue on the trail for a short loop.

If you’re doing the loop, follow the trail around to the west side of the rocky spine. Here, since you’re just below the viewpoint itself, the vistas really open up, following Neahkahnie Beach south to the Nehalem Bay and then all the way to Cape Lookout. Back in the forest, look for a user trail leading left, and then follow this up along the spine, dodging some fallen trees, until you emerge on the rocky basalt crest. The view takes in the town of Manzanita below, Nehalem Spit and Nehalem Bay, Manhattan Beach, Twin Rocks, Bayocean Spit, Cape Meares, Three Arch Rocks, and the two mile-long lava peninsula of Cape Lookout.

When you’re done with imbibing the vista, you can descend the south side of the rocky spine to the trail and return the way you came.


Maps

Regulations or Restrictions, etc.

  • Open dawn to dusk
  • Dogs on leash

Trip Reports

Related Discussions / Q&A

Guidebooks that cover this hike

  • Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail by Bonnie Henderson
  • 100 Hikes: Oregon Coast by William L. Sullivan

More Links


Contributors

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Oregon Hikers Field Guide is built as a collaborative effort by its user community. While we make every effort to fact-check, information found here should be considered anecdotal. You should cross-check against other references before planning a hike. Trail routing and conditions are subject to change. Please contact us if you notice errors on this page.

Hiking is a potentially risky activity, and the entire risk for users of this field guide is assumed by the user, and in no event shall Trailkeepers of Oregon be liable for any injury or damages suffered as a result of relying on content in this field guide. All content posted on the field guide becomes the property of Trailkeepers of Oregon, and may not be used without permission.