Doing Cannon Beach from Manzanita is one of the easiest day trips on the coast, and one of the easiest to do badly. Show up at noon on a summer Saturday with no tide table and you'll spend an hour looking for parking and see a rock surrounded by water. Go at the right time and you get puffins, tide pools, sea caves, and a waterfall on the sand. Here's how we do it.
The drive: 25 minutes and one tunnel
From Puffin Lane, it's about 14 miles north on Highway 101. You climb over the shoulder of Neahkahnie Mountain (pull over at the viewpoint if it's clear; you'll see the whole Manzanita spit below), drop past Oswald West State Park, go through the little Arch Cape tunnel, and roll into Cannon Beach's south end at Tolovana. Budget 25 minutes with no stops, 45 if you can't resist the viewpoints. You'll want to resist nothing.
Check the tide before you leave the house
This is the whole trick. Haystack Rock is 235 feet tall and impressive from anywhere, but the tide pools at its base only show at low tide, and the caves at Hug Point are only walkable at low tide. Look up the Cannon Beach tide table the night before and plan to be on the sand about an hour before the low. A minus tide (below zero feet) is the jackpot.
- Morning low tide: the ideal day. Fewer people, softer light, and time for lunch after.
- Afternoon low tide: do Ecola State Park first, then the rock.
- No good low tide: still go, but make it a beach walk and lunch day, and save the pools for another trip.
Parking that works
Downtown Cannon Beach parking fills fast. Instead, park at Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site at the south end. It has a big free lot, restrooms, and beach access, and Haystack Rock is about a mile walk north along the sand. That walk is the best part. If you want to be closer, the streets around Gower and Hemlock have limited spots and you'll be circling. Weekday mornings are the exception; you can park nearly anywhere.
At the rock
From roughly April into July, tufted puffins nest on the north face. Bring binoculars. Volunteers with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program are often on the beach at low tide with scopes and answers, and they're the reason the tide pools are still healthy. Follow their lead: stay off the rocks with living things, don't pick anything up, and keep the dog on a leash near the pools. Starfish, anemones, and hermit crabs are all there if you crouch and look.
Hug Point: the sea caves and the waterfall
Five miles south of downtown (so, back toward Manzanita), Hug Point State Recreation Site is the second act. At low tide, walk north around the headland to find sea caves and a small waterfall that drops right onto the beach. The old stagecoach road is carved into the rock; that's how people drove the coast before 101. Do not linger on the far side as the tide turns. It comes in fast and the point earns its name because you had to hug it to get around. Parking is a small lot that fills by mid-morning in summer.
Ecola State Park
North of town, Ecola gives you the postcard view of Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock from above, plus Indian Beach, a cove with surfers and a little more solitude. There's a day-use fee and a winding, narrow access road, so go slow. The Clatsop Loop trail from Indian Beach is a moderate hike through big spruce with a view of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse offshore.
Where to eat
Sleepy Monk Coffee for the first cup. Cannon Beach Bakery for the haystack bread, which is a thing. Public Coast Brewing and Pelican Brewing's Cannon Beach location for lunch with a beer. Mo's at Tolovana for chowder with the rock in the window, touristy in the good way. Grab a loaf and a growler for the house on the way out.
The round-trip plan
- Coffee in Manzanita, check the tide, leave 90 minutes before low.
- Neahkahnie viewpoint, then straight to Tolovana. Walk to the rock.
- Lunch downtown or at Tolovana.
- Hug Point on the way home if the tide's still out; Oswald West and Short Sand Beach if it isn't.
- Back in the hot tub by 5.
Cannon Beach is a great day, but coming back to Manzanita is the point. Fewer people, seven miles of beach you can let the dog run on, and a quieter main street. Our Manzanita things-to-do page has the rest of the week covered, and if you're still choosing a home base, the Manzanita rentals page is the place to start.