Seaside, Oregon – Day 3
A Short Hike
We stated the day with a short hike in the Elmer Feldenheimer Forest Reserve were we found a trailhead on Day 1. THis trailhead actually leads into Ecola State Park and a large trail system covering the area between Seaside and Cannon Beach. This was a total surprise to us and unfortunately we were not prepared for more than a short hike as ‘the hippie’ from Day 1 had indicated.
The tread on the portion we hiked was very muddy in spots and head a fairly consistent climb with exposed roots and rocks. Fortunately we did have our hiking boots on as we had been advised of the mud. Trekking poles are advisable and a daypack with hydration would be needed to explore the area more.
We hiked about 3.5 miles round trip today before heading to Cannon Beach
Cannon Beach
As we knew, Cannon Beach is a rather high end tourist town. The shops in town was mostly closed as we have been seeing midweek in many of the coastal towns we have visited this trip. We parked and walked around the downtown area and grabbed some fish & chips at a less than stellar Tom’s Fish & Chips. Not sure why we chose that one, but that’s what we did. Hmmm.
Finding beach access to grab a picture of the iconic Haystack Rock was a bit of an adventure. The main access is apparently at the town beach access which is a bit of a walk to Haystack Rock, so we drove out of downtown to the south looking for an access. The area is completely filled with private homes that are fenced in and no trespassing signs everywhere. We did finally come across a set of steps between a couple of properties that were designated as public access, however no place to park.
After walking the beach we decided to check out Ecola State Park from the Cannon Beach end. As we were leaving downtown we saw a small herd of elk in a park and stopped to watch them graze in the grass.
Ecola State Park
The drive int the park from the south is beautiful, however the road is interesting. The pavement is in great shape, but the road is very narrow with lots of very tight turns and blind hill crests. RVs are not allowed on the road.
We only went to the first parking area and took a quick look around as it was getting later in the day. This park is definitely something to investigate further, the beach areas and trails in the park could easily take a couple of days to explore.