Oswald West State Park

The park carries the name of Oswald West, who served as Oregon's governor in the early 1910s and pushed to have the state's beaches declared public highways, a legal stroke that kept nearly 400 miles of shoreline open to everyone rather than fenced off for private owners. It is thanks to that vision that Oregonians and visitors can walk any beach in the state, and this park stands as a fitting memorial to it.

The land itself was assembled starting in 1929 by Samuel Boardman, Oregon's first state parks director, who spent a decade acquiring some 2,500 acres of forest and shore here. It was first known simply as Short Sand Beach State Park before being renamed for West in the late 1950s, and in the early 1940s the Civilian Conservation Corps cut the trails that still carry hikers down to the sand and out to the capes.

The heart of the park is Short Sand Beach, reached only on foot by a walk of about a third of a mile down a forest trail from the highway pullouts. The path winds beneath big old-growth trees and moss-draped limbs, crosses a footbridge over a clear creek, and delivers you to a crescent of sand cradled in a rocky cove sometimes called Smugglers Cove. Waterfalls slip down the surrounding cliffs after rain.

Because the cove is tucked behind Cape Falcon and sheltered from the strong northwest winds, it holds a reliable, more manageable surf break, and on many days you will find surfers in the water and driftwood shelters built along the beach. The lack of a road to the sand keeps it feeling wild and a little hidden, a beach you have to walk into and therefore one that never feels overrun.

North of Short Sand Beach, a trail climbs and threads through coastal forest out onto Cape Falcon, a headland that pushes almost a mile into the ocean. Early mariners called it False Tillamook Head because it warned them of danger as they neared the Columbia River bar, and its bulk shelters the cove below. The reward at the end is a wide, open view up and down the coast, with the surf breaking far below.

Longer trails also link into the Oregon Coast Trail and climb toward Neahkahnie Mountain to the south, whose flanks tower over Manzanita and carry some of the most storied ocean overlooks on the north coast. Whether you settle for the easy walk to the beach or push on to a headland or summit, the park offers a full menu of coastal hiking from one small stretch of highway.

The park lies along Highway 101 roughly between Cannon Beach to the north and Manzanita to the south, with several signed pullouts serving the trailheads down to Short Sand Beach and out to Cape Falcon. There is no beachfront parking and the park is day-use only now, so plan on the short walk in and a stay in one of the nearby towns.

Wear shoes with grip, since the forest trails can be muddy and the roots slick, especially in the wetter months, and carry a rain layer even on a clear morning because coastal weather here turns quickly. Give yourself at least a couple of hours for the beach, or a half day if you want to hike a headland too. It is the kind of place that shows you the Oregon coast at its best, wild, green, and free to all.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.