Intro
So you’ve decided to visit the Oregon Coast, fantastic! Many travel bloggers and content creators have been swarming the coastline in awe of Oregon’s raw and natural beauty. Now you may be wondering what are the best places to hike or how to find really good trails. If I’m being honest, any hike that you decide to do is going to be a good hike. When you’re at the Oregon Coast, you have tons of options on coastal forests, rugged cliff sides, sand dunes and breathtaking panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean to hike to. The bottom line is that you want to pick hikes that are comfortable for you and your skill level. The elevation gain can get pretty steep in some areas so it’s important that you read up about different trails before you decide to go.
I want to share with you my resources that I use when I’m researching hikes for the Oregon Coast. I usually stick to the Northwest coastal region because that is the closest to where I live. However, if you’re making a road trip out of the coast, then you definitely want to give yourself a chance to explore the central and southern coastlines. Seriously, anywhere you go will be amazing. With that being said, here are the resources I jump to when I want to find a new hike.
Table of contents
AllTrails
What I Love
AllTrails has been my newest go-to for searching for new hikes. I have always had an account but I never used the app at all. My partner finally convinced me to download it and I’ve been using it ever since. What I love about AllTrails is that I can search an area and then just filter out the difficulty levels to what I want. So if I’m focused on finding Oregon Coast hikes, I can go into the app and just search Oregon beach towns like Seaside, Astoria, Coos Bay, Florence and Port Orford and trails located near those towns will appear. I can also filter out trails by elevation gain and the distance. This is super convenient because it saves me time from having to sort through pages upon pages of my hiking guides to find something I want to do.
I also love the app allows people to upload pictures of the hike and some current reviews can even give you updates on what the trail is looking like. Having the visuals of the place that I’m planning on hiking to is also great because it just gets me that much more excited to go. I have the premium version which allows me to download offline maps which is also a huge plus. Before you lose service, you can download the trail that you plan on doing and then it will actively show you where you are on the trail which is pretty nice if you didn’t bring a map or were just unable to find one. The downside to this though is that it does drain my phone battery pretty quickly.
Things to Consider
While AllTrails is amazing for finding great hikes, I definitely wouldn’t recommend solely relying on your cell phone as your only source of navigation. I always prefer using a paper map, especially if I am somewhere I am not familiar with. However, I find that getting paper maps is getting more challenging to find if I’m not going to a national park. And even the maps that are displayed on big build boards just before the trailheads, I usually end up taking out my phone to take a picture anyway. So regardless, I am still ending up using my phone as my navigation.
What I will say is this: Ideally we want to be using paper maps and to not be relying on a battery- something that can die on you- when out hiking or backpacking. But that doesn’t always end up happening. With technology being as powerful and as convenient as it is, I feel that more and more people are having to rely on their cell phones for navigation. So if you’re like me where you are downloading maps on your phone or you’re taking pictures of maps at the trailheads, just make sure your phone is fully charged before you set out on a hike. Even for a short day hike. Take a portable battery if needed.
There are also many products that double as a portable charger for cell phones. I personally have a Lumin aid solar powered lantern that also doubles as a cell phone charger. It definitely came in handy when I went camping in Echo Lake, California and the cabin had no electricity. Everyone ended up using my lantern which we kept by the window to keep the sunlight on it so it could charge. I bought one many years ago and it still works very well to this day. I absolutely love them.
William L. Sullivan Books
What I Love
Even with technology becoming more and more advanced for outdoor adventures, I do still like using my hiking books to find new trails. A particular favorite of mine are the hiking guides written by William L. Sullivan. He has written many books on hiking in Oregon and he has a book specifically dedicated to each Oregon region. That means that there is an entire book dedicated to hiking trails along the Oregon Coast as well as some of the Southwest Washington coast like Long Beach and Ilwaco.
Similar to AllTrails, Sullivan will break down the hikes by difficulty and elevation gain. He will also tell you if trails are open all year long or seasonally, if pets are allowed, what you can see on the trails and so on. I also love how much information and history he adds to his books. He also has little maps drawn into them so you can take the book with you and use it as part of your navigation.
Things to Consider
While it’s great to always have a resource of wonderful hiking information, a book won’t tell you if a trail is closed or how the conditions are for your dates of travel. So even though I find an amazing hike in one of his books, I still end up looking it up online to see if it’s still open and what conditions are like. But I don’t consider that to be a big deal by any means. Overall, his books are a fantastic source of information and they are worth purchasing if you plan on doing a lot of hiking in Oregon. You can get the Oregon Coast version of his book here.
Oregon State Parks and National Forest Websites
This might seem like a no brainer but I think this can sometimes get overlooked. When researching a coastal town, take a look at the state parks nearby. Each Oregon state park has a website which give you a good source of information. You can find trail maps and even information about campgrounds if you’re searching for lodging. And of course they will be posting up to date information about these state parks. So if a trail is closed, they will be the first to let people know. The same goes with the national forests run by the National Forest Service. Their websites are also great resources for finding trails and any camping offered in select spots. National forests are a great mix of popular to less popular and slightly more remote trails. Out of the 11 national forests that Oregon has, these ones are the closest to the coast:
As for state parks, there are tons to choose from. Each state park has something different to offer so you really want to spend some time researching these places to see if it matches the type of hiking/exploring you want to do. This is only a small list out of the total possible coastal oregon state parks you can choose from. So make sure to venture over the Oregon state parks page to find more. But some coastal parks include:
- Fort Stevens State Park
- Sunset Beach State Recreation Site
- Del Rey Beach State Recreation Site
- Ecola State Park
- Alfred A. Loeb State Park
- Arizona Beach State Recreation Site
- Bandon State Natural Area
- Bolon Island Tideways State Scenic Corridor
- Beachside State Recreation Site
Now you have some resources to help you find some amazing Oregon Coast hikes! Whatever hike(s) you end up choosing to do, it will be amazing. The coast hardly disappoints. Be sure to check out my other articles about the Oregon Coast to help with your future planning and to make sure you get the most out of your time there!
