Mileage: 3.3 miles RT
Elevation Gain/High: 900ft/1640ft
Map: Green Trails Oregon Coast North #356SX
Favorite Eats After Hike: Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific Kitchen at Nye Beach, Rogue Ales, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty Please.
Hike Details:
This low coastal mountain hike makes a great leg stretcher when driving HWY 101 along the Oregon Coast. A popular hike with locals and Portlandians alike, don’t expect solitude unless you get up with the sun and even then you may have the company of a few trail runners.
The trail starts up from the forest road on gentle switchbacks offering peek-a-boo views of Manzanita and the coastline. In a mile, the trail bisects an old road that ends up at the radio tower near the summit but you will go straight and skirt around the summit for another half mile before cutting back up to the ridge of the summit which is a rocky scramble. Expect to use your hands! Here there is room for several groups to perch and take in the Oregon beach extended out to the south and the verdant forest hills beyond.
On the way out, the intersection you cross can be used to hike north to another trailhead for a 6 mile through hike if you are able to arrange a shuttle car.
My Hikes:
11/21/2020
We camped at Fort Stevens and after checking out the Peter Ire shipwreck on its beach, we headed down the road to hike Neahkahnie before the crowds. I told Gary that if there were too many cars in the parking lot we would pass but there were only 3 others so we went for it!
The trail was in great shape as far as maintenance but its well worn path and exposed, polished roots belied the trail’s sheer popularity being so close to Manzanita.
Once running along the contour, things got a bit more muddy and a large uprooted tree had to be navigated. There were several routes to the top, we approached on the south side and scramble up.
We had the summit to ourselves and it was on the way down that the crowds began to stream up the mountain. The parking lot and forest road held over 30 cars by the time we were driving out. Definitely a hike for the early birds!
7/2015
This hike was on the end of a very hot Oregon PCT section hike and driving from central Oregon to the coast dropped me 30 degrees. I went in search of part of the Oregon Coast Trail. Found the local REI, no help. “You mean the Pacific Coast Trail?” “No, that would be the Pacific Crest Trail.”
Anyway, I found this little nugget just up from the small coastal town of Manzanita, hiked up, took in the views and then stealth camped down from the summit. It is a hike fairly similar to Mt. Si as far as popularity in the area. I wrote about it on my PCT journal HERE. It can be extended in either direction as part of the Oregon Coast Trail.
Directions: Drive Highway 101 south of Seaside 20 miles (or north of Tillamook 28 miles) to a brown hiker-symbol sign opposite Sunset Drive, between mileposts 41 and 42. Turn east (left) on a gravel road for 0.4 mile and park at a wide spot where the road is gated. No parking pass needed and there are no bathroom facilities.
For more hikes in Oregon, click HERE.
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