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Cape Lookout Hike

Difficulty:From the trailhead, the hike to the cape's tip is a moderate 4.8-mile loop trip with 400 feet of elevation gain.

Getting There: From downtown Tillamook, head west on Third Street and follow signs for Cape Lookout State Park for 13 miles. Continue

past the campground turnoff 2.6 miles to the signed trailhead turnoff on the right. (If you're driving here from the south, take the Pacific Cityexit of Highway 101 and follow the Three Capes Loop 16 miles north to the top of a pass and the trailhead sign.) From Camp Clarke, exit theBSA Camp Road onto the paved Road and turn left on Cape Lookout Drive, go over the pass and look for the trailhead on the left.

Alternatively, you can reach the Southern-most branch of the Oregon Coast Trail just 50 meters north of the Necanium/Rogue Campsite that

we will be staying at. The path switchbacks south 0.2 miles down to a beach, or north 1.8 miles where it joins Cape Lookout Trail.

Hiking Tips: To hike to the tip of the cape, take the left-hand trail at the end of the parking lot and keep straight at a junction 100 yardsbeyond. The dense forest of gnarled old spruce and hemlock trees shelters ferns, salal, salmonberry and candyflower, an edible little 5-petaled white bloom with delicate pink stripes. The first view south, after 0.6 mile, is just above the site where a B-17 bomber crashed into

the cape's 800-foot cliffs on a foggy day in 1943. If the weather is clear, you can spot Haystack Rock off Cape Kiwanda, as well as CascadeHead and distant Cape Foulweather. Another 0.6 mile brings you to a railed overlook with your first view north. Note Three Arch Rocks offCape Meares and the blue silhouette of Neahkahnie Mountain. Next the trail detours above a cove where the old path once slid into t he sea. Aboardwalk helps hikers cross mud pits on the new route.

At the tip of the cape, red paintbrush, white yarrow and scarlet fireweed brighten a cliff top meadow 400 feet above the waves. A red buoymoans offshore. Bring binoculars to watch for gray whales here from December to June. Up to 20,000 whales migrate from Alaska to Mexicoeach year. Sometimes as many as 30 per hour round this prominent cape. Remember to save some energy for the return hike uphill to thetrailhead.

To the north of Cape Lookout, the Oregon Coast Trail descends gradually through an old-growth spruce forest with views of Sphinx Island, tothe picnic grounds at the state park's day-use parking area. For an easy hike, leave a shuttle car here (a parking fee is charged) and hike this2.3-mile trail all downhill.

History:During World War II, a B-17 bomber was flying north along the Oregon Coast on a transit run. On that day in 1943 Cape Lookoutwas shrouded with fog. The pilots mistook the cape for a cloudbank and flew straight into its 800-foot cliffs. There were no survivors.Although the trail passes just above the crash site, the wreckage is no longer visible.

Geology:Cape Lookout's basalt dates back 15 million years, when lava flows from Eastern Oregon poured down the Columbia River and

fanned out into the ocean. All along the northern Oregon Coast, tough remnants of these massive basalt floods have survived to formheadlands and islands.

Cedar CreekCampground Here