Short Sand Beach at Oswald West State Park
On a sunny day in February, we spent the morning exploring Short Sand Beach and hiked a few of the short trails in Oswald West State Park.
distance: 3.5 miles (round trip)
elevation gain: 200 ft.
difficulty: easy
drive time from Portland: 1 hour 45 min.
parking pass: Oregon State Parks Pass
tide tables: TidesChart – Cannon Beach
Oswald West State Park is located on the Oregon Coast between the towns of Cannon Beach and Manzanita. With 15 miles of trails in the park, incredible scenic viewpoints, and a secluded beach popular with surfers, this is one of Oregon’s best coastal State Parks.
We parked at the main parking lot on the east side of Highway 101. From here, we took the Short Sand Beach Trail under the highway for 0.5 miles to the beach.
The wide gravel trail parallels Short Sand Creek through a towering canopy of western red cedar, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce.
Nurse logs, which are downed trees in various stages of decay, provide life to plants and trees in this jungle-like coastal forest. It’s common to see trees left standing on their roots after the nurse logs decay.
The trail is gradual all the way to the beach, passing over Short Sand Creek on a large bridge just before the beach.
Short Sand Beach is nestled in Smuggler Cove, with forested cliffs on both sides of the narrow beach. It’s best to visit here during lower tides, as there isn’t much beach at high tide.
On the hillside above piles of driftwood is a tree that doesn’t have much longer to remain standing due to erosion, with the roots exposed over the beach.
There were a lot of surfers out enjoying the warmer weather on this day.
Exploring along the shoreline, I was fascinated with the exposed tilted rock and geological features.
On the north side of the beach, Blumenthal Falls empties at the beach. Cape Falcon is visible in the distance.
After spending time on the beach, we headed back and hiked on several of the trails in the area, including the Sitka Spruce, Old-Growth, Cedar Crossing, and Necarney Creek Trails.
We were getting ready to turn around when I heard the sound of a creek so we continued a short distance to Necarney Creek. I’d hiked on this trail several times as part of a longer hike to Neahkahnie Mountain, but the suspension bridge that provided access to the Oregon Coast Trail was destroyed in a 2022 winter storm.
Site of the former suspension bridge over Necarney Creek. To access the trail on the other side, continue for a short distance to the beach, crossing the creek there and taking a short side trail back to the Oregon Coast Trail.
