How to Visit Cape Perpetua by the Tide

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Cape Perpetua Scenic Area on the Oregon Coast is a place I would happily visit twice on the same day. On second thought, forget the hypothetical because I have, very intentionally, done just that. Depending on the light, the weather, the currents, and the season, it’s never quite the same no matter how many times you visit. It’s a world of geologic strangeness, fanciful intertidal creatures, and the perfect place to appreciate the raw power of the Pacific Ocean. Few things will impact your experience there quite so much as the tide. The crashing waves at high tide bring out the drama of the rocky coastline, while low tide reveals a wild abundance of tidepool life. Here is everything you need to know about visiting Cape Perpetua.

Lupines Cape Perpetua Overlook — *Lupines bloom near the Cape Perpetua Overlook*

Know before you go

Parking at Cape Perpetua costs $5/day. You can use the NW Forest Pass, America the Beautiful Pass, or Oregon Pacific Coast Passport to park. If you don’t have a pass, you can buy one from the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center.
Leashed dogs are welcome at Cape Perpetua.
Look for restrooms at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center, Devil’s Churn, and the Cape Perpetua Overlook.
If you use a wheelchair, check out the views from the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center observation deck. There is also an accessible overlook closer to the coastline beside the parking area just off Highway 101.
Be cautious and aware of your surroundings when you are near the ocean. Waves can come onto the shore without warning no matter the tide.

Tides and tide tables

If you visit Cape Perpetua Scenic Area based on the tide, you’ll want to use a tide table like this one from NOAA. Tide tables are predictions similar to weather forecasts that tell you when to expect high and low tides each day. Reading tide tables is straightforward. The lower the number, the lower the tide. Tides at or below zero are very low. Note whether a tide is rising or falling during your visit so you aren’t surprised by encroaching waves. Don’t worry about arriving right at high or low tide. Cape Perpetua is many things but never boring.

Spouting Horn Cape Perpetua — *Spouting Horn looks best at high tide*

High tide

Cape Perpetua’s most famous attractions are its geologic oddities. Although visible anytime, they are most impressive at high tide when ocean waves slam against this unusual stretch of the Oregon Coast, emphasizing its most curious features.

The rocks at Cape Perpetua have a history that began over 30 million years ago with a volcano erupting offshore. This volcano deposited thick layers of basaltic lava that, along with millions of years of erosion and uplift, created the headland and marine platform at Cape Perpetua. Waves crash against this platform, changing it in ways that can be dramatic and unexpected. The most distinctive highlights are the Devil’s Churn, Spouting Horn, and Thor’s Well.

Devil’s Churn

If you’re driving south from Yachats, the Devil’s Churn is the first place in Cape Perpetua Scenic Area where you can park. The parking lot is an easy stop just off Highway 101. If you aren’t staying long, you can use one of the 15-minute parking spots and skip the recreation pass. You’ll be able to see Devil’s Churn from above at an overlook next to the parking lot.

If you have time and energy, it’s worth taking the short (about 0.25-mile) trail down to the water to see the Devil’s Churn up close. When you reach the end of the staircase leading to the basalt shore, you’ll be next to the huge fissure that is the Churn. This fissure began as a crack that waves have deepened and widened with time.

As you descend, you’ll hear the rhythmic sound of waves as they roll in from the ocean, amplified by the narrowness of the channel. At low tide on a calm day, they are almost gentle. At high tide, they crash with startling booms. You may see a few sea stars clinging to the walls of the Churn despite its powerful waves, a testament to the strength of their grip.

If you head south from Devil’s Churn, a hiking trail will take you around the base of a headland to secluded Cape Cove Beach. Visitors to Cape Perpetua often overlook this beach, which is memorable for its large amount of driftwood. Unlike the Devil’s Churn, it’s better to visit at low tide when the ocean doesn’t limit access to the shore.

*Follow this trail from Devil’s Churn to reach Cape Cove Beach*

Spouting Horn

If you only do one thing at Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, take the Captain Cook Trail down to the shore. If you start at the Visitor Center, the trail is an easy 1-mile loop that will take you past the tidepool area, Cook’s Chasm, Spouting Horn, and Thor’s Well. If you park in the small lot off Highway 101, the trail is only 0.6 miles.

Much like the Devil’s Churn, Cook’s Chasm is a giant fissure in the basalt of the shore that began as a crack. Ocean waves have widened it to form the large channel seen today. As waves enter Cook’s Chasm, their power becomes concentrated as they roll in and crash dramatically onto the craggy basalt walls. During high tide, water enters Spouting Horn, a small channel in the rock next to the Chasm. The force of the water makes it shoot up through the channel like a geyser, sending out a fine mist.

Thor’s Well

Thor’s Well is one of the weirdest and coolest rock formations on the Oregon Coast. This gaping pit tempts the imagination to conjure up a path to a watery netherworld, a direct route to Davy Jones’s Locker. Barnacles and mussels cover every inch of Thor’s Well, and yet somehow, the life thriving in such a harsh home only makes the pit feel more alien and forbidding.

Geologists believe Thor’s Well may have started as a slender channel like Spouting Horn that has grown over time. I’ve also seen it called a possible collapsed sea cave. In either case, its presence speaks to the erosive action of the waves against the shore. As waves continually pound against the ancient basalt, they undercut it. The rock we see closest to the water is a lip overhanging the ocean’s edge. Thor’s Well is a channel through this lip, connecting ocean and shore. At high tide, waves surge up Thor’s Well as if to warn of an oceanic reckoning. If Poseiden had an elevator, this would be it.

*The Cape Perpetua headland looms behind Thor’s Well*

I’ve heard people call Thor’s Well extremely dangerous, which I suppose is true if someone were foolhardy enough to stand next to it. I would say instead that it is dangerous in the same way the ocean is dangerous. Keep your distance, watch the waves, and use common sense, even if you see others making questionable decisions. Besides the risk of waves, intertidal life covers the rocks around Thor’s Well, so stepping too close can damage this delicate habitat.

Low tide

Tidepools

Some of Cape Pertpetua’s strange and iconic features can be underwhelming at low tide. Spouting Horn doesn’t spout. Thor’s Well is little more than an inanimate hole when the ocean stops bubbling up it from below. Devil’s Churn loses its hint of the sublime when the once powerful waves become shallow and languid while striking its walls.

Yet, while the receding tide lessens the intrigue of Cape Perpetua’s geology, it reveals a new and magical world of tidepools. One of the most critter-filled and easiest-to-reach intertidal areas on the Oregon Coast, the marine garden at Cape Perpetua is a perfect place to look for sea stars, anemones, barnacles, mussels, and spiny purple urchins. Countless pools form in the rough basalt along the shore, each containing a unique world.

The longer I stare at a tidepool, the harder it is to look away. Anemones close suddenly at some real or imagined disturbance, then unfurl slowly to reveal their many fragile arms. Seemingly inert barnacles send out tiny grasping filaments to collect nutrients from the pool. Sand shifts as hermit crabs scuttle along the bottom. As I crouch at the edge of this microcosm, my legs go numb long before my interest wanes.

Besides the plants and animals in the tidepools, look for sea palms clinging to the edge of the rocky coast. They are most visible during low tide and my vote for the real-life plant that most resembles Dr. Seuss’s Truffula trees.

As with any intertidal area, explore Cape Perpetua’s marine garden with caution and respect. Step only on bare rock to avoid injuring the animals living there. It is generally okay to gently touch tidepool critters, but don’t touch the inside of an anemone (its digestive tract) or remove anything from the pool. If something is outside the pool, wet your finger before touching it to avoid damaging it with skin oil. When in doubt, leave it be. Even at low tide, keep an eye on the waves to stay safe in the tidepool area.

Any tide

Cape Perpetua Overlook

At 800 feet of elevation, the Cape Perpetua Overlook is the highest point you can drive to on the Oregon Coast. From this impressive vantage point, you can look down onto Cape Perpetua’s marine platform and admire its unusual contours. The overlook is far enough from the shore to give you a sense of scope but close enough that a discerning eye could still identify Thor’s Well and Devil’s Churn.

Go ahead and visit anytime. The views are stunning in any tide and any weather other than a thick fog. A short (0.2-mile) hiking trail makes a loop around the top of the headland. The highlight is a stone shelter with panoramic ocean views, an excellent whale-watching spot. In spring, look for lupines blooming on the grassy slopes of the Cape Perpetua headland.

For a more active day, you can hike rather than drive up to the Cape Perpetua Overlook.

Starting from the town of Yachats, a 7.4-mile hike on Amanda’s Trail leads to the Cape Perpetua Overlook.
From the south, the Saint Perpetua Trail starts at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and climbs to the overlook for a 2.8-mile out-and-back hike.

Inland hiking trails

*Hiking trails in Cape Perpetua Scenic Area explore the Siuslaw National Forest*

If you are visiting Cape Perpetua for the first time, take the Captain Cook Trail to explore the marine garden. If you’re up for more hiking, head up to the Cape Perpetua Overlook. If you still have more time and energy, check out the inland forested hiking trails. Don’t get me wrong, these trails are beautiful and worth exploring. They just don’t have the same uniqueness and wow factor of the coast. If you want to escape the crowds or a strong wind off the ocean, the trails through the Siuslaw National Forest are great options.

The Giant Spruce Trail is a rewarding 2-mile out-and-back hike that leads to a 185-foot, 500-year-old Sitka spruce tree.
The Cook’s Ridge & Gwynn Creek Loop Trail is a 6-mile loop hike through a beautiful old-growth forest. Although mostly inland, you’ll get a few ocean views along the way.

What to bring to Cape Perpetua

Waterbottle
Sunscreen
Trail snacks
Recreation pass for parking (or buy one at the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center). To learn more about Oregon and Washington recreation passes, check out my guide here.
The trails around Cape Perpetua are doable with sneakers, but between the water, rocks, and possible mud, you’ll be happier in hiking boots. My Timberland hiking boots worked out great when I visited. There is a similar pair for men.

Getting there

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area is 5 minutes south of Yachats on Highway 101. You’ll first reach the Devil’s Churn, which has its own parking lot on the west side of Highway 101. It will be on your right.

To reach the Cape Perpetua Overlook, head 0.4 miles south of Devil’s Churn and make a left turn onto Cape Perpetua Lookout/NFD-55. Continue for 0.8 miles, then make another left onto a road called Cape Perpetua Lookout. Follow the road to its end, a little under a mile.

To reach the Cape Perpetua Visitor Center and the beginning of the Captain Cook Trail, return to Highway 101 S and make the next left turn.

You can also reach the Captain Cook Trail from the small parking lot on the right side of Highway 101 just south of the turn for the Visitor Center. Although convenient, parking here is limited.

Enjoy your trip to Cape Perpetua!

With love,

Emma

Explore nearby

Learn more about the **best things to do around Yachats**.

Find out which Oregon Coast beaches have the **best tidepools**.

References:

Learn more about the geology of Cape Perpetua and the Oregon Coast:

Marli Miller’s Roadside Geology of Oregon
This YouTube video by the Cape Perpetua Collaborative