Quick Guide to Ecola State Park

Viewppint overlooking Crescent Beach and Cannon Beach

Ecola State Park looks too beautiful to be real. I fell in love with the Oregon Coast here. Standing at Ecola Point, seeing the ribbon of sand between layers of forested hills and sea stacks jutting out from the Pacific Ocean, I wondered how such a place could exist and how I could be lucky enough to see it. Ten years later, I’ve been back about a half dozen times. Despite being in the incredibly popular Cannon Beach, you’ll need to squint to see any sign of the town. This park is everything wild and magical about the Oregon Coast. Whether you’re stopping at the viewpoints or tackling one of the hiking trails, here is everything you need to know about visiting Ecola State Park.

Lighthouse on rock island — *Tillamook Rock Lighthouse stands a mile west of Ecola State Park*

Know before you go

Parking at Ecola State Park requires the Oregon State Parks pass. You can buy a day pass for $10 with a credit card at the pay stations or use an annual pass ($30).
Ecola State Park is popular. It gets crowded, especially in the summer. Consider arriving early on beautiful summer weekends.
Leashed dogs are welcome at Ecola State Park.
Look for a restroom building and water spigot by the Ecola Point parking lot. Indian Beach has a vault toilet.
Ecola Point and Indian Beach have picnic areas with ocean views.
The viewpoints at Ecola Point and Indian Beach are accessible with a wheelchair or stroller. The beaches and hiking trails are not. Accessible parking and restrooms are available.
Ecola State Park was a filming location for several movies: Kindergarten Cop, The Goonies, Twilight, and Point Break. A sign at the Indian Beach parking lot shows the filming sites.

Picnic table with views of the Oregon Coast — *Picnic area at Ecola Point*

Navigating the park

Ecola State Park has two main viewpoints: Ecola Point and Indian Beach. Unless you’re pressed for time, I’d visit both since they’re in different areas of the park. Ecola Point has the best views. Indian Beach has easy beach access. Most people don’t go past the viewpoints, but both are starting points for cool hiking trails.

From Cannon Beach, you’ll take Ecola State Park Road to Ecola Point and Indian Beach. It’s paved and in good condition. The drive takes you through an old-growth forest where moss-covered Sitka spruce trees tower over an understory of salal and ferns. The major downside is that the road is too narrow for two-way traffic to drive comfortably. Go slow, especially on the turns. Besides other cars, you might see pedestrians, bikers, or elk on the road. Please don’t bring a trailer or a large RV. The road isn’t big enough.

After 1.5 miles on Ecola State Park Road, you’ll reach an empty toll booth. Drive past it. You can buy a day pass at either parking lot. Take a left just after the toll booth to reach Ecola Point. For Indian Beach, take a right and drive another 1.5 miles.

Ecola Point

Trails on grassy headland with ocean view behind — *Short trails lead to amazing views at Ecola Point*

Most pictures of Ecola State Park are taken from Ecola Point. A short paved trail leads from the parking lot to the viewpoint overlooking the coastline to the south. Just below Ecola Point is secluded Crescent Beach, only accessible on foot. Beyond Chapman Point, you’ll have a great view of Cannon Beach and its famous sea stacks, including Haystack Rock. South of Cannon Beach, Cape Falcon extends in the distance. Make sure to stay behind the fence. Ecola Point is an area of active landslides.

Picnic table at fenced Ecola Point viewpoint — *The viewpoint*

Another short trail leads to a viewpoint overlooking Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. You can see it from several places in Ecola State Park, but this viewpoint is the best.

Trail ends at benches overlooking the ocean and offshore lighthouse — *Look for Tillamook Rock Lighthouse from Ecola Point*

Once you’ve seen the views at Ecola Point, check out one of the hiking trails (more below) or drive to Indian Beach.

Indian Beach

Beach with steep coastal bluffs and sea stacks — *Indian Beach*

Unlike Ecola Point, you don’t need to hike to reach the ocean at Indian Beach. The viewpoint at the parking lot has picnic tables overlooking the beach from a short coastal bluff. Looking south, you’ll see the chain of sea stacks extending off Ecola Point, the Sea Lion Rocks. To get down to the beach, take the wooden stairs. Indian Beach is a popular spot for surfing, rockhounding, and birdwatching. Head to the south end of the beach and look back north for a glimpse of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. At low tide, you can find some tidepools on either end of the beach.

When to visit Ecola State Park

Dramatic sea stacks rise from ocean in front of misty hills — *Cloudy day at Ecola State Park*

Unless the weather is dreadful, Ecola State Park is worth a visit. It’s a beautiful place whether it’s sunny or cloudy. Fog settling onto the hills makes the views atmospheric and moody. The forests are never more captivating than on a misty day. Dress in layers, including a waterproof jacket. To me, drizzle doesn’t ruin a visit, but driving rain does. When the sun comes out, it’s dazzling.

Summer on the Oregon Coast usually has the best weather and a better chance of a sunny day. It also means more crowds and, sometimes, full parking lots. Since I live in Portland, I usually visit on a whim in the winter when the weather looks good. If you’re coming from out of town, I’d come in the summer, crowds and all. Visit on a weekday if you can. Otherwise, be patient and arrive early or late in the day.

Terrible Tilly

Offshore lighthouse with waves — *Terrible Tilly from the Clatsop Loop Trail*

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, nicknamed Terrible Tilly, is one of the most haunting and memorable sights in Ecola State Park. This infamous lighthouse stands on a small basalt island about a mile offshore. It’s been called an engineering wonder. Folly also comes to mind. From the beginning, Terrible Tilly’s construction was fraught with setbacks. The mason in charge of choosing the building site drowned during his initial survey. The new mason brought in laborers from outside the area since locals found the project foolhardy. And with good reason. The crew contended with powerful storms, crashing waves, and exposure to the elements. Construction took almost two years and cost a fortune. Storms caused frequent damage. They’re still a problem for the lighthouse to this day.

Terrible Tilly operated from 1881 until 1957. While it was an active lighthouse, the keepers needed to rotate often since the conditions were so difficult. The first keeper only lasted four months. In other words, this lighthouse is too isolated and gloomy for lighthouse keepers!

Offshore lighthouse in stormy sea — *Terrible Tilly is the loneliest lighthouse of them all*

Terrible Tilly has changed hands several times since it stopped operating. Its most recent role is as a resting place for human ashes. You can see the lighthouse from several places in Ecola State Park. The best views are from Ecola Point and the Clatsop Loop Trail. If you have good binoculars or a telephoto lens, look for sea lions lounging on the wave-buffeted rocks below the lighthouse. Tillamook Rock is a favorite of theirs.

Hiking in Ecola State Park

From Ecola Point

View of beach from sea cave — *Crescent Beach*

Crescent Beach at Ecola State Park can only be accessed on foot, which keeps it from getting as crowded as many other beaches in the area. From the parking area at Ecola Point, take the Crescent Beach Trail for a 2.5-mile out-and-back hike. You’ll get great views of the Sea Lion Rocks and a chance to see the caves and tunnels beneath Ecola Point. Look for tidepool life at low tide.
You can hike from Ecola Point to Indian Beach on a 5-mile out-and-back trail rather than driving between them. The beginning and end of this trail have good ocean views. Most of the hike is an inland trek through the woods, with sections of old-growth forest.

From Indian Beach

Moss and ferns cover concrete structure — *Old radar station on the Clatsop Loop Trail*

The Clatsop Loop Trail is a 3-mile hike that retraces the route members of the Lewis and Clark expedition took from Seaside across Tillamook Head. It ends at a viewpoint overlooking Terrible Tilly. On the way, you’ll pass a camp for Oregon Coast Trail hikers and the remains of an old WWII radar station.
You can hike to Seaside on the Tillamook Head Traverse Trail. After reaching the hiker’s camp on the Clatsop Loop Trail, continue north instead of looping back. Unless you do a car shuttle, this hike is over 12 miles roundtrip. If you do the full hike, you may want to start at the Tillamook Head Trailhead in Seaside to skip the day-use fee for Ecola State Park.

Wildlife of Ecola State Park

Ecola State Park is a great place to see wildlife on the Oregon Coast. Here are the animals to look for:

The overlooks at Ecola State Park are great for whale watching. The best times to see gray whales are during the winter migration from late December into January and the spring migration from March to June. Volunteers at Ecola State Park help visitors spot whales during the Whale Watching Weeks at the end of December and March.
Look for seals and sea lions out in the water. If you bring good binoculars, look for sea lions basking on the rocks around Terrible Tilly.
Roosevelt elk are frequent visitors to Ecola State Park. Sunrise and just before dark are the best times to see them. Look for them grazing near the Ecola Point parking lot starting about an hour before sunset. I’ve also seen them in the woods on the drive into the park during the day.
Look for birds like bald eagles, pelicans, gulls, murres, and cormorants.
If you hike down to Crescent Beach at low tide, look for tidepool critters at the north end of the beach. You can also see some on Indian Beach.

Long purple sea star on rock with other intertidal life — *Sea stars and anemones on Crescent Beach*

Geology of Ecola State Park

While the beaches north of Seaside tend to be long and sandy, those around Cannon Beach have cliffs and sea stacks wherever you look. The most eye-catching features around Ecola State Park come from ancient lava flows. Around 15-17 million years ago, basaltic lava from fissures in northeastern Oregon traveled an incredible distance to reach the Pacific Ocean. When the lava reached the area around Ecola, it began to sink into the soft ocean floor, mixing with the sandstone and shale.

Basalt tends to be stable and resistant to erosion. It forms the sea stacks off the coast of Cannon Beach, including Haystack Rock. This 235-foot cone-shaped monolith formed when magma pooled below the seafloor, creating an undersea volcano that erupted (or rather, re-erupted) offshore. Since then, the movement of tectonic plates uplifted the coastline. The softer sediment wore away, leaving behind sea stacks like Haystack Rock and the Needles.

*Ancient lava flows formed the sea stacks around Ecola State Park*

Ecola Point is the site of an active landslide. Signs warn you to stay on established trails because the cliffs are unstable. Rather than just basalt, the presence of sandstone and shale at Ecola Point makes it more prone to erosion and collapse. The viewpoints today are not the original ones. You can see traces of previous trails and platforms that landslides compromised.

Landslide area next to Crescent Beach — *Stay on the trails. The ground isn’t stable.*

Getting there

Ecola State Park is at the north end of Cannon Beach. Take Highway 101 until the exit for Cannon Beach City Ctr/Ecola State Park. Turn right onto Ecola State Park Road. There will be a sign for the park entrance at the turn. Continue 1.5 miles to reach Ecola Point. Another 1.5 miles will get you to Indian Beach. The drive from Portland to Ecola State Park takes about 90 minutes. From Seattle, about 4 hours.

Enjoy your trip to Ecola State Park!

With love,

Emma