You Need to Experience These Epic Adventures in Oregon
There are precious few places on Earth where you go to sleep and dream about adventures calling you from every direction. Oregon’s North Coast is one such location. Travel a few miles east off Highway 101, and the North-South coastal artery and a labyrinth of mountain bike trails await. Pivot west, and some of the best surf breaks on the Pacific Ocean roll in. Head north or south to discover scores of hiking trails, wildlife habitats and multiple estuaries to kayak, canoe and paddleboard.
I recently returned to Oregon to check out the area, with its mountain town vibe—think multiple breweries, laidback attitude and lots of fleece—and sales tax-free amenities. Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, possessing all the virtues of the best adventure towns, multiple breweries, an awesome bakery and quirky shops. If you’re into curios with your caffeine, save time for Commercial Street where you’ll discover every possible piece of esoterica, from dragons to chandeliers, that you didn’t know you needed to cart back north.
Located on unceded territory of the Clatsop Nation, Astoria was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor to house his American Fur Company. The Lewis and Clark party, early 19th century explorers who cataloged flora and fauna from western St. Louis, made camp at nearby Fort Clatsop. The Lewis and Clark expedition has always given this area a certain wilderness cache.
Enough American frontier history and, no, there won’t be a quiz.
I arrive in Astoria at sunset, pause for chowder and a pale ale pint at Astoria Brewing Company and continue 30 minutes south to Seaside, the arcade-filled tourist town of the North Coast. If you’re taking the family and want to balance ride, surf and hike time with bumper cars and air hockey, Seaside’s your town. As a family destination, Seaside accommodations tend to be the most affordable on the North Coast. The broad beach is also ideal for long strolls, as is the Oyster Café when it comes to all-day breakfast.
Seaside sits just a few minutes from Klootchy Creek Park, the site of one of the feel-good stories in the mountain biking world. As a rider, how often have you hiked somewhere and thought, “This would make an awesome bike trail?”
However, mixing mountain biking and hiking trails is like whisking the proverbial oil and water, with bikes zipping dangerously around corners and, from the saddle, hikers looming in the shadows to disrupt the pedal flow, sometimes with disastrous results. As a biker and hiker, I’m most comfortable on designated bike trails. The obvious challenge (don’t get me started on horseback riding!) is to locate and develop new trails, especially for cyclists.
Enter David Dougherty, Area Forester for Clatsop Properties. A lifetime Clatsop County resident, Dougherty was walking in the forest one day in 2016 when he encountered an elk hunter riding a mountain bike. He was surprised to learn that, though wilderness blankets the area, there were no designated mountain bike trails. Though he didn’t ride himself at the time, Dougherty worked with the Northwest Trail Alliance to create trails across the CP tree farm.
“We used the logging roads to access the area, then we focused on building an uphill and a downhill trail,” he said. “We began building trails by hand and by machine with locals volunteering and local businesses supporting us, a community effort. It was great to see these trails take shape so quickly. Often, it can take 10 years, but we did it in less than a year.”
Klootchy Creek Park provides trails for everyone, flatter areas for novices and plenty of roots, rocks and steeps for intermediate and advanced riders.
“We have machine-built flowy sections for smooth riding and areas where you can’t pedal five feet without having to navigate a natural obstacle,” says Dougherty, who now rides several days a week, schedule permitting. “I recommend experienced riders come in from the west side and hit Evil Twin to Passive Aggressive to Defibrillator. It’s 1000 feet of climb, but you earn a long way down with a bunch of fun, technical features.”
Klootchy Creek Park also hosts Ride the Dirt Wave, a popular series of races for all ages with events across Oregon.
“We had about 70 participants last year and the event keeps growing,” Dougherty says. “We’ve also hired a master trail builder to create more trails. We now have about 15 miles of trail, with room for more.”
It’s ironic that the North Coast’s first mountain bike trail system is on a privately owned tree farm. The Oregon coast offers more public access than any state coastline in America. There are more than 45 public parks and recreation areas from Warrenton to Brookings. Access is one of the many reasons the North Coast is considered a premier surfing and paddling environment.
In the 1970s, Josh Gizdavich returned home to Seaside with a new passion: surfing. In 1980, he opened the Cleanline Surf Shop to serve the small surf community there.
“We realized we had no reason to leave because surfing here was fantastic,” says Gizdavich, who decorates his Seaside and Cannon Beach stores with surf memorabilia like vintage longboards and boards that changed surfing culture as we know it. “The locals tend to be pretty friendly, too, though there are some secret areas with awesome breaks we don’t openly share.”
Gizdavich suggests first-time visitors try popular spots, including Indian Beach, Oswald West State Park and Seaside Cove. When I stop at Indian Beach after a serpentine tree-lined drive through Ecola State Park, I observe surfers of all ages. A few 20-somethings light a bonfire on the beach and a father and his eight-year-old son load their dog into their truck as the sun starts to set above the distant sea stacks.
“We come out from Portland every weekend we can,” the dad tells me. “For a father, it doesn’t get any better than surfing with my boy. And hanging with my dog.”
Like the surf breaks itself, each North Coast town has subtle differences. The Seaside beach yawns widely before several relatively large hotels. Quaint Cannon Beach offers scores of lodging options, elevated dining options and adjacent campgrounds. A little way south, Manzanita is the funky sibling to the larger northward communities.
Like Lewis and Clark, today’s coastal arrivals can follow historic Clatsop Indigenous and more recent trails to explore the conifer forests that abut the coast. The eight-mile (12.8 kilometre) Tillamook Head hike begins in residential Seaside before seamlessly disappearing into the classic coastal environs of thick brush, Sitka spruce, Douglas firs and other native vegetation.
Ecola Creek Forest Reserve in Cannon Beach is a 1,040-acre community forest known for its carnivorous plants and other watershed residents. Indian Beach Trail takes us into old-growth Sitka spruce before unveiling the vivid coastline. Closer to Manzanita, the short Elk Flats Trail in Oswald West State Park connects the surfer haven, Short Sand Beach, with stunning vistas of the Devil’s Cauldron, a precipice high above the Pacific. The 2.3-mile (3.7 kilometre) Cape Falcon Trail presents another viewpoint via a more moderate climb of just over 100 feet.
“Ocian [sic] in view! O! The joy!” This is what William Clark exclaimed in his November 15, 1805 journal. I share his sentiment every time I visit the North Coast.
