A wet system moved in toward the end of the week and prompted us to look for a good rainy-day hike. After coming up with a few possibilities along the Pacific coastline I checked several local forecasts and landed on Manhattan Beach. With that hike being roughly 7.5-miles, I looked for another nearby trail on the Oregon Hikers Field Guide which led me to the Elk Run Trail near Nehalem, OR.
We started the morning with the Elk Run hike since it was the shorter of the two at 3.6ish miles, and it was just a few miles further away than Manhattan Beach. We parked at the Alder Creek Trailhead per the entry in the Oregon Hikers Field Guide.
We parked along the shoulder across from the gate which is not to be blocked at any time.
Beyond the gate the Alder Creek Trail follows an old roadbed on a levee 0.4-miles to a footbridge over Alder Creek.
Neahkahnie Mountain (post) to the left and Rock Mountain to the right.
Looking back along the footbridge.
On the far side of the footbridge was a junction with the Elk Run Trail.
We stayed straight at the junction continuing along the old roadbed.
There was a meadow to the right of the trail where we spotted a small herd of elk.
A third of a mile from the footbridge the trail arrived at a gravel road which it followed for about 50 yards before continuing on a grassy track to the right.
The small building at the end of the gravel road was some sort of wastewater
The continuation of the trail was unsigned but obvious as it cut through a wall of blackberry bushes.
A tenth of a mile from the gravel road the trail split at another unsigned junction. This was the other end of the trail that had split off after crossing Alder Creek.
The tenth of a mile stretch passed behind some new construction.
We would be using that trail for our return but for now we stayed straight crossing the end of a paved road after another 0.3-miles and arriving at yet another junction a tenth of a mile later.
Looking up the paved road.
There was actually a pickup parked at this junction when we first passed, but it was gone by the time we came back by. The righthand fork makes a second loop possible, but this one can be submerged during higher tides.
We again stayed straight and in another three tenths of a mile we came to the other end of the loop at a “T” junction near the bank of the Nehalem River.
The other end of the second loop.
Nehalem River
Hooded merganser
We turned left and continued another two tenths of a mile around Dean Point to the trails end at a rocky river beach.
Highway 101 across the Nehalem River.
Cormorant
Nehalem River
After taking in the view from the end of the trail we returned to the “T”-junction. We hadn’t originally planned on doing the second loop because we hadn’t checked the tide tables and with the recent rain we weren’t sure how muddy/wet it might be. After seeing that it clearly wasn’t high tide I decided to give it a try. Heather decided to take the conservative approach and return the way we’d come so we split up here and planned to meet back up at the other end of the little loop.
This section of the loop was 0.4-miles long and was quite a bit rougher than the main trail, but it wasn’t too wet and there were only a couple of small muddy sections where the trail briefly dropped off the narrow dike it was following.
The trail briefly followed the river before making a right turn away from it.
Rainbow to the north.
Planks were placed at various points along the trail. They helped avoid muddy spots, but I had to be careful because some of them were really slick.
Looking toward Nehalem Bay (post).
Heading north after turning away from the river.
Sparrow
Yarrow
When the trail turned again to complete the loop it crossed a relatively deep (3-4 feet) channel on a narrow plank.
Not long after reentering the trees seen ahead I ran into Heather who had come down from the junction which was just a short distance away.
We continued on our way back and when we arrived at the unsigned junction for the first loop we turned left. This was another 0.4-mile section which passed the same meadow we’d seen the elk in earlier from the Alder Creek Trail. They hadn’t moved on so we got to see them for a second time.
On the first loop.
Salal lining the trail.
We snacked on a few evergreen huckleberries while we watched the elk.
Bench overlooking the meadow. There were two similar benches along the other loop.
Alder Creek heading out to Nehalem Bay.
Arriving back at the footbridge.
We recrossed Alder Creek and returned to our car. Both our GPS Units showed 3.5-miles for our hikes so doing or not doing the loops didn’t make a difference distance wise. Elevation change was easily under 50′.
It was about a 15-minute drive to the Manhattan Beach Wayside where we parked near the restrooms which is also where an Oregon Coast Trail pointer was located.
Oregon Coast Trail pointer.
A short trail led through a strip of trees and over the foredune to Manhattan Beach.
We had a choice of going north or south and planned on doing both before returning to the car. To the north was the mouth of the Nehalem River at Nehalem Bay and to the south was Rockaway Beach where we had started our Twin Rocks hike just five weeks before (post).
To the north we could see Cape Falcon (post) beyond the south river jetty.
To the south Twin Rocks was visible off the coastline.
We decided to head south first with our plan being to turn around at the creek just north of the Rockaway Beach Park where we had parked in September. While we had avoided rain during our first hike the rain arrived shortly after we set off along the beach. In typical fashion the wind was blowing south to north, so we were heading into it which prompted us to throw on our rain gear. It also kept me from trying to take too many photos during the nearly 2-mile hike to the creek.
Gulls
Brown pelicans
Rockaway Beach
Rain incoming.
Twin Rocks
Our turnaround point through the water on the camera lens.
After turning around and putting the wind at our backs it didn’t feel like it was raining as hard and I tried a few more photos as we headed for the jetty which was just under 3-miles from the creek.
Mine! (If you know you know.)
Some heavy rain off the coast heading north.
Homes along Manhattan Beach.
The south jetty.
We climbed onto the jetty to get a look at the Nehalem River.
Looking toward Nehalem Bay.
The Oregon Hiker Field Guide entry for Manhattan Beach mentioned hiking inland along the jetty to McMillan Creek. Despite the rainy conditions I decided to go ahead and do that while Heather opted to skip this portion of the quest. Instead of trying to walk directly along the jetty I headed back north to a path near beach mile marker 24 and followed it inland.
The neon sign marking mile 24.
I then picked up one of a number of use paths leading through the grassy spit and veered back toward the jetty.
I was able to find one that led back up to the top of the jetty and then followed the jetty to McMillan Creek.
The jetty was rough with a few sinkholes.
My turn around point, where McMillan Creek passes under the remains of the jetty.
McMillan Creek from my turnaround point.
The rain had let up during my hike down the jetty to the creek, but as I started back the rain picked up noticeably. I cut back across the grassy spit area to mile marker 24 and then hopped back onto the beach. From there it was a mile back to the trail up to the Manhattan Beach Wayside.
I got another brief respite from the rain once I was back on the beach.
Those dark clouds were angry and wet.
Mile marker 25 is up on the foredune to the right which is also where the trail was back to the wayside.
Heather was sitting on a bench on the foredune when I got back and we finished the hike together.
Our car in the wayside parking lot from the trees.
The GPS put my hike at 7.5-miles with minimal elevation gain.
As we were trying to change out of our wet clothes the sky really opened up and it poured. These wound up being great choices for a rainy day. We were especially pleased with the Elk Run hike. It was a relatively quiet hike given how close we were to homes and the highway and it had some really nice views. Seeing the elk also gave it a boost. Happy Trails!
I had arrived just after 6:30am so it was still a little dark as I set off.
Please respect private landowners wishes when recreating to ensure that public access continues to be allowed.
Looking back at the sunrise.
Entering the clearcut.
Bleeding heart
The OCT is well marked.
Woodpecker
Back in the forest.
Interpretive signs in the preserve.
Bench at a viewpoint.
Nehalem Bay (
Salmonberry blossom
Leaving the preserve.
Violets and pink fawn lilies. These were the first pink fawn lilies I had seen, it seems that we hadn’t timed our coastal hikes right to catch their bloom in the past.
Trillium
Fringecup
Toothwort
I made use of this bench on the way back to take a break and do some stretching.
View to the north.
Tillamook Head (
It was obvious that there had been some work done to try and shore up this section of trail.
The view south from the viewpoint.
Cape Meares (
Cascade desert parsley near the summit.
Looking up at the viewpoint from the OCT.
Trillium
This was the only obstacle that required any sort of maneuvering.
There are some great trees along the upper section of the trail.
Violets
Recent trail work.
Anemones and violets.
Entering the storm damaged area.
Angora Peak (
Getting creative with the trail route.
Out of the storm damage.
Skunk cabbage
Cape Falcon from the trail.
Pink fawn lilies
Arriving at Highway 101 near the North Neahkahnie Mountain Trailhead.
Snow queen
He may have been moving faster than I was.
There is nothing better than hearing wrens sing in the forest.
More creative trail in the storm damaged area.
Wood sorrel
The view if you don’t scramble up the spine.
Trillium with a touch of pink.
Arriving at the packed trailhead.
Leaving the crowds behind.
Big patch of pink fawn lilies.
Highway 101 from the powerline corridor.
Margined white
One of the more impressive trees in the preserve.
Nearing the Highway 101 crossing. I arrived just as a long line of traffic was passing by but was able to safely cross shortly afterward.
We started with this hike in part due to it being the first day of the final king tides, abnormally high tides, for the season. High tide for Smelt Sands was going to be 9:45am so we were hoping to see some of the wave action.
It was just before 8am as we hiked the 804 Trail.
We made a mistake and turned right on the paved path here, but we should have continued beyond the large signboard to a second path marked by a wooden post. You can see the small white and black to the left of the green signboard. We may have been distracted by “Free Coffee” being printed on the bottom of the green sign.
This post is similar to the one along the 804 Trail where we should have turned right.
Boardwalk over Mitchell Creek.
Grandmother Spruce
The upper end of the preserve trail.
Mushrooms
Approaching Starr Creek.
Starr Creek
The upper gate at the junction.
Ya’Xaik Trail
The right hand fork here is the trail leading down to the fire station that dog owners can use to make a loop. A local had warned us that this trail can be pretty slick. We went left to remain on the Ya’Xaik Trail.
There was a little climbing involved before the trail headed down to Diversity Drive.
The Ya’Xaik Trail at Diversity Drive.
The Woodland Trail continues to the left while the right connects up to a road.
A footbridge over the Red River below with a disc golf hole on the opposite ridge. We were able to use the OregonHikers Field Guide map to identify this connector trail as one we did not want to take. That map had many of the connector trails identified in red which helped keep our position located as well as keep us on the correct route.
The old roadbed at the bottom of the switchbacks.
Woodland Trail on the left and our next stop, the Lint Slough Trail, on the right.
Memorial plaque
There was a bypass uphill for this short flooded section.
There were a number of bufflehead ducks, a pair of geese, and one noisy great blue heron at the slough. All of the wildlife seemed to be positioned as far away from the trail as possible.
The great blue heron in a tree across the slough.
This little group of buffleheads was the exception.
I turned around at this bench due to not seeing an obvious continuation of the trail here. I had also lost Heather who had stayed up to avoid the flooded section and instead of returning to the trail I was on, on the other side of the flooded bench, stayed up on the higher path. That path began leading up uphill away from the actual trail without another way to get back to the correct path. She wound up backtracking and we met shortly after I had started back.
The slough from my turn around point.
Yarrow
Bull thistle (non-native)
Rose (probably non-native)
Looking north along the beach.
The view south.
The wet sand and debris from the high tide was up to the vegetation along much of the beach.
We decided to turn back at the creek partly to avoid crossing it, but also because we had been walking into the wind. It wasn’t a particularly cold day, but the wind chill was almost making it uncomfortable.
Seagull with a crab.
Cape Perpetua (
Buckley Creek
We had to ford Buckley Creek which was only a couple of inches deep at most.
Semipalmated plovers
Western gull
Heading back north.
The path back up to the parking area at Driftwood Beach.
Thimbleberry
Coming up on the start of the boardwalk.
Scouler’s corydalis at the base of the boardwalk.
The boardwalk junction.
The base of Cathedral Tree.
One of two benches near the 300+ year old stika spruce.
Cathedral Tree
Beyond the boardwalk the trail was a bit rougher.
Trail markers were present at times to help identify the correct route.
Pacific waterleaf
The Astoria Columnn.
Megler Bridge
Young’s River on the left and the Lewis & Clark River on the right
The early bird.
The spiral staircase.
Young’s River
Traffic on the Columbia River.
Looking out toward the Pacific beyond Astoria.
Deer in the grass below the Astoria Column.
Heather below the column.
This was a spur trail 0.2-miles from the column (0.6-mile from the trailhead) that also leads down to Irving Street and could be used for a loop if you don’t mind some street walking. We opted to pass and did the hike as an out-and-back.
False lily-of-the valley
The last trillium?
Fringecup
The start of the short trail to the falls.
Interpretive signs near the start of the trail.
The falls were noted during Lewis and Clark’s stay at nearby Fort Clatsop (
This was a tough one to photograph due to the amount of spray being blown straight at us by the force of the water.
We pulled over onto the shoulder of Hwy 202 to snap a picture of these bulls.
Bleeding heart
Fairybells
Scouler’s corydalis
I was joined by a pair of ouzels at the falls.
Looking back at Heather on the other side of Fishhawk Creek.
Me through the trees below the falls.
Please note that you need a permit to park at the refuge.
The trail begins near the restrooms.
Ecola Park Road.
Skunk cabbage
Scouler’s corydalis
Window to the Pacific.
Ecola Point
Chapman Point and Bird Rocks
The upper falls.
Waterfall Creek
The lower falls.
The tide pools from Waterfall Creek.
We found Patrick from Spongebob!
We were curious as to what forces carved out the backside of this rock.
Chapman Point is only passable at certain low tides. On the far side is Cannon Beach (
This cave through Chapman Point was flooded at the far end.
Pigeon guillemot
Goose
Whibrel
Seaside bittercress
Youth-on-age
Battery Russell from the lot.
The overpass
Looking out toward Swash Lake from the bridge.
The gate to the Historic Area is locked in the evening.
Visitor’s center
The guardhouse on the left.
Battery Clark
Fort Stevens Earth Works.
White-crowned sparrow
We cut across the grass below to the footbridge in the distance.
Columbia River
Looking west toward the Pacific.
Battery Smur
The roadbed coming in from the former barracks site.
Mine Loading Building
Searchlight Generator
Torpedo Loading Room
Battery 245
Sign for the Lil’ Oozlefinch Putting Course.
Bald eagle
Gate near Jetty Road.
The parking lot at the park.
Emerging from the underpass.
Mallard family
Sign at the park.
Eighth Street Dam from the grassy track.
Until we saw this sign we’d been thinking that maybe the trail didn’t exist any longer. We were also questioning how the loop was supposed to get back across the river at the other end since the only bridge across the river there was Harbor Drive. Until seeing this we were thinking of turning around at the dam, but instead we decided that we’d do the loop with Heather getting a table at Nisa’s while I recrossed the river to retrieve the car.
Not the clearest picture but I think this is a greater scaup based on the head shape. We’ve seen a number of lesser scaups, but this would be our first greater.
Great blue heron
Cormorant
A brief paved section.
Nisa’s Thai Kitchen across Harbor Drive.
Looking back up the path from Harbor Drive.
The highway from the parking lot.
The D River from the highway bridge. The river flows between Devil’s Lake and the Pacific Ocean and at high tide has a length of approximately 40 yards.
Hostetler Park.
Several interpretive signs were located along the boardwalk.
One of the interpretive signs.
Nearing the campground.
Orange cones, and a cat, at the far end of the path.
Program area in the campground.
View North from the beach.
Cascade Head (
Seagulls at the mouth of the D River.
There were of course plenty of seagulls present.
There weren’t very many ocean rocks along this stretch of beach.
Surf scooters
Loon, probably a common loon.
Baldy Creek
The inn on the left with the rocks extending into the Pacific.
Cormorants and seagulls
This was a big tree that we were able to walk under.
Salishan Spit across the Siletz.
Asters on the beach.
Pelicans on the left and seals on the right at the end of Salishan Spit.
Pelicans and seagull
Seals and a seagull
Drying off
Pelican mouths are a sight to behold (righthand side).
Cascade Head and God’s Thumb both in the sunlight now.
The Story Circle
Trail Challenge sign #8.
The trail ends at SE 3rd St (no parking available).
While there are more trails to choose from here the total milage is just about 1.25 miles. We opted to loop around the outside with detours to the Salt Marsh Overlook and Pond’s Edge.
To the left is the very short spur to the Salt Marsh Overlook which was too overgrown to really see anything.
Interpretive sign at the overlook.
A noisy little hummer near the overlook.
There was pretty good signage at the main trail junctions.
Boardwalks helped cross the wet areas.
Pond’s Edge spur trail.
At the edge of the pond.
We hadn’t expected to see any blooming rhododendrons.
Arriving at the signboards at the start of the loop.
From left to right: Storm, Finely, and Shag Rocks.
Cape Lookout (
Maxwell Point
View from beside Maxwell Point.
The Tunnel was built in 1926.
The Tunnel from Tunnel Beach.
Three Arch Rocks from Tunnel Beach.
The end of Tunnel Beach. At higher tide it’s not possible to get around the point here.
Getting closer to the end of Tunnel Beach. This set of ocean rocks are part of the 
Bald eagle on top of one of the rocks.
Seal
Agate Beach
Cape Lookout from Agate Beach.
An assortment of sea birds.
Maxwell Point and Cape Lookout
Sun starting to hit the Three Arch Rocks.
Sand dollar
Cormorants. There was a steady stream of flocks of birds heading south along the coastline.
Footbridge over Fall Creek.
Fall Creek
Frosty leaves near Fall Creek.
Great blue heron in a tree above Fall Creek.
Happy Camp
Hodgdon Creek
Seagulls and common mergansers near Hodgdon Creek.
Buffleheads
Netarts Spit
Happy Camp from our turn around point.
Three Arch Rocks and Maxwell Point now in full Sun.
The beach only extends a short distance to the South.
The sea stack and Short Creek Spillway to the North.
Starfish
The sea stack
Cape Meares (
I didn’t notice the little waterfall along the cliffs below Cape Mears until I looked at the pictures.
Red-throated loon
The area ahead in the shade is where things started looking a little sketchy.
Apparently there used to be a metal gate here instead of a the rope/chain.
Bald eagles in the tree tops.
Bald eagles
This is where the dike/path turned South. Our best guess is that there has been additional wetland restoration since the entry in the field guide and some of the dikes that the guide route followed have been removed.
We weren’t getting across that.
Somewhere out that way, beyond the slough, was the Wilson River.
Now heading East toward Sissek Road.
At this point we had left Sissek Road which used to extend straight from Goodspeed Road where the signs and rope/chain is in this photo (ahead to the right at the 90-degree turn).
Hawk above Goodspeed Road.
One path led down to Hall Slough ending in mud at it’s bank.
A second path led north on what the GPS showed as a former road but it was too overgrown and flooded to make it far.
Junction with the spur trail to the power line corridor.
Footbridge and stairs leading back up to the picnic table.
Big Creek in the morning.
A short section of the trail was paved.
At the eastern end of the parking area we came to this new kiosk that is being installed marking the start of the Agate Beach TRACK Trail. There was also a path directly to the parking lot from the kiosk which we used upon our return.
The tunnel under Highway 101. The stairs at the far end lead up to a city street while the trail makes a hard right to briefly follow the highway back across Big Creek.
A series of boardwalks crosses the marshy bottomlands of Big Creek.
While the kiosk was a new work in process there were a number of older looking interpretive signposts. This was one of only a handful that still contained an interpretive sign.
The bottomlands.
There were no signs at junctions but for the TRACK Trail stick to the level fork and ignore anything going uphill.
Further along the trail Big Creek could actually be seen flowing.
A non-boardwalk section along Big Creek.
Approximately three quarters of a mile from the kiosk the trail arrived at Big Creek Road at another new signboard.
The signboard at Big Creek Road didn’t have any information on it yet.
Stellar’s Jay
Northern flickers on the picnic shelter.
Map on the signboard.
Anderson Creek, the footbridge, and signboard from the roadbed.
The Forest Park Trail
A nice sitka spruce forest lined the old roadbed.
Mushrooms
Sunlight hitting the trees.
The Pacific Ocean through the trees near the water towers.
Passing the water towers.
The drop to Jeffries Creek.
Jeffries Creek
Wood ducks in the wetlands.
The gate near Fogarty Street.
The Forest Park Trail from the other side of the gate.
Morning fog was still burning off at 9:30am.
A car by the gravel pile to the left with the road coming down the hillside to the right. Interestingly Google Maps labels this as “Burnt Woods Ridge Road” which both Alltrails & Garmin showed as the left-hand fork where our loop would begin. (Google doesn’t show a road there at all but you can see the road in the trees by looking at the aerial view.) Numerous times throughout the hike we relied on comparing the Alltrails Track to the GPS map and our track to that point to determine where we were and which road(s) to take.
There was some room to park here at the start of the loop (this is not where Google marks the TH) as well as many pullouts along the loop where one could choose to start.
Heading down into the fog.
One positive to the fog is that it can create some dramatic Sun rays.
Vine maple
Blue sky in the upper left hand corner.
The road to the right is an example of a road that wasn’t labeled on any map we had.
Emerging from the fog.
Looking back through the fog to blue sky and the Sun.
The only other “hiker” we saw on the loop.
We couldn’t see it but just over three miles from the start of the loop the road crossed Cline Creek which was the first time we heard what sounded like a decent amount of flowing water.
A little over a tenth of a mile beyond Cline Creek we left Burnt Woods Forest Road and forked uphill to the left onto Cline Creek Road.
Arriving at a clearcut. Much of Cline Creek Road was along different clearcuts.
Mylitta crescent
Red-tailed hawk soaring over the clearcut.
Trying to get the red-tailed hawk in flight.
Lots of Fall colors starting to pop.
The first signs we’d seen (noticed anyway) were at the Cline Creek/Burnt Woods Ridge Road junction.
Arriving at the high point which was actually the first good viewpoint being above one of the clearcuts.
Looking North at more of the Coast Range.
Theoretically we should have been able to see both Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson from here but between haze from the fog and clouds we couldn’t make either out.
Mt. Jefferson is out there somewhere. The fact that the Cascades have some snow again doesn’t help them stand out in the haze and clouds.
Yet another unsigned road junction. Sticking to the ridge is the key.
After crossing a saddle we gained views SE to Mary’s Peak (
The tower and summit meadow of Mary’s Peak.
The hard left prior to the steep descent. The road on the far hillside in the clearcut is part of the road Google Maps has labeled as Burnt Ridge Road but doesn’t show on Alltrails or the Garmin maps.
The end of the loop at the bottom of the hill.
Most of the buildings are gone but this relocated Officers Quarters is being restored.
It was hard to tell at times if it was cloudy or smokey which would be a theme for most of the day.
Flagpole behind an interpretive sign.
Most of the trail is ADA accessible but not the entire loop.
The forest was quite a contrast from the open hillside.
Lots of fading flowers: yarrow, goldenrod and aster mostly.
Some of the caterpillar tents on the hillside.
The nature trail crossed the service road after half a mile.
The continuation of the nature trail on the right.
We were pleasantly surprised at how forested this entire trail was.
There were lots of frogs hopping off the trail. Can you see this one?
Norther red-legged frog?
A little less than half a mile after crossing the road we passed a junction with a trail leading to the picnic area. We would visit the picnic area on our way back and pick up the service road there.
The Little Nestucca is to the right with the Nestucca River straight ahead.
Cormorants
We disturbed a doe near the picnic area.
The doe leaving the picnic area.
A path here leads down to the bay to provide fishing access (we didn’t follow it).
Ground squirrel
Thistle
Wilson’s warbler
The overlook on the far hillside.
The trailhead from the service road.
Haystack Rock and Cape Kiwanda (
Haystack Rock
Pearly everlasting, spirea, and aster.
View from the overlook.
Bench at the overlook.
Little Nestucca River from the overlook.
White-crowned sparrow
Ladybug
Trask River from the trailhead.
Garter snake near the trailhead.
We followed the pointer here and went right.
Here we again followed the pointer and went left. We failed to notice the pointer on the lower sign not facing us. It was also hard to tell if the rocks were actually part of a trail or just a scramble route. Turns out they are “stone steps”.
The inland clouds were breaking up giving us some nice blue sky.
Ouzel
Big tree along the trail.
Arriving at the picnic area.
The trail to the left.
Huge nursery log.
It’s hard to see here but this section was very steep.
Steps along the ridge.
The stone steps looked more like steps from this direction.
Arriving back at the trailhead.
Skunk cabbage
Bindweed
While there were quite a few people visiting the preserve there were still moments when we had the boardwalk to ourselves.
Tree root along the cedar from another tree that is growing from it.
Another big cedar, but not anywhere near as big as the other.
We passed a “hiker trail” pointer which is a reportedly rough, muddy track that links up to the boardwalk near the big cedar. We had seen the other end near the smaller big cedar but there was a “trail closed” sign at that end so we hadn’t even considered taking it.
Interpretive sign at the viewing platform. There were some benches here which were mostly occupied and not much of a view.
Salal
wanderingyuncks 