Cape Lookout Trail

Cape Lookout Trail is one of Oregon's finest coastal hikes, traversing old-growth forest along the spine of a dramatic headland that juts two miles into the Pacific Ocean, creating one of the best land-based whale watching vantage points on the entire West Coast. The trail runs through ancient Sitka spruce and western hemlock forest, the trees shaped by constant ocean winds into sculpted, leaning forms that speak eloquently of the coastal environment's unrelenting forces. As the headland narrows toward its tip, the forest opens occasionally to reveal stunning views north and south along the coast, with Three Arch Rocks visible to the south and the long arc of Tillamook Bay and its beaches extending northward. The tip of the cape itself offers views in three directions across open ocean, and during the gray whale migration seasons of December through February and March through April, spouts and flukes can be observed from this elevated platform above the water. The humpback whale population has also increased significantly in recent years, and summer sightings are increasingly common. Interpretive signs along the trail mark where a World War II bomber crashed into the forest in 1943, and fragments of the wreckage are still visible. Storm watching in winter is exceptional from this exposed headland. The old-growth forest provides outstanding birding including marbled murrelet nesting habitat. Highly recommended year-round.