Coast Range to Pacific: Tillamook Head & Cape Lookout

The 6-mile ridge trail from Seaside to Indian Beach in Ecola State Park follows a 1,000-foot headland crest through Sitka spruce and hemlock forest — Lewis and Clark crossed this ridge in January 1806 to retrieve a beached whale. The views from the military installation ruins at the summit sweep from the Columbia River bar south to Neahkahnie Mountain. The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, a mile offshore, is visible from the ridge.

A brewpub in Seaside's downtown convention building — the oldest structure in town, built in 1884 as a health resort annex. The Seaside Stout and the Coast Pale Ale are the house anchors; the kitchen produces fish and chips, clam chowder, and coastal standards in a wood-paneled room with Oregon coast history on every wall.

A strenuous 6-mile round-trip coastal ridge trail connecting Seaside to Cannon Beach via a 1,200-foot headland — one of the finest hikes on the northern Oregon coast, passing through old-growth Sitka spruce and hemlock before emerging at cliff-edge viewpoints above the Pacific. The summit plateau hosts the ruins of a WWII military radar installation; the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse is visible offshore throughout the upper section. Lewis and Clark crossed this same ridge in January 1806 to retrieve a beached whale.

A 5-mile round-trip to the tip of a headland that juts 2.5 miles into the Pacific Ocean — the trail follows the cape's spine through old-growth Sitka spruce above 800-foot cliffs dropping to the surf. On clear days, the perspective south toward Cascade Head and north toward Tillamook Head encompasses 40 miles of the most dramatic coastal geography in Oregon. Gray whales pass directly below the cape's tip in March.

The anchor of Tillamook County's dairy industry — a cooperative established in 1909 by a dozen pioneer cheese makers who could not get their product to Portland markets reliably. The factory tour shows the cheddar aging caves and the butter production line; the café serves the cheese and ice cream fresh from the floor below. The Bay Blend cheddar is the house signature.

Oregon's shortest lighthouse (38 feet) was built in 1890 on a headland 200 feet above the sea — the keeper's cottage and light are open for tours. The Octopus Tree adjacent to the lighthouse is a Sitka spruce with multiple trunks fanning from the base like tentacles, estimated at 300 years old and shaped by the prevailing coastal winds.

The original Pelican Brewing location, opened in 1996 directly on the beach at Pacific City's Cape Kiwanda — the dramatic sandstone headland that defines this stretch of coast. The brewery is feet from the surf; the fish and chips and the Kiwanda Cream Ale have been the menu anchors since the first day. Award-winning craft beer with the Pacific in the window.

A 3.3-mile round-trip to one of the Oregon coast's most dramatic headland viewpoints — the upper meadows of Cascade Head are a Nature Conservancy preserve open only part of the year, accessed by a trail that climbs 1,100 feet through old-growth Sitka spruce before emerging onto open meadows above 1,000-foot cliffs. The view south encompasses the Salmon River estuary and 40 miles of coast.

A level 2.4-mile walk through the largest undeveloped estuary on the Oregon coast — the Salmon River's tidal wetlands harbor Dungeness crab, harbor seals, and the coho salmon that run through the estuary from October through December. The estuary is one of the few on the coast with intact old-growth forest growing to the tide line.

The world's smallest navigable harbor, 13 miles south of Lincoln City, doubles as the Oregon coast's most reliable gray whale observation point — the Oregon State Parks whale watching center sits directly above the harbor's ocean mouth, and resident whales feed in the kelp beds below year-round. The dramatic spout plumes in the rocky harbor are visible without binoculars.

A Lincoln City institution on the north end of town, serving eclectic Pacific Rim-influenced coastal cooking in a warm, wood-paneled room — the kitchen rotates daily specials built around fresh Oregon Coast seafood, local Dungeness crab, and produce from nearby farms. The miso-glazed halibut and the house cioppino are perennial menu anchors; the intimate scale and unpretentious atmosphere make it a genuine local favorite over the tourist-oriented Highway 101 competitors.