NEAHKAHNIE MOUNTAIN, OREGON (1660’)

Sept. 7, 2016

By Tim Briese

3.2 miles, 900’ elevation gain, 2:30 roundtrip time

My wife Teresa and I went on a September trip to the Pacific Northwest and spent a few days along the beautiful Oregon coast. While we were in the very scenic Oswald West State Park, which is located on the coast between Manzanita and Cannon Beach, we decided to climb Neahkahnie Mountain, which rises right along the coast. The most remarkable feature of this peak is the fabulous view of the beach and ocean below from its summit. The Oregon Coast Trail goes right over the summit so the mountain can be climbed either from the north or from the south. We elected to hike up the easier southern approach. From Highway 101 we turned off onto the gravel Neahkahnie Mountain Road and drove about 0.4 miles up to the trailhead. There were about a dozen other vehicles there. We started hiking up the trail at 2:45 pm.

at the trailhead

the trail climbed through a lush forest

a fern along the trail

The excellent trail climbed briskly 700’ in 0.9 miles through a lush forest to an old road which goes up to a radio tower on a sub peak of the mountain. We crossed the road and continued on the singletrack trail on the other side. We continued 0.7 miles on an easier grade on up toward the peak.

on the trail up through the forest

When we got close to the top we missed a short steep side trail that goes about 100’ to the top from the main trail and had to make a minor backtrack to scramble up to the small rocky summit.

this is a side trail that goes up a ridge a few feet to the top

The views from the top were outstanding.

teresa on the summit

the rocky summit ridge

neahkahnie beach and the town of manzanita

view of the pacific ocean to the west

We had the summit to ourselves for a few minutes before a couple from San Diego arrived, with whom we had a nice visit. After about half an hour on top we left and hiked back down to the trailhead, where we arrived about 5:15.  We drove north about ten miles on Highway 101 and stayed in Cannon Beach that evening.

enjoying an outdoor dinner in cannon beach.  haystack rock lies beyond.

we went on a beautiful sunset stroll on cannon beach