Cape Perpetua

Directions: To the Visitor Center, drive south from Yachats on Highway 101 for three miles. Turn left at the sign for the Perpetua Visitor Center.

This area lacks only dunes in some of the best the Oregon Coast has to offer – 27 miles of trails connecting tide pools, waves spouting out of narrow basalt crevices, rainforest, extensive historical sites, and a view towering 800 feet above the ocean.

The hub of this state park’s trail network is the Visitor Center, among other things a miniature museum of the Alsea People, the Native Americans who had called the cape their home.

To the north of the Visitor Center, two main hiking routes exist: one, curving to the right and following a pristine coastal creek, leads to Oregon’s largest spruce tree. An ancient colossus, it stands

elevated upon its own roots, creating a dark hollow beneath itself for children to crawl through.

The other route, veering left, climbs north to the crest of the cape for sweeping, tree-filtered views of the ocean and a great spot for picnicking.

Both routes have driving options, as well, off Road 55 just north from the Visitor Center on Highway 101. The first right off 55 yields a campground, and a much shorter version of the Giant Spruce Trail. The first major left yields the viewpoint.

Cape Cove and Captain Cook trails head off west from the Visitor Center, crossing under the

highway in a culvert. Tide pools line the western side of Captain Cook trail, and a southern extension of the loop overlooks Thor’s Well. At mid to high tide, the surf squeezes through subterranean cracks to geyser out of the Well in impressive jets of white.

The Cape Cove Trail heads north, crosses a bridge, and becomes the Trail of Restless Waters. It loops to an overlook of Devil’s Churn, a dark basalt cleft where the ocean surf rages in the manner of its namesake.

To the east and south of the Visitor Center, the short 1-mile Discover loop leads to Cook’s Ridge Trail, Cummins Creek Trail, and Gwynn Creek Trail, all much longer than the other trails and offering a journey through old growth spruce and coastal rainforest.

Perpetua invites everything from a roadside stop to a weekend-long adventure.