Oregon Coast Cape Falcon Trail

Oregon Coast Cape Falcon Trail (aka tree root trail). The views at the end are spectacular but the majority of the hike I was watching my feet because of all of the wet tree roots. I hate wet tree roots almost as much as I hate steps when hiking. Hiking with wet tree roots and having a cliff at your side is not an ideal situation.

The Cape Falcon trailhead is located right on Highway 101. There are numerous places to park as this area does get quite busy. I would recommend getting here early in the day because there are less people. Going out I passed one person coming back from the point. I spent about 30 minutes at the point and heading back to my Jeep I passed about 100 people headed out to the cape.

The Cape Falcon Trail is about a 4.6 mile out and back hike and is considered moderately challenging. The trail is open year-round, but summer and fall are the best time to do the hike because winter and spring are often muddy, and the tree roots are very slippery.

There are places along the trail where they have installed a metal railing because of the cliffs being so unstable and preventing people from falling off.

The closer you get to the cape the move views of the ocean come into view.

The view from the cape is spectacular and worth the hike.

I spent about 30 minutes here until people started showing up. I knew it was time to leave when someone asked me if they could climb along the rock pictured below and take a selfie. I wanted no part of that.

You can see Neakahnie Mountain to the south, Smugglers Cove below, the raging ocean, and tons of crumbling cliffs getting battered by the waves from up here.

If you want to keep going, there are more viewpoints, and the trail actually continues all the way to Arch Cape.

The Cape Falcon trail is in Oswald West State Park, which features numerous hikes and other adventure opportunities. The Oregon Coast Trail runs through here for 13-miles, and the Cape Falcon Trail is part of it. Neakahnie Mountain also has a hike and the view from the top is awesome. I will do a post on this soon.