Hiking Ecola
One of my favorite things to do on the Oregon Coast is hike. There are so many trails in the area that it’s almost impossible to decide which one to choose. It’s like trying to pick from a menu where everything sounds too delicious to pass up.
Back in October, we waited for a sunny day and decided to go on a hike through Ecola State Park, which is on the way to Cannon Beach when you’re driving South from Astoria. (A side note on sunshine: This was an incredibly sunny and warm October. I felt spoiled and insanely lucky at the same time).
We chose Ecola State Park after I somehow came upon William Clark’s description of Indian Beach. We had driven past the entry sign for the park a million times but always kind of laughed at the name because it sounded like “Ecoli” and we couldn’t figure out what kind of park it was (silly, I know). Anyway, I ended up reading Clark’s description on one of those historical information plaques in another park, and I decided that I just HAD to see this amazingly gorgeous beach.
“…the grandest and most pleasing prospects which my eyes ever surveyed, in front of a boundless Ocean…” -Clark
So, we headed out on a sunny morning and made the drive down to the trailhead, rain jackets in tow just in case. We chose a trail that was a total of 3 miles roundtrip, taking you south from the Indian Beach parking area to the actual Ecola State Park that looks out toward Haystack Rock. It’s a fairly easy walk along the ridge, with some hills, and you can see coastline for the majority of the walk. It ended up being my favorite hike on record.
