Things to Do in Yachats, Oregon

Just two miles south of town, this 2,700-acre part of Siuslaw National Forest has 26 miles of trails through Sitka spruce rainforest. The headland rises 800 feet above the ocean, the highest viewpoint you can drive to on the Oregon coast. From the day-use area on top you can see about 70 miles of coastline.

★ Good to know The visitor center is open seven days a week most of the year, with shorter winter hours, and it’s the hub for most trailheads.

At the foot of Cape Perpetua, Devil’s Churn is a long crack in the rock that fills with each wave. It sometimes explodes when incoming and outgoing waves collide. Nearby, Spouting Horn at Cook’s Chasm and Thor’s Well both shoot up saltwater fountains. The paved Captain Cook Trail, a one-mile round trip from the visitor center, leads down to the tide pools.

★ Good to know Thor’s Well and Spouting Horn are best from an hour before to an hour after high tide. All three are dangerous in big surf and winter storms, so keep your distance.

The 804 Trail follows an old Native footpath that later became County Road 804, used by buggies until Highway 101 came through in the 1930s. It runs 1.7 miles north from Yachats State Recreation Area past tide pools and pebbled coves to a long sandy beach. Smelt Sands, about halfway, is a good whale-watching and tide-pooling stop with benches along the path.

★ Good to know Parts of the trail are wheelchair accessible, and at low tide you can keep walking the beach north toward Waldport.

Heceta Head Lighthouse, 13 miles south of Yachats, sits 206 feet above the Pacific, and its light was first lit in 1894. It’s rated the strongest light on the Oregon coast, visible 21 miles from land. A half-mile trail climbs from the parking lot past the 1893 assistant keeper’s house, now a bed and breakfast.

★ Good to know The ground floor is open daily as weather and staffing allow, and upper levels are closed. Parking needs a state parks day-use permit.

South of Cape Perpetua, Neptune is a string of four pullouts on Highway 101. The Neptune stop has cliff-top benches above Cummins Creek, where you can look for agates and walk to a cave and tide pools at low tide. At Strawberry Hill, stairs lead down to tide pools, and harbor seals sun on the rocks just offshore.

★ Good to know Go at low tide, and pick up a free tide table at a park office or shop in town.

This trail starts near Yachats Ocean Road and winds about a mile through coastal woodland to a statue of Amanda and interpretive signs telling her story. From there it climbs another 2.2 miles, steeply, to the summit of Cape Perpetua. Hikers with two cars can leave one at the top for a one-way walk down.

★ Good to know Parking at the Cape Perpetua summit requires a pass.

The Ya’Xaik Trail is a moderate loop of about 1.1 miles through second-growth forest from the Overleaf Lodge area. It links to a public footpath through the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve, a woodland garden along a creek. The preserve holds James and Janice Gerdemann’s collection, including tree ferns and big-leaf rhododendrons.

★ Good to know April is the month for the rhododendrons in bloom.

On the north side of the river mouth, this day-use park has a viewing deck off the headland a quarter mile west of downtown. It’s a good spot for whales, tide pools and kite flying. Behind the Yachats Commons, the Community Park has level boardwalks around a restored wetland, where ospreys nest on platforms.

★ Good to know Yachats State Recreation Area has plenty of parking and makes a good starting point for the 804 Trail.