Oregon Coast Trail: A 400 Mile Route Following the Coastline of Oregon

The Oregon Coast Trail is a 400-ish-mile route that follows the length of the entire Oregon coastline. It’s a low-elevation, relatively flat hiking route consisting primarily of beach walking and road/highway walking, plus occasional steep climbs when the trail meanders into the forests. The trail takes about 2 – 4 weeks to complete and is a good intro hike for those wishing for a less wilderness thru-hike to dip their toes into the long-distance scene.

Oregon Coast Trail At a Glance

• Length: 380-420 miles, depending on how many water crossings you take
• Expected Completion Time: 3 weeks (averaging 20 miles per day)
• Location: The entire coastline of the state of Oregon
• Best season(s) to hike: Late spring through early fall
• Trail Type: Point to point

Scenery

• 40% beach walking on the sand along the Pacific Ocean with some dune walking
• 40% road walking, mostly along Highway 101, often with views of the ocean below, and winding through 28 coastal towns
• 20% dirt trails, mainly through the lush and dense coastal rainforests

Terrain

The terrain difficulty varies many times throughout almost every day.

• The flat beach walking is easy when walking on hard sand at low tide but can be very difficult on sloped, soft sand at high tide.
• The trail sections are moderate; picture rocky and root-covered trail, often with steep ascents and descents.
• The road walking is relatively easy as most of it is on asphalt on Highway 101 and on sidewalks through towns. The longer sections can be hard on the feet. The highway section can also be a little bit dangerous as some parts of the highway have very little shoulder.

Navigation

• FarOut released their guide for the Oregon Coast Trail in the summer of 2024, so it’s still fairly new as far as waypoint comments go. This will most likely improve greatly within the next year, and FarOut is still probably the easiest way to navigate the trail.
• The Oregon Coast Trail Foundation has downloadable and printable overview section maps.
• Hiking the Oregon Coast Tail by Bonnie Henderson is the OG guidebook for navigating the trail.

Quick Navigation

Getting There
Best Direction To Hike
Why Hike This Trail
Highlights
When To Hike It
Gear Suggestions
Camping
Water Sources
Resupply
Special Considerations
Closing Thoughts

How To Get to the Oregon Coast Trail

Both ends are close to towns, so getting on and off the Oregon Coast Trail is actually fairly easy compared to many other hikes.

Northern Terminus

The northern terminus is inside Fort Stevens State Park. The closest major city to fly or take Amtrak into is Portland, Oregon.

From there, one can take a three-hour bus ride to Warrenton, Oregon, a full-service town and the closest town to the northern terminus.

The bus drops you off at the Fred Meyer grocery store, and from there you can catch another bus that will drop you off at the campground in Fort Stevens State Park.

From the campground, the official terminus is still about four miles north via either the beach or a paved road that one could potentially hitch or drive. And then basically you turn around and start heading south along the beach, back towards the campground.

While the bus from Portland runs daily, the bus from Warrenton to Fort Stevens State Park only runs weekdays, so if arriving on a weekend by bus, one would have to either walk, hitch, or Uber about nine miles via the road to get to the northern terminus.

Southern Terminus

The southern terminus lies about six miles south of the city of Brookings, Oregon, and is only 0.3 miles south of an Oregon Welcome Center that one is able to drive to. The closest airport to fly into is in Medford, Oregon, and from there, you can take a four-hour bus ride that runs once daily into the city of Brookings. At this point, you could either hitch, walk, or Uber the six miles to the welcome center, then turn around and start walking north back toward Brookings.

Alternatively, you could just start your northbound hike from Brookings.

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Best Direction To Hike the Oregon Coast Trail

This hike can be hiked in either direction, although the preferred direction is usually southbound, starting in Fort Stevens State Park in the north and ending in Brookings in the south. This tends to be the easier direction of travel so that one is walking with the wind instead of against it and to avoid walking into blowing sand gusts on the beach sections.

Still, depending on the year, you might see more northbound thru-hikers as a lot of PCT hikers take the Oregon Coast Trail as an alternate to the Oregon section of the PCT to avoid fire closures.

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Why Hike the Oregon Coast Trail

This trail is a great way to see the entirety of the beautiful Oregon Coast, both on the beach and from the highway above it.

If you haven’t spent much time on the PNW coastline, you will be blown away by its beauty. You will have a chance to see all sorts of wildlife, ranging from sea lions, whales, jellyfish, crabs, and birds of all kinds to deer and even elk.

It’s a great hike for new thru-hikers as you’re never far from civilization. The Oregon Coast Trail is a great, relatively low-stakes way to dip your toes into the thru-hiking world. With town so close, you can get by without carrying much food and will have the privilege of eating real food and dine in restaurants more often than on other trails. Potable water is easy to find along the trail, almost eliminating the need to get water from natural sources.

The trail is very low elevation and very flat (besides a few steep climbs in the forest), making it relatively easy. The accessibility of town and abundant transportation options also make it easy to section hike and skip around if needed.

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Highlights of the Oregon Coast Trail

Within a few miles of the northern terminus, you will find remnants of an old shipwreck sticking out of the sand in the surf that you can walk right up to. It’s a great way to start or end your thru-hike.

The ocean wildlife, artifacts, and natural wonders you’ll find along the beach will keep you entertained for hours. Sea lions basking on the rocks. Tidepools to explore at low tide. Sand dollars, crabs, and jellyfish littering the sand. Birds EVERYWHERE. While walking at low tide, you will often find yourself cruising through massive rock formations and natural arches that make for postcard-worthy photos.

The views looking down on the beach from the road walks and the forest are to die for. You’ll be able to explore multiple lighthouses and many interesting tourist attractions along the wayy.

Besides the frequent access to real food and restaurants, seafood is easily accessible and oh-so-fresh. Indulge in a bowl of clam chowder on a cold day or dive into a pile of fresh oysters grilled up right in front of you at the marina.

Whenever you get hot, take your shoes off and run into the ocean to cool off. It might not be the cleansing alpine lake experience of most thru-hikes, as you will probably come out just as salty as you went in, but it still feels great.

Being on the Pacific Ocean means you have the opportunity to watch the sunset over the ocean from the sandy dunes most nights. You can do this in style with fresh seafood and a cold beverage from town.

It’s possible to hitch or bus through a large portion of the trail, if not all of the road sections. If your feet get tired or you don’t feel safe walking along the highway, look up the bus schedule or stick your thumb out to skip ahead and get back to the beach or forest. Small-town buses don’t always run on time time, and some might require you to call ahead to schedule a pickup if you are attempting to get on from a non-standard stopping point. There is cell service for the majority of the trail, so looking up bus info is fairly easy.

If you’re hiking in late summer, you’ll probably encounter miles of ripe blackberry bushes every day. Eat to your heart’s delight.

A final perk: while the west coast isn’t exactly cheap, there’s no sales tax in Oregon.

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Best Time of Year To Hike the Oregon Coast Trail / Climate and Weather

The Oregon Coast Trail is best hiked from late spring through early fall. This is the warmest and least rainy time on the Oregon coast. Temperatures are usually moderate, typically ranging from lows in the 40s to highs in the 80s.

The coast is temperate but, obviously, wet. Even if it’s not raining, it can still be quite foggy and damp, especially at night. If one is camping on the beach, expect to wake up with condensation on your tent most nights even if it is sunny during the day. The road and trail sections are much more protected from the elements, especially the trail sections, which are mostly in very dense forests.

Even during the summer, expect to get rained on for up to multiple days of their thru-hike. The beach sections are definitely the most exposed sections of the trail, which can mean all varieties of weather. You might endure miles of wind and rain one day on the beach and then hours of unrelenting sun exposure the next day. The coastal region is temperate, though, so you won’t have to worry about extreme temperatures.

For those not familiar with the PNW coastline, the ocean water is not warm. While it might be refreshing to jump in the water on a hot day, the beach will not feel like a Hawaiian resort.

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Gear Suggestions

Typical thru-hiking gear works for the Oregon Coast Trail, with a few variations. Unless you are planning on hiking from hotel to hotel, you should bring a three-season tent, sleeping pad, and adequate sleeping bag or quilt (20 – 40 degrees, depending on your preference).

If you use a trekking pole tent, just be aware that pitching on firm beach sand isn’t too hard, the soft dunes can be a little trickier. Also, rocks are usually not readily available for anchoring your guylines in the dunes. The campgrounds are all a bit inland from the beach, so pitching there is not an issue.

Earplugs help dampen the noise of crashing waves, foghorns, and birds on the beach, and that of the other campers and sometimes a nearby road or highway in the campgrounds.

A small combination lock is handy for the public campgrounds, which normally provide lockers but not locks. While most of the campers in the hiker/biker sites are, in fact, hikers and bikers, you might have the occasional homeless person also camping there. Also, since most of the campgrounds are in or near towns, there have been reports of people sneaking into sites at night and stealing things from lockers. It seems rare, luckily, but definitely something to be aware of.

Rain gear is strongly recommended, at the very least a rain jacket. A pack cover or trash bag to line your backpack is also a good idea.

Sun protection, like a lightweight long-sleeve shirt (and possibly pants), sunscreen, definitely a hat and sunglasses, and possibly a parasol, is essential. You might find yourself walking for hours in exposed sunlight on the beach.

Since resupplying is so easy and often on this trail, you can realistically carry real food from town and avoid carrying a stove altogether if preferred.

While you might be the only one walking the beach with trekking poles, they are still very useful for the softer sand sections and the forest trails.

While walking the beach at low tide in trail runners is easy, I enjoyed switching into hiking sandals for some of the beach sections. There are quite a few river and creek crossings, and at high tide it’s sometimes hard to keep your feet dry. My Bedrock sandals were easier to walk in on the beach and gave my feet a chance to recover from the aches of road walking. You can walk barefoot on a lot of the beach sections, too, which can be quite enjoyable. However, some parts of the beach can be rocky depending on the tide.

Bring a puffy and/or base layer for cold days. Nights don’t get too cold, but they can still be chilly and damp. One good thing about the coast was that even if my tent and quilt got soaked at night from condensation, I still stayed warm from the moderate climate.

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Camping

The Oregon Coast Trail has a mix of camping options, although camping can be one of the greater logistical challenges of the hike.

Road Sections

Camping is rarely permissible on the roughly 40 percent of the trail running along paved roads and Highway 101. Most of the road sections are bordered by private property, and most of the pullouts have “No Camping” signs posted. It’s not always illegal, but in general, assume you won’t find camping on paved road sections. Plan these days accordingly.

Beach Sections

Beach camping is another bit of a logistical issue. Some beach sections, mostly fronting towns, have “No Camping” signs posted. There is also no camping allowed on beach sections adjacent to state parks. Furthermore, beach camping is only allowed as long as you cannot see a house from your camp spot within a half mile in either direction. Finally, camping is also prohibited in western snowy plover habitat areas during nesting season, which is March 15 – September 15. Signs are posted for these areas, and the rangers monitor the beach to ensure compliance.

FarOut does a good job of indicating which sections don’t allow camping.

Bans aside, you also need to be cognizant of the high tide mark when beach camping. For obvious reasons, you want to set up your tent ABOVE the tide line. With the tide changing levels drastically throughout the day and night, certain coves and parts of the beach would be dangerous to camp in and could leave you stranded at high tide. With that being said, cell service is great along the coast, and it’s fairly easy to Google the tide levels at all the beaches if the high tide level isn’t obvious from the driftwood and beach debris.

A basic rule of thumb for camping: if the public can’t see you and the sand doesn’t have evidence of high tide, you are probably good to camp.

Campgrounds

Most thru-hikers utilize many or all of the campgrounds that exist along the trail. Most are state campgrounds that have a large site just for hikers and bikers. Reservations are not needed at these, and they usually cost $7 or $8 per night. The campgrounds have a combination of flush toilets and outhouses, which helps eliminate human waste accumulated by digging catholes on the beach. Most of the campgrounds also have free showers. The hiker/biker sites typically also have picnic tables and a water faucet.

Some have tent pads, and most have lockers (bring your own combination lock) to store things overnight. Most of the lockers even have USB charging ports inside them.

With the abundance of towns that the trail walks through, staying in hotels and Air BnBs is often very easy. Fast hikers and those with a larger budget could stay in a hotel most nights of the trail if they planned it correctly. Most of these towns are tourist towns so they are usually a little pricier compared to other trail towns and tend to fill up more quickly and have higher prices on weekends during the summer and around Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.

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Water Sources

One huge advantage of this trail is the abundance of potable water. Between towns, campgrounds, and beachside restrooms and rest areas, almost the entire Oregon Coast Trail can be hiked without having to take water from natural sources.

The southernmost section, just north of Brookings, is the only area where you might have to take water from creeks, which are fairly reliable. And even in that section, you will still be walking along a highway for a majority of it with the ability to hitch or get water from a motorist if needed.

It is actually recommended not to drink from most of the creeks and rivers you’ll encounter, as a lot of them contain agricultural runoff, especially the ones flowing into the ocean. And in case it is not obvious, you cannot drink the ocean water. Some of the potable water sources at beachside restrooms can be difficult to fit a 1-liter water bottle under, so you might want something like a pot or cup to fill with (or use this technique).

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Resupply Options

Another major advantage of the Oregon Coast Trail is the ease of resupplying. The trail passes through 28 different towns, making resupplying a breeze and eliminating the need to carry more than a day or two of food for most of the trail. Fast hikers will probably be able to walk through a town (or two!) every single day.

Almost all the towns that one passes through have at least one full-size grocery store, often many, and since the trail actually walks through the towns, there is no need to hitch.

Without having to carry multiple days of supplies, you can even carry real food and actual meals out of town, allowing you to thru-hike without having to survive on hiker food, a huge advantage of this trail.

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Things To Be Aware Of on the Oregon Coast Trail

Tides

The tides mean the ocean is always changing. There are two high tides and two low tides every day, and the level of the ocean water on the beach changes the amount of sandy beach that is accessible quite drastically. Usually low tide is in the morning and the evening, and these are definitely the easiest times to walk on the sand. Mornings often have lingering fog that can mask the beach rock formations, transforming the route into something otherworldly and mystical.

Things get more challenging as the ocean starts rising towards high tide. You’ll often end up trudging though inches of soft sand, especially hard while wearing a backpack. If you can, plan the big beach sections for low tide for a more enjoyable walking experience.

At times you’ll have no choice but to plan your hiking around the tides. There are rocky points and rivers and creeks that are only safe to cross at low to medium tide. FarOut does a good job of highlighting these areas and provides links to tide info where relevant. WillyWeather is my favorite resource for tide info. If you don’t hit these areas at low tide (and don’t want to wait), you can often find ways to head inland and walk Highway 101 around these points.

Ferries

Certain river crossings are impossible to safely cross, even at low tide. These are major rivers that are very deep and often have swift currents carrying them out to the ocean. While the official trail at these points heads inland and has you cross on large car bridges, some of the rivers do have the option to take a boat or ferry across.

Some ferries are easy to arrange where you just call the number listed in FarOut as you approach the river, whereas you should arrange others a day or two in advance. When fishing season is in full swing, you might not be able to secure a ferry at all, as it’s mostly fishing boats and marinas that ferry hikers across, usually for a fee. While not as easy as hitching by road, you can always try flagging down a passing boater or waving a $20 bill at one.

Hiker Culture

The Oregon Coast Trail isn’t nearly as popular as many other thru-hikes, and a lot of the towns you are passing through are very touristy. A lot of the beaches are fairly busy depending on when you’re there. There isn’t really any hiking culture along the trail for this reason, except for the hiker/biker campsites, which tend to have more bikers than hikers.

If you’re looking for the thru-hiker camaraderie and trail culture of the PCT and AT, you will not find it. The coastal towns also tend to have a fair homeless population, so don’t be surprised if someone mistakes you as being homeless. That said, I did encounter a few locals on the beach walks who knew about the trail. Oregon people are nice people once you get to know them, but as with a lot of small towns, they might be a bit standoffish at first to tourists. A smile and a little conversation always go a long way.

The Road Walking

In my opinion, the only part of this thru-hike that I really disliked was all the highway walking. Walking on Highway 101 can be boring, hard on the feet, mentally exhausting and dangerous. The constant distraction of cars zooming past you can be unnerving. Some sections are sketchier than others. There are a few miles where you have to walk along blind curves that basically have no shoulder, but as long as you walk against traffic and keep your eyes and ears open, you should be safe.

One 0.25-mile tunnel walk concerns some hikers. It’s dark inside, and there’s very little shoulder. There is a button for hikers and bikers to push before they enter the tunnel that will light up a sign notifying motorists of your presence inside the tunnel and instructing them to slow down. I suggest putting your headlamp on the flashing red setting too.

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Closing Thoughts

The Oregon Coast Trail is unique among US long-distance trails. If you’re looking for solitude, simplicity, and peak-bagging, it probably isn’t for you. Cell service is almost always available and you pass through towns frequently.

But if you want beautiful views, fairly easy walking, a mild climate, great food, and abundant towns and hotels, the Oregon Coast Trail will be right up your alley.

Having a reliable way to navigate is critical as this trail is constantly going from beach to road to trail and back. If you’re not paying attention to exit points along the beach, you might end up having to backtrack or do some creative route-finding.

Monitoring tides in certain sections is also imperative, and camping takes more forethought than just waiting until you get tired at the end of the night.

Still, the Oregon Coast Trail is great for beginners. It’s easy to section hike and skip around on due to the accessibility of roads and towns.

If you haven’t spent much time on the west coast, this trail will probably blow your mind. The ocean is unique as far as thru-hikes go, and the wildlife is mesmerizing. Sunsets and sunrises on the beach are amazing. Having a gorgeous beach all to yourself at night will make you feel like Captain Jack Sparrow.

The road walking on 101 is the least enjoyable part of this trail. Consider hitching/bussing/ferrying if that aspect of the hike becomes too much for you.

Especially as an experienced thru-hiker, go into the Oregon Coast Trail with an open mind. It won’t be like your other thru-hikes. Embrace the good parts and try to learn something from the less desirable ones. And enjoy a thru-hike where you actually might not be hungry for once.

Featured image: Graphic design by Zack Goldmann.