Cape Lookout South Trail Overnight

Trail Name: Cape Lookout South Trail

Enter/Exit: Cape Lookout Trailhead

Trip type: Overnight

Difficulty: Moderate

Distance: 3.1 Miles

Elevation: 780 Feet

Guide: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oregon/oregon-islands-south-trail

Review:

Ever since first hiking the South Trail years and years ago I wanted to camp on the beach. The trouble was there is no overnight parking at the trailhead and the closest campground you can park at is a 5 mile road walk away. Thankfully I befriended some people who live in Tillamook which is only 20 minutes away so me and my buddy Mike loaded up our bags and hitched a ride to the trailhead on a Saturday morning.

The hike begins at a typically full trail head with pit toilets and trash cans. Don’t worry if the lot is full as 90% of the people will be hiking the Cape Lookout trail which takes you to the end of the cape. The South Trail is heavily forested and has great views of the trees and brush. About half way down you get your first good glimpse at the ocean. The final half mile has brief views of Camp Clark’s cabins and lodges. As you end the forested trail you arrive at what is typically a sparsely populated beach. We quickly set our stoves up to boil some water for lunch and I began to explore the tide pools and shot a few videos. The weather this day was great with only a few clouds in the sky.

We spent the afternoon lounging in the sand and exploring areas to set up camp. We found some small depressions way above the high tide line next to some dunes which were only 50’ from the forest. The beach is public but the forest is owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America so tread lightly and please respect private property. Around 3pm we decided we were tired of baking in the sun so we should set up our tents to have a shaded spot to rest. That is when the winds began. It is normal to have wind on the Oregon Coast but this was next level. 30 mph sustained winds made setting up our tents almost impossible. Eventually we were able to gather enough large logs to create small wind breaks that we could tie our tents off to. This allowed them to barely keep from collapsing.

Tired and annoyed we walked down to the wet sand to cook dinner in hopes that the wet sand would not blow into our water as it heated up. We both brought down our camp chairs and everything we would need to make dinner which we placed on our overturned chairs to ensure they would not blow away. Turns out 4ish pounds was not enough. A large gust overturned our two camp chairs as well as my food bag full of stuff. I took off quickly down the beach after the expensive camp chairs. Thankfully within 200 yards they hit the reeds in the dunes and stopped. Mike was back near camp picking up the stuff sacks and random bits and pieces that had blown out of my food bag. Thankfully my pot did not turn over so I poured my boiling water into my Peak Refuel meal and headed back to the tent nearly defeated.

Dinner was eaten quickly and our dreams of cocktails were turned to pulls from bottles before climbing into our tents and hoping that some how we got some sleep. 2 hours later I woke up and heard nothing but the gentle crashing of the waves. It was not the best night of sleep I have ever gotten but it was far from being the worst. Morning came around 7:30am with a slight calm wind and overcast skies. We began breaking down camp and cooking breakfast. After a few quick video shoots we were on our way up the beach back to the trailhead. It turns out the trail head is a bit harder to find than we thought and it took us 10 minutes to find the small entrance/exit.

The climb up we knew would be tough. Thankfully we had drank almost all of the water we brought with us as there were no water sources near our camp. The climb is steep and has lots of switch backs which required we stop from time to time to catch our breath and rehydrate. Before we knew it, we were back at the trailhead awaiting our ride back to our car in Tillamook. The last half mile or so of the trail had some rain and the cape was covered in fog which made things a bit chilly once we stopped but made for a rather nice hike out.

Done as a day hike this is a fantastic way to get a large beach potentially to yourself. As an overnighter it is tough. The logistics of getting to the trailhead and packing in all of your water would dissuade me from doing it again. Add the potential for foul weather like wind and rain and you have a potentially tough night on trail.

Rating: Hike it! A bit much for an overnight when Bayocean is so close.

Rating Guide:

-Gram it: Check out the pictures on Instagram because this one is not worth seeing in person.

-Hike it: It’s short and sweet. Might as well knock it out in a day.

-Bag it: Pack a bag and spend the night.