Hiking the Crescent Beach Trail on the Oregon Coast
Distance: 3.0 miles / 4.8 km
The Crescent Beach Trail in Ecola State Park, on the northern Oregon Coast, is a beautiful coastal trail just north of Cannon Beach, where visitors can hike from the popular viewpoints within the park down to the secluded Crescent Beach that stretches for roughly 0.5 miles (0.8 km) in total!
That said, Ecola State Park is, without a doubt, one of the best and most beautiful places to hike on the northern Oregon Coast, but visitors are often conflicted about whether to hike the Crescent Beach Trail or the Indian Beach Trail to the north.
For this reason, I highly recommend checking out my side-by-side comparison of these two beautiful adventures, so that you can hopefully see why I prefer one over the other.
Crescent Beach vs. Indian Beach Trail
Personally, I prefer the Crescent Beach Trail over the Indian Beach Trail because the hike takes you down to a secluded stretch of the Oregon Coast, where the only people you will encounter are other hikers.
However, Indian Beach—like Ecola Point—is a drive-up location, meaning that hiking the trail between Ecola Point and Indian Beach feels less rewarding because you end near the Indian Beach day-use area, a place that makes more sense to drive to if you’re trying to explore as much of the Oregon Coast as possible within a limited timeframe.
Now, I don’t want to discourage anyone from hiking the Indian Beach Trail, as the hike offers far more panoramic coastal views along the rugged sea cliffs compared to the Crescent Beach Trail, but I thought it would be best to share my thoughts if you’re trying to decide between the two.
Read My Separate Post: Indian Beach Trail
Crescent Beach Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Crescent Beach hike is in a large parking lot for Ecola Point, as well as the Indian Beach Trail.
There is a small fee to visit in Ecola State Park, but the fee is also good for all destinations within the park that you may want to visit.
Google Maps Directions: Crescent Beach Trailhead
Hiking Checklist - Oregon Coast
Black bears can be found up and down the Oregon Coast, but hiking with or without bear spray is truly up to your own discretion and comfort level when adventuring in black bear territory.
Furthermore, here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any hike on the Oregon Coast.
Hiking the Crescent Beach Trail
The Crescent Beach Trail starts off on the south side of the parking lot and climbs uphill to meet the road that you would driven to reach the paid parking area.
After only 0.1 miles (0.2 km), the Crescent Beach Trail parallels Ecola Park Road before splitting away to get down to the beach.
At the split in the photo below, go left to stay on the Crescent Beach Trail.
However, if you go right, you can get to a beautiful overlook above Crescent Beach.
At about the 1.0-mile (1.6 km) mark, the Crescent Beach Trail joins with an alternative route for Crescent Beach.
However, there is no place to park from this alternative direction, meaning that Crescent Beach is best hiked from Ecola Point, as shown in this post.
After the split in the photos above, the Crescent Beach Trail descends steeply down a series of switchbacks just prior to the beach.
In my opinion, this final stretch was the most difficult section on the return hike.
Crescent Beach
Once on Crescent Beach, there is so much exploring that you can do up and down the coast, which will likely make the distance posted above inaccurate, depending on how much walking you do.
