Hiking the Port Orford Heads Trail on the Oregon Coast
Distance: 1.3 miles / 2.1 km
The Port Orford Heads Trail in Port Orford Heads State Park is one of the quietest places to explore on the Oregon Coast—especially when compared to more popular destinations, like the God’s Thumb Trail and Cannon Beach.
For this reason, Port Orford Heads can be a great place to slow down, relax, and learn about the history of the state park and the U.S. Coast Guard Lifeboat Station, which operated prior to the park’s existence from 1934 to 1970.
All that being said, the Port Orford Heads Trail is truly an Oregon Coast hidden gem—especially for those who hike the trail at sunset!
Port Orford Heads Trailhead Parking
Parking for the Port Orford Heads Trail is located in a small parking lot for everything that’s available to the public within the state park.
Google Maps Directions: Port Orford Heads State Park
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 Port Orford Heads Trail
The Port Orford Heads Trail is actually a collection of three different trails that form an outer loop around the coastline to see the best of what the park has to offer.
Port Orford Lifeboat Station Museum
While the loop can be hiked from either direction, I like starting the hike with the museum because it’s such a beautiful area to slow down and explore!
If you do nothing else in Port Orford Heads, I think stopping to eat lunch and hang out in this beautiful picnic area is worth the visit alone.
Nellies Cove Trail
From the museum, the Port Orford Heads Trail starts on the Cove Trail, which begins in the very back of the picnic area.
In my opinion, these first views of Nellis Cove, within a short distance of the trailhead, are some of the best views on the entire loop.
At the end of the Cove Trail on a clear day, you can see great views of Humbug Mountain to the south.
If you'd like to learn more about the hike up Humbug, check out my separate post below.
Read My Separate Post: Humbug Mountain Loop Trail
Tower Trail
The Port Orford Heads Trail follows the Tower Trail for only a short distance before splitting off to stay on the outer coastal loop around the park.
Go left at this split to stay along the coast.
Headlands Trail
The next split that the Port Orford Loop comes to is the Headlands Trail, where you can go left to reach the Agate Beach viewpoint or right to return back to the parking lot.
These are the photos out to the viewpoint that’s a little less than 0.25 miles (0.4 km) away.
Agate Beach Overlook
From the Agate Beach viewpoint, you can see as far as Cape Blanco to the north, and if you look down, you will likely see sea lions in the water and on the rocks!
Once back at the Headlands Trail split, go left to take the shortest path back to the beginning.
