Via a twisting narrow entry road lies 1,304 acre Ecola State Park, a true Oregon gem overlooking an easily recognized icononic seascape. Look to the south and see Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. Picnic tables and reservable covered shelters are nearby. Look to the northwest and see the Tillamook Head lighthouse.
Here in town walk the “Cannon Beach Trail” around the Little Pompey Wetland and settling ponds to see ducks (green wing teal, northern shoveler, golden eye, mallard) or birds (bald eagle, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, fox sparrow, marsh wren, townsend warbler, white-fronted goose) plus an occasional deer or Roosevelt elk during winter months.
Lace up your hiking boots! Close to Cannon Beach is the popular Tillamook Head Trail to Seaside (8 miles each way, 1,200 foot elevation). Bring your camera. Saddle Mountain Trail (3 miles each way, 3,283 foot elevation) and Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain Trail (1.5 miles each way, 1,600 foot elevation) are great choices too as is the Cape Falcon Trail located at Oswald West State Park (10 miles south of Cannon Beach). Further away to the north but all within an hour’s drive are Fort Stevens State Park and Fort Clatsop.
More than a dozen smaller, shorter, less challenging trails are close by and offer dramatic views of the ocean and old growth forest.