Yachats & Amanda Trail

Amanda Statue

Easy (Smelt Sands to beach)

1.4 miles round trip

50 feet elevation gain


Easy (to Amanda statue)

2.1 miles round trip

200 feet elevation gain


Two easy walks along the Oregon Coast Trail begin in the cute coastal town of Yachats. One hike leads north past spouting horns and crumbling bluffs to a long, broad beach. The other heads south of Yachats to a statue in the forest at Cape Perpetua honoring a blind Indian captive named Amanda.

For the first hike, drive Highway 101 . . .

This easy path, part of the Oregon Coast Trail, traces Yachats’ rocky shoreline past spouting horns and crumbling bluffs to a long, broad beach. The trail exists today only because landowners blocked access to the traditional smelt fishing rocks here in the late 1970s.  Outraged locals checked county books and discovered a 19th-century right-of-way for an unbuilt county road.  A legal battle, fought all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court, ended in 2001.  Now the route has been turned over to the State Parks.

For a different short walk along the Oregon Coast Trail , start on the south side of Yachats instead. From downtown, walk or drive south  . . .

This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes : Oregon Coast