Oregon Coast Trail Updates

-- #1 Long Beach -- A Discover Pass is required for your car at the Beards Hollow trailhead, but you can't buy the pass there. Buy one in advance at  https://www.discoverpass.wa.gov/ .

-- #6 Fort Stevens -- The parking fee increased from $5 to $10 in 2025.

-- #8 Saddle Mountain -- This trail reopened in August 2023 after 3 years of closure. The walk-in campground at the trailhead has been converted to a picnic area with a view of the mountain.

-- #10 Tillamook Head -- The parking fee at Ecola State Park increased from $5 to $10 in 2025.

-- #13 Cape Falcon -- The bridge across Necarney Creek was destroyed by a large fallen tree in December 2022. Although signs say the crossing is closed, the fallen tree actually makes a very good replacement bridge.

-- # 14 Neahkahnie Mountain --  The Oregon Coast Trail on the less-used north side of this mountain reopened in October 2022 after being closed by blowdown for two years.  At Short Sand Beach, the suspension footbridge over Necarney Creek closed after a December 2022 storm, and remains closed as of August 2023, but it's easy enough for Oregon Coast Trail hikers to avoid -- simply walk along the beach, wading Necarney Creek there. 

-- #15 Nehalem Spit -- The parking fee at the state park increased from $5 to $10 in 2025. Also, because of repair work on the South Jetty, most of the bayside road on the Bayocean Spit will be closed until January 2026.

-- #19 Bayocean Spit -- A $10 day-use parking fee is now required. A fee booth at the trailhead parking area has a machine that accepts cards. 

-- #20 Cape Meares -- The Three Capes Loop Road reopened across Cape Meares in November 2023. It had been closed by a landslide since 2015. To avoid the landslide, the highway's new route is a little steeper, longer, and further inland.

-- #21 Wilson River -- The Tillimook Forest Center reopened on March 17, 2023, and it's definitely worth visiting, but it is no longer the recommended starting point for Wilson River hikes because its entire parking area is gated closed whenever the visitor center is closed. This can trap hikers' cars after 5pm, and allows no access at all on Monday or Tuesday or midwinter. Instead hikers should park at the Wilson River Equestrian Trailhead. To find it from the visitor center, drive east toward Portland 0.3 mile and turn left on gravel North Fork Road for 0.3 mile to the signed parking area on the right. Walk kitty-corner across a gravel intersection to find the Wilson River Trail. From here it's half a mile to the visitor center. Note that river washouts have closed the shorter trails between the visitor center and the Jones Creek Trailhead. 

-- #24 Banks-Vernonia Rail Trail -- The parking fee at Stub Stewart State Park increased from $5 to $10 in 2025. Parking at the Buxton Trestle is still free.

-- # 31 Cape Lookout --  The trail from the campground to the trailhead at the top of the cape reopened in October 2022 after two years of reconstruction. The lower trailhead by the campground now charges a $10 parking fee.

-- # 35 Niagara Falls --  The Forest Service has switched the names of the two waterfalls on this hike, citing historic precedent. The tall waterfall at the end of the trail is now Pheasant Creek Falls. The smaller cascade before it is now officially Niagara Falls. As a result, the "Niagara" name for this tinier dribble now seems even more misleading.

-- #37 Cascade Head & Harts Cove -- Access to this area is primarily from the lower trailhead at Knight Park on Three Rocks Road. A landslide closed Forest Service Road 1861 to the upper Cascade Head Trailhead and Harts Cove Trailhead in December 2021.  The Forest Service built a temporary one-lane bridge across the slide in 2025, but will not fully reopen the road until a permanent bridge is installed, perhaps in 2029. In the meantime visitors are allowed to park at the crest of Highway 101 beside the locked gate for Road 1861  and walk or bicycle the road to the trailheads. Private motor vehicles are not allowed. From the locked gate, it's 3.3 miles to the upper Cascade Head Trailhead and 4.1 miles to the Harts Cove Trailhead. Even this does not guarantee access, because both of those trails are closed to visitors from January 1 to July 15 to protect wildlife. 

--#38 Rainforest Trail --  Road 1861 was closed by a landslide in 2021 and is unlikely to reopen until at least 2027. In the meantime it is possible to access the upper trailhead for the Rainforest Trail by walking 1.2 miles along Road 1861 from a parking area at the road's junction with Highway 101.

-- #46 Valley of the Giants -- A massive landslide closed the access road along the North Fork Siletz River in December 2023. The road is expected to remain closed until at least 2026. As a result, this hike will be moved to the back of the book and renumbered #115 in the next printing.

-- #55 Brian Booth Park -- The beach access trail on the north side of Seal Rock has been gated closed by a private landowner, so it's less fun to hike from Ona Beach to Seal Rock. The closest public beach access on the north side of Seal Rock is 0.6 miles north at Curtis Street.

-- #61 Heceta Head -- The parking fee at the state viewpoint lot increased from $5 to $10 in 2025. The Hobbit Trail parking is still free, but often crowded. Parking a mile to the north at Washburne State Park is free, uncrowded, and has a restroom.

-- #65 Honeyman State Park -- The parking fee increased from $5 to $10 in 2025.

-- #67 Siuslaw Ridge Trails -- A March 2024 ice storm left a lot of downed trees across the 1.4-mile southern loop trail at Whittaker Creek. Until the logs are cleared, it's best to hike the Old Growth Ridge Trail without this extra loop.

--#68 Sweet Creek Falls -- In November 2023 a trail bridge collapsed 0.2 mile in from the first trailhead (the Homestead Trailhead). Until it is replaced in June 2025, hikers are advised to drive on to the second trailhead (the Sweet Creek Falls Trailhead). From there you can hike downstream to the catwalk in Punchbowl Falls Canyon, or upstream to Sweet Creek Falls.

-- #77 Shore Acres -- The parking fee increased from $5 to $10 in 2025.

-- # 80 Bullards Beach --  The river side of the sand spit at the mouth of the Coquille River has become muddier, so it is no longer possible to follow the river shore all the way from the lighthouse to the campground. For a 5-mile loop, it's still fun to hike back from the lighthouse along the river for the first 1.4 miles or so until sand runs out. When you reach an impassable inlet, turn left and bushwhack 0.4 miles across the spit to the lighthouse road, and the route back to the campground.

-- New Hike near Bandon -- The half-mile Myrtlewood Grove Nature Trail is a figure-eight loop with myrtlewood trees, snags, birds, and views across the Bandon Marsh Wildlife Refuge to the Coquille River. From the north end of the Coquille River Bridge (just north of Bandon), drive inland 1 mile on North Bank Lane to a parking area for the Bandon Marsh Viewpoint is on the right. From there a pedestrian tunnel under North Bank Lane leads to the Myrtlewood Grove Nature Trail. 

-- #93 Boardman Corridor South -- The portion of the Oregon Coast Trail that climbs up from the south end of Whaleshead Beach has become rough enough that caution is recommended. The trail up through the meadow has always been steep with cliffy edges. As of 2025 a rope has been added to help people cross a landslide washout. 

-- #94 Japanese Bombing Site -- The trailhead is one mile farther than described in the book. All of the directions are correct except the last one, which says, "at the 2.7-mile mark look sharp for a "Bombsite Trail" signpost on the left." From the road junction where you reset the odometer to zero, the trailhead is actually at the 3.7-mile mark, and the trailhead signpost is easy to spot.

-- # 103 Columbia White-Tailed Deer Refuge --  Because a 0.6-mile section of Center Road has been closed, it is no longer possible to hike through the refuge on a loop. Instead, park at the refuge headquarters on Steamboat Slough Road and walk the gated road west along the Columbia River for 3.1 miles to a gate on the far side of the refuge. If you’d like to drive to this western trailhead, drive Highway 4 a block east of the bridge in the village of Skamokawa (or 4.2 miles west of the refuge headquarters turnoff), and turn south on Steamboat Slough Road for 1.4 miles to a gate. 

-- #104 Clatsop Spit -- The parking fee increased from $5 to $10 in 2025.

100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range, 4th Edition (c)2020, 2018, 2016. 

(This book was replaced in June, 2022 with "100 Hikes: Oregon Coast," an updated and expanded version. )

--  Page 41 Fort Columbia State Park -- The trail from the first, large parking lot has been closed, but that doesn't really limit your hiking because other trails are open. Park at the first lot (where you can buy the required Discover Pass for your car), walk past the fort buildings to the gated Military Road Trail, and up you go. It's 1 mile up to a fork -- the start of a 1.3-mile loop to a high point at 810 feet elevation.  Don't try to continue to Scarborough Hill because that trail is too overgrown. And the side trail to Canyon Creek only goes 0.2 mile to a stone dam and waterfall -- the fort's water source.

-- #3 Cape Disappointment -- The final 0.3 mile of the trail to the lighthouse is closed, but you can walk the concrete service road for the last 0.3 mile to the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself is closed to the public.

-- #4 Astoria -- If you're driving  up to the Astor Column, note that parking is now $5/car/year. 

-- #5 Clatsop Spit -- This are is closed until 2025 because of a jetty reconstruction project. You can drive to parking areas C and D, but every access beyond those lots is closed except for the 200-foot path from Lot D to a bird blind. Fortunately, there is a quarter mile of narrow bayshore beach by the bird blind that still is open for birdwatchers, bathers, and such.

-- #8 Saddle Mountain -- The park and its trails closed after a windstorm in the winter of 2020-2021 and are not expected to reopen until the summer of 2022.

-- #9 Seaside -- Storm floods have rearranged the Necanicum River at the north end of Seaside. The Promenade and the city streets are unchanged, but the river mouth has moved half a mile north, creating a lovely, wild sandy spit. If you are hiking the 3-mile loop described in the book, you will find that it is now 4 miles, and much nicer. From the end of the Promenade, continue north along the beach all the way around the new sand spit -- that's 1.7 miles on the sand. When sand ends on the inland side of the river mouth, scramble 20 feet up a bluff beside riprap boulders. You'll find yourself at the end of Franklin Street, by the gate to the sewage treatment plant. Follow Franklin back into town as described in the book to complete the loop. 

-- #10 Tillamook Head -- Blowdown trees from a winter 2021 storm have closed the north portion of the Oregon Coast Trail from Seaside to the tip of Tillamook Head, probably until 2023.  The good news is that the other trails in this park are open, so you can hike to the tip of Tillamook Head from Indian Beach to the south.  There's also a new route for the popular trail between Ecola Point and Indian Beach, avoiding a landslide. The new trail is 2.1 miles instead of 1.5 miles because it follows a ridge inland along the way, but still has great oceanfront views at either end. Expect some mud because this wide trail is popular.  The trail from Ecola Point toward Cannon Beach is still closed by a slide, so Oregon Coast Trail hikers have to follow the park road there. Overnight parking is no longer allowed in Ecola State Park, so the camp shelters on Tillamook Head are for Oregon Coast Trail backpackers only. Firewood gathering is not allowed, but backpackers can buy campfire wood at the site. 

-- #12 Lakes of the Coast Range -- The  trail from Henry Rierson Campground to Spruce Run Lake is still easy to follow, but it now crosses a mile of clearcut land. The clearcut begins about a mile from the trailhead. At the trail junction at the 1.8-mile mark (a connector to the Lost Lake Road) the trail now follows a new logging road spur for about a tenth of a mile before heading off through the clearcut again. Uncut woods return about a tenth of a mile before Spruce Run Lake. The hike is still worth doing, but --  Ouch.

-- #13 Salmonberry Railroad -- "No Trespassing" signs posted at the trailhead on Lower Nehalem Road in early 2017 have closed this hike. Negotiations are ongoing with the railroad's owner, the Port of Tillamook Bay. The signs are partly a reaction to an incident where a dog fell through a hole in a trestle and died. The POTB fears liability, but "has limited ability to enforce" its signs, so locals still use the route. Until the signs are removed, do not follow that example.

A landslide in 2018 covered the railroad grade at the 1.3-mile mark, between Buick Creek and the Third Bridge. A crude trail has been opened across the slide, but it is slick when wet.

The Port of Tillamook Bay wants a consortioum of private nonprofits and public entities to raise $20 million to buy this rail line and develop it as part of the Rails-To-Trails program. By allowing hikers on the relatively safe, maintained lower 4.8 miles of the route (as described in the book), positive publicity has helped raise $2 million in donations to date. It makes sense for the POTB to ban adventurers from other, dangerous, remote portions of the rail line until they can be improved. But it does not make sense for the POTB to deny hikers the chance to see this relatively safe, maintained portion and get enthused about the entire project.

-- #13 Angora Peak -- Warning -- permits required! Angora Peak and Onion Peak, in the “Clatsop Alps”, are both part of a 3500-acre Rainforest Reserve recently purchased by the North Coast Land Conservancy. This nonprofit group plans to open public trailheads to the area, perhaps by 2025. In the meantime, however, the first mile of the hike to Angora Peak crosses Weyerhaeuser timberland where a spendy permit is now required ($125/family/year at recreation.weyerhaeuser.com)—and the limited supply is often sold out. Meanwhile, if you have a permit, you will discover that the NCLC is letting the clearcuts on their land regrow naturally. At the 2.9-mile mark, when you have passed the cliff viewpoint by half a mile, you won't find an orange cairn. Instead, just 150 feet before the grassy roadbed ends, blue ribbon now marks the deer trail up to the right. Of course the ribbon may also be gone when you get there, but the trail is now more obvious, although it has some small briar vines. After 0.2 mile you will reach the open, grassy saddle. Then turn left on an old roadbed. But be warned that, after just 30 feet, blue flagging may mark a rough, brushy 1-mile route to the left that contours around the hill to a different viewpoint saddle. Ignore this detour and continue up the old roadbed to the right, climbing 0.1 mile to the 4-way junction. The dilapidated rock shelter is still to the left. To the right, the viewpoint is still there, but the board bench has collapsed.

-- #14 Cape Falcon --  The Oregon Coast Trail over Arch  Cape was closed by massive blowdown of big trees in late 2020, and the damage is so severe that the route may not reopen until 2023. State park officials estimate is may cost $250,000 to remove logs with helicopters in order to reopen the trail. Damage at Cape Falcon itself was much less severe, so the shorter hikes to Short Sand Beach and Cape Falcon itself are open.

-- #15 Nehkahnie Mountain --  In November 2020, a windstorm blew down so many trees  in this area that the  Oregon Coast Trail on the north side of Neahkahnie Mountain is likely to remain closed until 2023. The popular south trail to the summit remains open.  Meanwhile, a new 2.5-mile section of the Oregon Cost Trail between the Neahkahnie Mountain trailhead and the town of Manzanita was completed in the summer of 2020 and opened in the fall of 2020. To find the north end of this new trail, park at the usual Nahkahnie Mountain trailhead, but walk past the gated end of the gravel road 100 feet to an info kiosk. The new trail contours to the right half a mile to a nice viewpoint, a possible turnaround point. Beyond that the new trail traverses regrowing clearcuts and a powerline route near Highway 101.  The well-marked south end of the new OCT trail segment is at milepost 43 of Highway 101, opposite Nehalem Road in Manzanita.

-- #20 (21) Cape Meares -- The landslide continues to shift and erode. In August 2020 the trail up from the beach had a downed log and enough erosion that it is recommended only for adventurers.  If you are hiking from the beach at the town of Cape Meares up toward the cape itself, be aware that the bank here is also constantly eroding. The rope that helped hikers clamber up this embankment from the beach vanished in early 2017 when more of the bank crumbled. In July 2017  new rope was put on an easier scramble route up from the beach, just 15 feet beyond the creek (instead of 100 feet beyond the creek). To make a loop, some hikers are returning on the closed portion of the paved Three Capes Loop Road. This is allowed, but is very long. 

-- #21  Wilson River -- After a two-year closure during the pandemic, the Tillamook Forest Center is expected to reopen for the summer of 2022. Rainstorms in early 2021 caused a trail washout at Jones Creek, between the Tillamook Forest Center and the Jones Creek Trailhead. A lengthy detour was put in place until the trail could be repaired. 

-- #23 & #110 - NEW TRAIL -- Connecting with the Banks-Vernonia Trail, the 22-mile Crown Zellerbach Trail opened to hikers, bikers, and equestrians in 2018. The route follows an old railroad grade from Knott Street in Vernonia (less than a mile from the terminus of the Banks-Vernonia Trail) over a 1200-foot pass and down through Scappoose to Dike Road at Chapman Landing on the Multnomah Channel of the Columbia River. Parts of the new 22-mile trail parallel the paved Scappoose-Vernonia Road. Trailheads with parking are spaced at 3- to 5-mile intervals. 

-- #28 Trappist Abbey -- The monks have improved their trail system for hikers. The route to the viewpoint and summit is the same, but the road/trails now have new names, and you can continue past the summit to complete the 3.5-mile Guadalupe Loop. Dogs are no longer allowed, even on leash. See https://trappistabbey.org/hiking-trails for a map and rules for hikers. 

-- #28 Miller Woods -- The old trail numbering system here has been removed, and has been replaced with colored arrows marking the Outer Loop,  the Education Loop, the Boy Scout Loop, and various connector trails. Also, a loop around a pond has been made all-accessible with packed gravel and interpretive signs.

-- #30 Cape Lookout -- The Cape Lookout Trail and the North Trail reopened May 2021, but massive blowdown from a  windstorm in the winter of 2020-2021 is likely to keep the 2.3-mile North Trail (from the campground up to the cape) closed until late in 2022. In the meantime, the parking lot at the top of the cape for the Cape Lookout Trail is likely to be crowded.

-- #31 Whalen Island -- Just a mile southwest of Whalen Island, the new 357-acre Sitka Sedge State Natural Area was purchased by the state in 2014. Once threatened by development as a private golf course, the property includes a mile of ocean beach, dunes, coastal forest, the south sand spit at the mouth of Sand Lake, and a large estuary crossed by a dike. Drive the paved Sand Lake Road (aka Three Capes Loop) south of Whalen Island 1 mile or north of Pacific City 4 miles. A parking area and official trailhead opened in 2018, and 5 miles of trails are hikable.

If you have the 2018 printing of the book, you will find a few short trails have since been built, making a better 2.8-mile loop possible. From the parking loop, follow the graveled dike trail 0.6 mile to the first of a series of forks. To reach the beach, fork first to the left, then again to the left, then to the right, and then to the left. (Left-left-right-left, got it?) When walking along the beach around the tip of Sand Lake's sand spit, be sure to stay on the wet sand near the waves, because the dry sand is closed March 15 to November 15 for snowy plover nesting. For the loop, leave the bayshore at a big signpost and follow a trail inland through the woods -- but after just 0.2 mile you'll reach a fork that is not on the map. Veer left on a new trail that takes you through the woods and past a bayside viewpoint to complete your loop at the dike.

-- #36 Harts Cove -- The bridge is washed out at Chitwood Creek, at the 1.3-mile mark of the hike, so you might get wet feet when crossing it in winter.

-- #37 Cascade Head -- All of the trailheads here may change, perhaps by 2024, in order to limit overuse and damage. The lower trailhead at Knight Park is likely to be removed, and instead a new, larger upper trailhead is likely to be built on Forest Road 1861, which is likely to then be open year round. Meanwhile, the 2.4-mile section of the Oregon Coast Trail (the Cascade Head Inland Trail) between Hwy 101 near Neskowin and Road 1861 was abandoned after a windstorm in 2008, but volunteers from the Trailkeepers of Oregon began work clearing and reconstructing the trail in August 2019. It may reopen in 2022. 

 -- #44 Valley of the Giants -- This hike is now open only from December 1 to about August 1. The access road to this hike will be closed from the start of state-declared fire season (about August 1) to December 1 each year, beginning in 2017, unless you buy a $250 recreation access permit from the owner of the private timber road, Weyerhaeuser, at  recreation.weyerhaeuser.com.

     As of 2018, a slightly shorter driving route is open. The route described in the book still works fine, but when you've drive 14.9 miles from Falls City, the "Keep Out" sign at the entrance to the old Valsetz townsite may be gone, and the gate into the townsite is open, allowing you to drive around the shorter, right-hand side of the drained lake. Apparently this route, which is about 1 mile shorter, is now the preferred haul route for log trucks.

-- #46 Peavy Arboretum -- a new trail off of the Powderhouse Trail was under construction in the spring of 2018, which could eventually make longer hikes possible here.

-- #52 Brian Booth Park -- The "Winter Trailhead" access to the trails system off S. Beaver Creek Road reopened in August 2017 after state park officials resolved an easement issue with a neighbor. The much-needed state park campground originally planned for the ridge above Ona Beach was canceled when the Lincoln County Commissioners denied the required zoning in 2019.

-- #55 Yachats & Amanda Trail -- The recommended parking area for the Amanda Trail hike is on Yachats Ocean Road (not Yachats Ocean Drive). After hiking alongside Highway 101 for 0.2 mile, cross the highway at a sign for "Windy Wy" (not "Carpenter Drive") to find the Amanda Trail. A flood in early 2016 washed out the footbridge beside the Amanda statue, and swept away the concrete statue itself. The footbridge has been replaced, with a pivot so that it is less likely to be swept away. The original Amanda statue is truly lost, but it turns out that the artist had actually made three versions of the statue. The two surviving statues were owned by a pair of sisters in Waldport. They agreed to provide one for the trail, so Amanda is now back in place, in a slightly higher, less flood-prone location with enough space around her for ceremonies and small events. A suspension footbridge across the creek there opened in early 2022.

-- #58 Heceta Head -- Tours of the lighthouse no longer go up the tower to see the lens. To see the lens at eye level, hike 300 feet up the adjacent northbound section of the Oregon Coast Trail to the second switchback.  

-- #59 Baker Beach -- A NW Forest Pass or other permit is now required at this trailhead.

-- #63 Kentucky Falls -- Both of the bridges over the North Fork Smith River at the lower end of the trail have been rebuilt, and the entire North Fork Smith Trail has been cleared and reopened. 

-- #65 Siuslaw Ridge Trails --The BLM has added a 1.6-mile loop at the top of the 1-mile Clay Creek Trail, so the full hike there is now 3.6 miles round trip. At Whittaker Creek, the "River Viewpoint" on the Old Growth Ridge Trail is now so overgrown that it no longer has much of a view. At both of the Clay and Whittaker Creek sites, the BLM has proposed a new $5 parking fee, perhaps starting in 2022. 

-- #70 & 71 -- Tahkenitch Creek and Dunes -- Dogs are now banned (even on leash) near the beach due to endangered snowy plover nests. A NW Forest Pass or other permit is required for parking, and cannot be purchased at the trailhead. The nearest vendor is at Tahkenitch Landing, a mile or so away.

-- #71 Tahkenithc Dunes -- A new cutoff trail has been signed through the dunes beside the forest from the north edge of Threemile Lake to a junction near the mouth of Tahkenitch Creek. The new "Tahkenitch Dunes Trail" is 1.0 mile long, but doesn't change the loop described in the book because most people will want to walk along the ocean beach for this mile rather than slog through the sand.

-- #75 Golden & Silver Falls -- The road to this park was reopened in early 2017, so you no longer need to walk 1.4 miles to the picnic area where the waterfall trails begin. You can drive there.

-- #81 Humbug Mountain -- Trail maintenance in 2019 cleared the logs from this trail and opened the view from the top of the mountain, making this once again one of the Coast's prime viewpoint climbs. A windstorm helped open the view, but crews with chainsaws cleared more trees, leaving stumps. Originally this summit was bald. Like most peaks in this area it had traditionally been cleared of trees by fire.

-- #82 Sisters Rocks -- The trailhead on Highway 101 has moved to a roomier gravel lot. The old trailhead is still usable, with room for 3 cars, but is then blocked by boulders in addition to the rusty gate. The new trailhead is 0.1 mile south, immediately north of Milepost 315. Do not expect highway signs or state parks signs. This gravel lot on the ocean side of the highway is marked only by a small messageboard, labeled "Sisters Rock." The correct name, according to the USGS, is Sisters Rocks. Nonetheless, this new trailhead is better in several ways. First, it offers a better graded trail to Sisters Rocks that angles gently across a slope of lupine and shrubs, with constant views, adding just 0.1 mile. The new trail starts at an "Oregon Coast Trail" post to the right. Second, the new trailhead is at the site of the original Frankport hotel. The town and the hotel are long gone, but if you walk left from the trailhead across a grassy field to the south, you will be on the old hotel grounds. Even the building's foundations are gone, but a field of yellow daffodils remains, planted to grace the hotel's view. The view is still great, and if you follow a rough path 0.1 mile toward the ocean from the daffodils you'll reach a breathtaking cliff with a view of the entirety of Frankport's beach.

-- #86 Lower Rogue River -- A sign at the trailhead in Agness now warns that this trail is unmaintained, and it's true. Expect blowdown trees at the 1-mile mark, with user trails beat out around the fallen trees through poison oak. Beyond that the trail is fairly clear to the viewpoint at Copper Canyon, but after that a landslide on a steep slope blocks all safe travel to Painted Rock Creek and the rest of the trail from this direction.

-- #93 Vulcan Lake -- The Chetco Bar Fire of 2017 burned over the access road, the trailheads, and some of the area for the hikes here, including 2 miles of the Johnson Butte Trail between the Gardner Mine junction and Dry Butte. On the other hand, Salamander Lake, Vulcan Lake, and most of the Vulcan Peak Trail are not in the burn area. The trails reopened in the summer of 2018.

-- #94 Japanese Bombing Site -- An April 2019 storm washed out the easy access road to this trailhead, but you can drive there via a slightly longer route. From Highway 101 at milepost 358 in Brookings, drive North Bank Road inland 9.8 paved miles, passing Loeb State Park. Beyond a one-lane Chetco River bridge 1.3 miles, set your odometer to zero and fork uphill to the right on possibly unmarked Road 1107. To stay on the main route of this gravel road, ignore the following forks: a fork to the right at the 0.8-mile mark, a fork to the left at the the 1.9 -mile mark, a small fork to the left at the 4.4-mile mark, Road 570 to the left at the 4.7-mile mark, Road 550 to the left in a pass at the 5.4-mile mark, a fork to the left at the 6.8-mile mark, and Road 1983 to the right at the 7.5-mile mark. After sticking to gravel Road 1107 for a total of 10.6 miles, fork to the right on rougher Road 1205 and reset your odometer to zero. After 1 mile, ignore Road 320 to the left, and at the 3.7-mile mark look for a “Bombsite Trail” signpost on the left (GPS location 42.0802 -124.1187). Parking is tight here, so you may want to drive another 0.1 mile to a larger pullout, just before a washout closes the road altogether.

 The Chetco Bar Fire of 2017 burned most of the trail, but not the area near the bomb crater itself. Virtually all of the redwoods survived the fire and have resprouted leaves with vigor. 

-- #96 Boy Scout Tree / Grove of Titans -- A new trail opened in 2022 from Howland Hill Road to the Grove of Titans, a stand of giant redwoods about halfway between the Boy Scout Tree and the Stout Grove. The new trail begins at a poorly marked series of pullouts, identified mainly by the presence of a restroom, 1.4 miles south of the Stout Grove turnoff or 0.8 mile east of the Boy Scout Trailhead parking area. The 0.7-mile trail to the Grove of Titans includes raised steel walkways near the large trees so that visitors do not trample the trees' delicate, shallow roots.

-- #97 Damnation Creek -- The big footbridge just before the beach at the end of this hike has rotted so much that it has been closed. In early 2016 a sign was posted where the Damnation Creek Trail crosses the Coastal Trail warning that the lower part of this trail is closed. That is not quite true; the trail itself is fine, and it's not hard to scramble across the creek with the missing bridge to reach the beach.

-- #99 (#100) Fern Canyon -- New permits and fees limit access to this scenic slot-like gorge. Advance reservations are now required to park at Fern Canyon or Gold Bluffs Beach in summer, from May 1 to September 30. The access road has a $12 fee year-round, and if you want to park within a mile of the trailhead you have to drive through a gravel-bottomed creek 6 inches deep. If you can’t get a summer reservation or you don’t want to drive through the creek you could park at the Elk Prairie picnic area (between the visitor center and campground), where there are no fees or permits, but the hike is much longer, 10 miles round trip. If you drive Davison Road to access the closer trailheads, you'll pass a fee booth where you have to pay $12 in cash or by check, not by card. In summer the rangers there check that you have printed out a copy of your required reservation, which must be acquired online at redwoodparksconservancy.org no later than noon the day before your visit.

 --#110 - Crown Z Trail -- Connecting with the Banks-Vernonia Trail, the 22-mile Crown Zellerbach Trail opened to hikers, bikers, and equestrians in 2018. The route follows an old railroad grade from Knott Street in Vernonia (less than a mile from the terminus of the Banks-Vernonia Trail) over a 1200-foot pass and down through Scappoose to Dike Road at Chapman Landing on the Multnomah Channel of the Columbia River. Parts of the new 22-mile trail parallel the paved Scappoose-Vernonia Road. Trailheads with parking are spaced at 3- to 5-mile intervals. To start at the Columbia River, drive Hwy 30 to a traffic light in Scappoose near milepost 29 and turn onto E. Columbia for 1.8 miles to a large marked parking area on the right, just before Dike Road. From here you can walk/bike the old railroad grade 0.3 mile east to Chapman Landing (where trains and trucks once dumped logs into the Multnomah Channel) or set out west toward Vernonia. For hikers, the best way to sample this trail is to drive Scappoose-Vernonia Road 6.5 miles to the Ruley Trailhead on the left, a picnic area with displays about local history. Start hiking the CZ Trail here. Although the first 2 miles are near houses and roads, the next 2 miles climb through silent forest to a pass, where the trail ducks 50 feet beneath the bridge of the Scappoose-Vernonia Trail. If you are biking the entire route from Scappoose to Vernonia, you might actually give the final 4.5 miles a miss, because that part of the route climbs over unsigned logging roads to avoid an abandoned railroad tunnel. Instead follow the paved, mostly quiet road 8.3 miles from the Wilark Trailhead to Vernonia. 

-- #113 The Thumb at Roads End -- This destination, also known incorrectly as God's Thumb, has been overrun by clueless tourists who are picking endangered checkermallow flowers and damaging the area with braided trails. Help is on the way! A consortium of public and private groups is studying how to corral the crowds, stop illegal parking, and still allow access. You can still park at the Roads End state wayside as described in the book, and I like that access. But the parking at the end of E. Devils Lake Boulevard is easier, and may be developed into a larger parking area that services the Oregon Coast Trail as well. Do you have opinions about how this area and Cascade Head should be developed? Check http://www.cascadeheadtrails.org/ for updates about this fragile, beautiful, damaged area. 

-- #114 Little Luckiamute River -- This trail is on private Weyerhaueser timberland, and they have been known to close access, especially when they are logging. In May 2020 nearly all of Weyerhaueser lands (including this trail) closed to the public because of increased recreation pressure and increased fire danger. A sign at the bridge notes the closure. It is unclear when or if the trail will reopen.

-- #131 Fivemile Point -- The trail from the beach up to a viewpoint bench is so badly eroded that it is all but unfindable. Unless you're into scrambling and route-finding, just walk the beach as the book's text suggests.

-- #139 Windy Valley -- The Chetco Bar Fire of 2017 burned the lower trailhead on Road 1376 and the first 3 miles of the trail up to Snow Camp Mountain, but spared Windy Valley itself and the entire summit of the mountain, including the rebuilt lookout.

-- #140 Chetco Gorge -- This area burned in the Chetco Bar Fire of 2017.

-- #141 Tincup Trail -- This area burned in the Chetco Bar Fire of 2017.

-- #142 Upper Chetco River -- This area burned in the Chetco Bar Fire of 2017.

-- #144 South Fork Chetco River -- The first 1.5 miles of this hike did not burn in 2017, but the rest did.

  100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range, 3rd Edition (c)2014. (All of these updates have been included in the book's Fourth Edition)

-- #3 North Head -- The Westwind Trail from Beards Hollow to North Head has been abandoned, in part because the big trees there provide habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet, a sea bird. Signs have been removed, and the route is unmaintained, but adventurers are still allowed to hike the route. A paved bike path now parallels the highway, connecting the Beards Hollow Road entrance with the North Head Lighthouse Road entrance.

-- #15 Banks-Vernonia Railroad -- The entire 20-mile trail from Banks to Vernonia is now paved.

-- Tilliamook -- The Tillamook Air Museum remains open, but the private WW II aircraft have been moved to a museum in Madras because the dry climate there will preserve them better.

-- #21 Cape Meares -- A large, slow, ongoing landslide has closed the Three Capes Loop Road between the Cape Meares lighthouse road and the village of Cape Meares, perhaps indefinitely. To visit the Cape Meares lighthouse, you must now drive southwest from Tillamook to Oceanside, and then continue north to road's end at the lighthouse junction. If you are hiking the Oregon Coast Trail from the village of Cape Meares to the lighthouse area, be aware that the 5th Street trailhead in the town of Cape Meares is closed, and the landslide has left a jumble of trees and brush across the trail ahead. Instead, hike the low-tide route. This is still open because it skirts the south side of the slide.

Meanwhile, Big Spruce is now the largest known Sitka spruce in Oregon, so a new parking area and sign have been put at the entrance to the Cape Meares lighthouse road. A sign says the tree is 144 feet tall and between 750 and 800 years old. 

-- #23 Kings Mountain -- The Kings Mountain Trailhead is at elevation 700 feet, not 450 feet, so the hike's total elevation gain is 250 less than indicated in the info block.

-- #27 Pacific City -- The return loop along Nestucca Bay is now so faint that it is for explorers only. It is still more interesting than following the horse trail through the middle of the peninsula, but expect some exploration if you try the route along Nestucca Bay.

-- #33 Baskett Slough -- Jogging is now banned on the trails here because it disturbs the birds.

-- #34 Valley of the Giants -- The driving route from Falls City to the trailhead includes two gates that are closed and locked at 5pm, so don't stay late! During fire season in late summer, the gates are always locked. 

-- #36 Drift Creek Falls -- A rockslide has made the waterfall itself a little less spectacular. When you set out from the trailhead, be sure to keep right at all junctions for the first mile.

-- #45 Marys Peak -- The entire summit area is closed October-December 2015 due to logging of invasive trees in summit meadows.

-- #47 Peavy Arboretum -- Running and jogging are no longer banned on arboretum trails.

-- #48 Finley Wildlife Refuge -- Jogging is now banned on the trails here because it disturbs the birds.

-- #49 Alsea Falls -- If you're coming from the north via the town of Alsea, the turnoff is now marked as the "Alsea-Deadwood Highway", and the route to the falls is entirely paved.

-- #50 Yachats & Amanda Trail -- A  1.1-mile loop opened in June 2013, providing a scenic detour near Smelt Sands Wayside on the opposite side of Highway 101. The new path is named the Ya'Xaik Trail (say YA-hike), using the Alsea tribal name for Yachats. Opposite the Fireside Motel, turn east on Diversity Drive, and park at the street's end. The trail climbs a wooded hill into the Siuslaw National Forest and then descends north to connect with a public path in the private Gerdemann Botanic Preserve (no dogs allowed), along a creek with shore pines and rhododendrons, to a collection of art galleries at Highway 101, north of the Diversity Drive trailhead 0.2 mile.

-- #56 Cape Mountain -- The drive to the Dry Lake Trailhead is 1 mile farther than described. From Highway 101, drive 1.1 miles on pavement and an additional 1.7 mile of one-lane gravel to the trailhead.

-- #57 Pawn & Pioneer Trails -- The Pawn Old Growth Trail is signed as closed due to a slide and a bridge washout, but the landslide is easy to cross and it's not hard to hop the bridgeless creek along the route. The Mapleton Hill Pioneer Trail may be somewhat overgrown with salmonberry brush, but it is hikable if you wear long pants.

-- #60 Kentucky Falls -- The upper part of this trail is fine. If you start at the lower trailhead on Road 23, however, note that the footbridge at the 1.5-mile mark is gone. You can cross the river OK in summer and fall, but it's tricky in the high water of winter. The next 1.5 miles of trail is so overgrown that it's almost unfindable. The 3-mile bridge is fine, although the trail is so overgrown that the bridge can be hard to access. The trail becomes easier to follow and less brushy upstream from there.

-- #61 Cape Mountain -- the name Tahautiita 'clover/grassy' (from the Siuslaw-Lower Umpqua word tsahauya, grass) was actually given to a ridge northeast of Cape Mountain.  Cape Mountain itself was known as Huwiina (hoo-wee-nah) meaning 'a high dark place'.  Heceta Head is ɫtuuwis. (Patty Phillips <miluk.language@gmail.com>)

-- #67 Tahkenitch Dunes -- Dogs must be on leash on the beach and kite-flying is banned to protect nesting birds.

-- #72 Fivemile Point -- The trail from the beach up to a viewpoint bench is so badly eroded that it is all but unfindable. Unless you're into scrambling and route-finding, just walk the beach.

-- #75 Bandon Islands -- A new blufftop trail from Coquille Point to Bandon's Old Town makes it possible to hike the suggested loops without walking so much along city streets. If you're hiking  the longest loop to the Devils Kitchen, note that the creek there has changed course, so you don't have to cross it at all.

-- #76 New River -- The gate at the Learning Center has been moved 0.3 mile closer to the river, so it is now possible to drive year-round to within 0.2 mile of the New River boat ramp.

-- #81 Sisters Rocks -- The State Parks bulldozed a new parking lot in October 2015, so this previously unmarked trailhead on Highway 101 will be easier to find.

-- #86 Lower Rogue River -- This trail downriver from Agness was being maintained by the Northwest Youth Corps in July 2015, and is expected to reopen when they are done, although washouts and slippery tread may remain, so hikers would need to use caution.

-- #92 Vulcan Lake -- When you turn right on Road 1909 for 13.4 miles, the book says to "keep right when in doubt", but some people have found a confusing fork along the way, where both routes seem equally unused. If you turn right on the incorrect route by mistake, however, it will quickly become obvious that you are on a dead-end road. Then return to Road 1909 and continue, following the "keep right when in doubt" rule.

-- #94 Japanese Bombing Site -- Be warned that Mt. Emily Road 1205 is a long, twisty gravel road. The route is not entirely uphill, but goes up and down. There are many junctions, but stick to Road 1205, which is usually the larger route. After 8.2 miles on this road, the trailhead is actually on the right-hand side (not the left) and is very well marked.