After Labor Day weekend, most coastal towns quiet down, their souls lying dormant until next summer. As the joy, jubilation and warmth of summer transitions to the cooler, quiet, humdrum autumn, Cannon Beach refuses to shut down. Even though the summer crowds have disappeared, autumn brings new life to the town. The fog lifts. Creativity returns. The ocean creates its own unique sound. Forests orchestrate their annual performances of yellows and oranges. The soul of Cannon Beach is very much alive and well.
In autumn, Cannon Beach is an oasis where nature and the ocean intersect. The chirps of sea birds combine with the high-pitch squeals of Roosevelt Elk and the roar of the ocean to create smoothing sounds that welcome and invite you to stay awhile.
Once you accept Cannon Beach’s invitation to spend a few autumn days among the forests, beaches, birds, and elk, there is no shortage of memorable experiences to be had. Use this article as a blueprint for beginning your own soulful autumn adventure in Cannon Beach.
Hit Making Trails
Autumn is an excellent time to hike Cannon Beach’s trails, especially if you like a sampling of foliage with your coastal views. While there isn’t the percussion of color that pops up in the Williamette Valley, you will see enough yellows and oranges among the old growth spruces and hemlocks to make your inner leaf peeper happy.
A hiker’s paradise, Ecola State Park is especially beautiful in autumn. The Clatsop Loop Trail packs a little bit of everything in its nearly three miles with forests, a former World War II observation bunker, and views of the abandoned Tillamook Rock Lighthouse and Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain. A waterfall runs near the Indian Beach trailhead. More adventurous hikers will find the eight-mile stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail that runs through the park from North Tillamook Head to Crescent Beach to their liking,
Forest seekers will rejoice hiking the trails at Oswald West State Park, located just south of Cannon Beach. The quarter-mile long Old Growth Forest Trail lives true to its name while the two-mile long North and 1.3 mile long South Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain Trails take hikers through old growth forests to spectacular views of the Oregon coast best seen on a clear sunny day. You can see Short Sand Beach, Tillamook Head, and Cape Lookout while hiking the 2 ½ mile long Cape Falcon Trail.
Autumn Art Melodies
The arts come alive in Cannon Beach in autumn. The self-guided Cannon Beach Public Art Tour brings you face-to-face with sculptures inspired by the ocean, sea creatures, and town history. If you prefer to see smaller artworks, a second self-guided walking tour, The Cannon Beach Gallery Walking Tour, takes you to over a dozen downtown art galleries which showcase the paintings, sculptures, glassworks, woodworks, and photographs created by local, regional, and nationally-known artists.
In November, the Stormy Weather Arts Festival takes center stage. The Festival brings together musicians, artists, and buskers for a weekend filled with creativity. Cannon Beach’s galleries host receptions and artist demonstrations. Free concerts at venues throughout town fill Cannon Beach with music. Hands-on workshops allow you to express your own creativity and, perhaps, inspire you to create a masterpiece to be exhibited at next year’s festival.
The non-profit Coaster Theatre Playhouse begins its season in autumn. The Theatre presents six plays each season, using a renovated skating rink as its home stage. If seeing one of its plays brings out your inner actor, the Coaster Theatre holds open auditions for each play a month before opening curtain.
The School of Haystack Rock
The mighty Pacific makes its own music, with Brown Pelicans, Sooty Shearwaters, Townsend’s Warblers, and Harlequin Ducks taking their turns singing backup. Cannon Beach’s four miles of beaches invite beachgoers to experience the rhythm of the Oregon Coast. With fewer crowds, autumn is an ideal time for romantic strolls and bonfires.
Haystack Rock marks the center point of the stretch of beach between downtown Cannon Beach and Tolovana Park to the south. Rising 235 feet from the ocean, the basaltic lava and soft marine sediment monolith is Cannon Beach’s headliner and one of Oregon’s most recognizable landmarks. Haystack Rock had its fifteen minutes of fame in 1985, wserving as a filming location for the movie The Goonies.
Autumn is also a good time to explore, at low tide, Haystack Rock’s tide pools. Mussels, barnacles, starfish, ochre sea stars, anemones, thick horned nudibranch, and sea lemon nudibranchs call the tide pools home. These creatures invite beachgoers to take a close-up look at how they live, just as long as you don’t touch them or the tide pools themselves.
If you prefer to hang ten, the beaches at Ecola State Park and Oswald West State Park give beginner and intermediate surfers a chance to catch, depending on conditions, some small and medium waves. With fall water temperatures in the low to mid 50’s, a warmer wetsuit and neoprene boots are highly recommended.
The Sounds of the Jungle
Roosevelt Elk make their presence known in the autumn months. During dawn and dusk, herds of Roosevelt Elk appear throughout Cannon Beach, Roosevelt Elk bulls will squeal as their way to let other bulls know that they’re the boss, and to attract Roosevelt Elk cows, as the shorter days signal the start of mating season.
One of the best places to see Roosevelt Elk in the wild is the meadows surrounding Ecola State Park’s main parking lot, which becomes a restaurant for the elk living in the nearby rainforests. The grassy areas on either side of Ecola Creek are good elk spotting sites close to downtown Cannon Beach. Roosevelt Elk living in the wetlands near City Park will graze in the park’s athletic field, sometimes forcing coaches to temporarily stop games and practices.
A Symphony of Flavors
Cool autumn mornings get off to a good start with an organic pumpkin spice latte and a pastry from Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters. Open Friday-Monday, Sleepy Monk offers a cozy atmosphere where locals and visitors alike hang out on the heat lamp warmed front porch. Cannon Beach Bakery’s artisan bakers eschew anything pumpkin spice, instead creating a maple oatmeal scone that goes perfectly with coffee. The Bakery also serves up the classic fall apple cider donut with or without cinnamon sugar.
Cannon Beach’s outdoor dining season extends into autumn, with restaurants equipping their patios with fire pits or heat lamps. The Driftwood Restaurant and Lounge invites diners to gather around the fire pit on their dog-friendly deck, which is festively decorated with plenty of pumpkins and lighted jack-o-lanterns. If the ocean gives you a craving for seafood, Ecola Seafoods, one of the destinations on Oregon’s North Coast Food Trail, has a table on their patio with a fire pit in the middle where you can warm up while enjoying a hot cup or bowl of their clam chowder as a prelude to their responsibly-sourced, ethical, wild caught and wild harvested classic seafood specialties like dungeness crab and fish and chips.
Cannon Beach is home to some restaurants which would fit right in on the television series Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. At Cannon Beach Hardware and Public House, a screwdriver can be both a tool and a drink. The hardware store has a restaurant that serves up plenty of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, and cocktails. Come for the tools, stay for the Cajun-style tater tots. If you have a hankering for a taste of summer, the Cannon Beach S’mores Company, offers gourmet variations on the traditional s’more. Eschewing the fire pit for a baker’s torch, their masterful creations have you rethinking what a s’more is.
Finding Your Autumn Lullaby
Cannon Beach has many magical vacation rentals where, after a long day, you can fall asleep to the gentle sounds of the ocean’s lullaby or awaken to the melodies of migrating birds heading to warmer climes. Downtown lofts within walking distance of Haystack Rock and Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters exude charm and coziness and come with fireplaces that are perfect for warding off cold autumn nights.
On Cannon Beach’s south end, ocean view condos and townhouses sit just two blocks from the beach and Haystack Rock and are close to Tolovana State Park. Several restaurants are located within strolling distance, as is a grocery store if you’re inspired to make your own culinary masterpieces using local ingredients.
Cabins, cottages, and bungalows dominate Cannon Beach’s quiet north end, located between downtown and Ecola State Park, close to Chapman Beach. Amenities usually include fireplaces and outdoor grills, with some vacation rentals having a pool, hot tub, or sauna.
An Unfinished Symphony
After spending a few autumn days in Cannon Beach, you’ll want to explore what the town has in store in winter, spring, and summer. In future articles, we at the Bluesy Traveler will help you further your own path into Cannon Beach’s heart, rhythm, and soul and give you the itineraries, insider tips, and advice you need to further your journey into this magical place.
About the Author
Jim Parlee is a freelance writer who has written and ghost written for a number of websites, including Tourist Bee and the Connecticut Explorer. Jim also writes screenplays and television movie scripts. When he’s not writing, Jim likes to discover the heart and soul of the United States and Canada.
