Neahkahnie Mountain Trail

Neahkahnie Mountain Trail climbs to the 1,631-foot summit of Neahkahnie Mountain, a sacred peak in the Tillamook oral tradition surrounded by legends of buried treasure left by Spanish or Beeswax Ship sailors who may have wrecked on this coast in the seventeenth century. The trail ascends steeply from the highway through a mosaic of coastal shrub, meadow, and forest, gaining elevation rapidly with views that expand dramatically with every hundred feet of altitude gain. The open upper slopes of Neahkahnie Mountain are remarkably exposed for an Oregon coastal summit, swept by ocean winds that prune the vegetation to meadow and low scrub and allow unobstructed views in multiple directions. From the summit, the panorama is extraordinary: the Pacific Ocean stretches to the western horizon, the coastline curves from Cannon Beach in the north to Tillamook Bay and Cape Lookout in the south, and the Coast Range ridgelines extend inland to the east. The Tillamook people considered Neahkahnie a place of power and vision, and the view from the summit makes this designation entirely understandable. Local legend holds that Spanish treasure is buried somewhere on the mountain's slopes, and several beeswax chunks from an early ship have been found nearby, lending some credibility to the historical shipwreck stories. Hang gliders and paragliders sometimes launch from the summit on favorable wind days, adding an additional spectacle for hikers arriving at the top.