5 min
Overview
The five-mile stretch of beach between Devils Punchbowl State Park and Yaquina Head is one of the most pleasant and interesting beach walks on the central coast. If you start at the north end, the wide stretch of strand before you, known to many as Beverly Beach, offers a picture perfect ideal for beach lovers. You'll cross Spencer Creek at Beverly Beach State Park, and from here the beach itself, now officially Moolack Beach, gets more interesting. Wave-cut platforms and rock formations appear out of the sand at low tide. Rounding Schooner Point, which can only be done at low tide, you'll reach secluded and little-visited Starfish Cove, with its mudstone cliffs, foraging shore birds, and rock platforms embedded with fossil mollusks. The views north extend to high Cape Foulweather; looking south as you hike, Yaquina Head is always in view. For a shorter walk that takes in the most interesting features of this beach, begin at the Moolack Beach Trailhead on Highway 101 and walk south towards Yaquina Head (5.2 miles round-trip). Make sure you do this section at low tide, as Schooner Point can be difficult to get around at high tide. First, walk out to the sea-facing cliffs to get a view into the maw of the Devils Punchbowl, a collapsed wave-carved cave. (The walk down to shore is described in the Devils Punchbowl Hike). A paved loop around the headland offers views down Moolack Beach to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and out to Gull Rock. Walk back to the first parking area and find a set of about 100 steps leading down to Beverly Beach. Once you're at this wide sandy beach, you can poke around at the base of the 60-foot cliffs and then start walking south. To your left are residences and beach homes in the community of Otter Rock. Surfers and kite boarders love this section of beach; often harbor seals keep them company in the breaks. You'll cross three small creeks, the third one being Johnson Creek, with colorful sedimentary cliffs to your left. Scrubby Sitka spruce, shore pine, black twinberry and salal form
Trail Stats
0.0 km
24 m
0 m
0 m
—
Photos
Trail photo
No caption provided.
Trail photo
No caption provided.
Trail photo
No caption provided.
Trail photo
No caption provided.
Trail photo
No caption provided.
Trail photo
No caption provided.
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeachMap
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeachMap
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach5
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach5
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach6
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach6
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach1
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach1
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach2
250px-BeverlyMoolackBeach2
400px-BeverlyMoolackBeach4
400px-BeverlyMoolackBeach4