Exploring Haystack Rock AND THE BEACHES OF CANNON BEACH Cannon Beach certainly has plenty of beaches to love. At the community’s north end, Ecola State Park hides crescents of sand between towering headlands cloaked in old-growth spruce and hemlock. From there a wide beach unfurls all the way to Hug Point, some 6 miles south. Haystack Rock Just south of Cannon Beach’s midtown, Haystack Rock remains the undeniable top draw. The 235-foot-high basalt sea stack is so close to shore, you can come close to it during seasonal low tides. You can also walk near two adjacent rock formations (known as the Needles) when the tide recedes and exposes pools full of intertidal life. Many seabirds frequent Cannon Beach’s coastal cliffs, but tufted puffins steal the show from April through mid- to late August with cartoonish orange beaks and black footballshaped bodies. More than 100 of these birds nest on Haystack Rock each spring, when they dive and wing through the water to feed on herring and smelt. While Haystack Rock is beloved as a uniquely Oregon viewpoint, it’s also a critical coastal environment protected for future generations. From March to October, knowledgeable interpreters and volunteers with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program educate thousands of beachgoers. Wearing bright-red vests and coats, this group explains that barnacles are actually living creatures and why the Haystack Rock area is protected as an Oregon Marine Garden and part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. FROM LEFT: NASHCO PHOTO; SOPHIA KNOX / OCVA Haystack Rock Tide pool OUTDOORS 22 Cannon Beach Experience Guide
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