PLAY IT SAFE As you enjoy the coastline, don’t underestimate the power of the mighty Pacific. Here are top tips to keep in mind. Check the tides. Consult a tide table so you’re not surprised or stranded by an incoming tide, which can raise the water level several feet. Watch for sneaker waves. Never turn your back on the ocean. Unexpected waves can toss heavy logs to shore or carry you out to sea. Be aware of rip currents. The topography of the ocean floor can create currents that can pull people and pets away from shore. Study the conditions before jumping in for a swim. Know tsunami safety. If you’re near the beach and feel an earthquake, immediately head for higher ground when the shaking stops. Blue and white signs offer guidance to tsunami evacuation routes. Stay away from the edge. Coastal bluffs and headlands are fragile and can collapse unexpectedly. Northern Beaches Downtown Cannon Beach puts you just steps from the sand for sipping a morning coffee, setting out on an after-dinner stroll and all the day’s activities in between. Visitors can access the beach at 44 points throughout town, including the west ends of First, Second and Third streets. Building sandcastles — and all sorts of other elaborate sand sculptures — is a time-honored tradition in Cannon Beach, which has hosted an annual sandcastle contest since 1964. Make plans to watch the creations take shape in June at the 60th annual Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest, an Oregon heritage event — or start dreaming up a design and enter yourself. Of course, your sand-sculpting creativity is welcome on the beach any day of the year. Kids and thirsty canines appreciate splashing in the fresh water of Ecola Creek, which flows from the Coast Range and into the Pacific at the north end of town. Across the creek, Chapman Beach typically sees fewer visitors, unless you count the elk that sometimes loll around the grassy lawn at Les Shirley Park. The Bird Rocks scattered just offshore are home to an estimated 28,000 common murres, the largest nesting colony of these black-and-white seabirds in the world. Crescent Beach hides just beyond those rocks, a half-mile-long beauty best reached by a hiking trail in Ecola State Park that descends steeply through Sitka spruce and thickets of salal. Surfers gravitate a few miles farther north to the park’s Indian Beach, hemmed in by headlands that create a clean curling wave. Seals often bob in the swell right alongside boards and boats. Silver Point Indian Beach CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: NASHCO PHOTO; CANNON BEACH; COURTESY OF OREGON STATE PARKS Tide pool cannonbeach.org 9
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