Cape Lookout hike is near Tillamook and is phenomenal. You could drive there from Canon no problem. It is a stunning hike along the coast that isn’t too strenuous. Bring proper footwear, it was soaked when I went the other week.

Happy to make more Portland suggestions if you need some.

This post was edited on 2/9/18 at 7:02 pm

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Posted by Jax-Tiger

Port Saint Lucie, FL

Member since Jan 2005

24781 posts

Posted on 2/10/18 at 12:55 am to Jabroni

A lot of good suggestions. As someone mentioned, bad weather is often the best time to go to the beach in Oregon. The waters cold year-round, so you're not going swimming without a wet suit. But the storm watching is great. Watching those waves hit the rocks and explode into the air is cool.

If you go to the coast, take a look at the map, below. The path highlighted in blue is about 90 minutes to Cannon Beach, 45 minutes from Cannon Beach to Tillamook, and 90 minutes back to Portland. The Red and Black paths are under 30 minutes to Astoria and Pacific City, respectively.

If you go to Cannon Beach via Hwy 26, it is a cool town with several breweries, of which Pelican is the best. While Pelican is the best brewery in Cannon Beach, it is not the Best Pelican location. That is in Pacific City, which is a 25 minute drive south of Tillamook. As someone mentioned, Ecola State Park is spectacular. There are some short hikes there, and you can walk the beach (Follow road to Indian Beach). The beach at low tide is pretty cool with some neat tidal pools. If the water is not too rough, you'll see some starfish and other stuff.

From Cannon Beach, you can drive along the coast to Tillamook. The drive is absolutely stunning. There are places to pull over and take pictures. In Tillamook, you can go to the Tillamook cheese factory, and hit up De Garde Brewing, if you like world class sour beers. Tillamook, itself is not much to look at, and you can smell the dairy farms.

From there, it's 90 minutes back to Portland up Hwy 6, or you can drive the 25 minutes to Pacific City to the original Pelican Brewpub, there. The beer is good, but that's not why you go. The view is as good as it gets. Kape Kiwanda is right there to the right, and a haystack rock right in front of you. You can hike up on the bluff at Cape Kiwanda if you have to wait for a table. It's only about 15 minutes round trip. Google Pelican Brewpub, and you'll see what the view looks like.

Someone also mentioned Astoria. I highlighted that in the red ink. The drive isn't as pretty as heading down to Tillamook, but Astoria is a neat town at the mouth of the Columbia. A couple of breweries to hit up are Fort George (best brewery experience in the state). Make sure to hit up the Lovell Taproom at Fort George (there are 3 bars, and that is one of them), since thats where all the experimental beers are. The upstairs pizza restaurant is better than the downstairs restaurant, IMO. Also, Buoy Brewing is very cool, and right on the water.