Ecola State Park

Where it sits. Ecola State Park covers about 530 hectares and 15 km of the northern Oregon coast between Cannon Beach and Seaside, in Clatsop County. The whole park is draped over Tillamook Head, a basalt headland that rises more than 300 metres straight out of the Pacific — the eroded remains of a lava flow that travelled here from eastern Oregon millions of years ago and now forms the cliffs, the offshore stacks and the reef that shapes the surf. The entrance road leaves Cannon Beach at its northern end and climbs 3 km through Sitka spruce to Ecola Point.

The name, and Lewis and Clark. In January 1806, from the winter camp at Fort Clatsop, William Clark led a small party — including Sacagawea, who insisted on going — over Tillamook Head to reach a whale that had washed ashore near the mouth of Ecola Creek, hoping to trade for blubber and oil. The Chinook word for whale gave the creek and later the park their name. Clark's journal entry describing the view from the top of the head as the grandest prospect he had beheld is quoted on a plaque near the Indian Beach trailhead, and the modern Clatsop Loop Trail follows part of the route his party took.

What you actually see. Ecola Point is the classic viewpoint: a grassy shelf above sheer cliffs, with a picnic area and the view south over Crescent Beach to Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock. Two kilometres offshore stands Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, built between 1879 and 1881 on a wave-swept basalt stack at enormous cost and human risk, staffed until 1957, and now privately owned and used as a columbarium — the most forbidding structure on the West Coast, known locally as Terrible Tilly. North along the park road, Indian Beach is a small cove of dark sand and cobble at the mouth of Indian Creek, with a reliable beach break that makes it the northern Oregon coast's most-used surf spot, plus tidepools at the northern end. From there the Clatsop Loop Trail runs 4 km up through the rainforest to Hikers' Camp, a set of primitive cabins and a viewpoint near a Second World War radar bunker; carrying on north gives a 10 km traverse to Seaside. Crescent Beach, the cove immediately south of Ecola Point, has no road access at all and is reached either by a steep 1.5 km trail or on foot from Cannon Beach at low tide, which keeps it empty on days when the viewpoints are packed. Roosevelt elk graze the meadows around the entrance road at dawn and dusk, bald eagles work the cliffs, and grey whales pass close inshore during the northbound migration in March and April and again in December.

On screen. For a park with no buildings and one road, Ecola has an outsized filmography, and it is worth knowing exactly which scene belongs where:

• The Goonies (1985). The coastal footage, including the beach the children reach and the views out to the stacks, was shot in the park; the town, the jail and the Walsh house are in Astoria, 40 km north, and Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach appears in the closing scene.
• Point Break (1991). The climax, in which Bodhi paddles out into the fifty-year storm at Bells Beach, Australia, was filmed at Indian Beach. The Australian surf break in that sequence is Oregon in the rain.
• Twilight (2008). Indian Beach doubled for First Beach at La Push, Washington, including the driftwood bonfire and the scene where Jacob tells Bella the Quileute legends. The real La Push is 350 km north and no filming took place there.

Astoria, up the coast, carries most of the region's other credits, from Kindergarten Cop to Short Circuit, which is why the entire northern Oregon coast has a small industry of self-guided film tours.

Getting there and timing. From US Highway 101, turn off at the north end of Cannon Beach and follow the park road; it is narrow, winding and closed to vehicles over about 7 metres, and there is no through route. Oregon State Parks charges a day-use fee per vehicle, payable at the machine or with an annual permit. The park sits on unstable ground: landslides regularly cut the road, and the Indian Beach section has closed for extended periods more than once, so check the state parks site before driving out. There are no camping facilities except the walk-in Hikers' Camp. Summer weekends fill both lots by late morning; fog is common in July and August mornings and usually burns off by noon. Winter brings the biggest surf, the best light and the highest chance of a closed gate.