A few months a year is when you can find super low tide – you can look up online almanacs for daily tide charts for the year. They list daily high and low tides both in terms of the time and amount of feet that is predicted, and what you are looking for are negative numbers. Super low tides tend to be very close to negative 2 feet. It may easier to search for your area (say Oregon Coast or Cannon Beach, or any beach city in the world) and “super low tide” or “minus tide” – to find them. They usually occur for 4 months, over a few days in those months. In 2021 for the Oregon Coast these were April 29, May 27, June 25 and July 24, according to predictions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, with May and June being the lowest of the entire year. So I planned a trip specifically to check out the super low tide at Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach in June.
Planning
It worked out that it also happened to be during a crazy heat wave in Oregon where we were over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s always much cooler at the Coast. Good thing I planned months ahead of time before all the rentals were sold out. Many places during the summer high season want you to stay 2 days, so keep that in consideration if you are going to stay overnight that you may need to stay longer or you will have some limited choices of where to stay. You can drive early in the morning, but as the low tide was early in the morning (around 7 am) I didn’t want to drive in that early, even if it is only 1.5 hour from Portland barring any traffic or accidents.
Also, low tide time and measurement predicted is the lowest point – so you want to be out there an hour or so at least before that lowest point from when the tide starts to rise again. The earlier you are out at the beach the better so you can have the beach and tidepools with less people. Even at low tide, as always never turn your back to the ocean and be mindful of sneaker waves.
I think the best place to start experiencing low tide is at Haystock Rock in Cannon Beach. This is because the Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) are stewards here and put up signs identifying common tidepool creatures you may see, so you can play tide pool scavenger hunt knowing what you are seeing. Thanks to their sign, I know I saw Giant Green Anemones, Ochre Sea Stars, Shore Crabs, Red Rock Crabs, Shaggy Mouse Nudibranch, Opalescent Nudibranch, California Mussels, Turban Snails, Limpets, Acorn Barnacles, Limpets, and Tide pool Sculpin. It was cool talking to another tidepool visitor about how the sculpins can camouflage themselves – in one tidepool we saw one that was brown like the sand and one that was green like the kelp depending on where the fish was.
I also appreciate that they have signs to help remind newbies of tide pool etiquette – rules like watching carefully where you step (stay on sand or bare rock), don’t touch and disturb the wildlife as they are fragile and can easily die, keeping eyes and control over your dogs and children. Bring binoculars because besides HRAP, the sea stacks of Haystack Rock and accompanying The Needles are excellent to visit because they are home to many nesting birds including puffins and are a bird sanctuary. Watching puffins fly with the crazy flapping of wings to fly is fun and sorta silly. 
Here’s a comparison of Haystack Rock on June 23 2021 around 5:35pm, so at the low tide of 2.6 some feet (I’m looking north from Tolovana), and then same view but a little closer as I was walking towards it, on June 24 2021 around 5:17am, as approaching the low tide of -2.3 feet in the next hour or so. You can see the negative super low tide can uncover much more. In the last pair of this group, you can see in the background super low tide reveal of Haystack rock looking north to the rock, and then on the other side looking south to Haystack and the Needles.
Ecola State Park – Viewpoint and Crescent Beach Hike
After a visit to Haystack Rock, you should also stop by Ecola State Park. This is a nice picnic area at the viewpoint, and there are multiple nice short hikes of a couple hours that you can do that give you a chance to enjoy the Pacific Northwest Forest and views of the coast or a beach on the trail. There’s lots of parking and a mere $5 fee for the day use permit from the fee station. I was lucky enough to also run into a handsome elk on the drive into the park. The views from Ecola Viewpoint are pretty iconic. If you are on a Goonies tour given your stop at Haystock Rock (and probably continuing to Astoria) the field here was featured in the movie. From here you can see Seal Rock and in the last vertical picture in the group below, barely, offshore Tillamook Rock Lighthouse known as Terrible Tilly.
I checked out the high level view of Crescent Beach from the Ecola Point, and then took the trail down to the beach to get up and close where I practically had the beach to myself. The Crescent Beach trail is short, but a few places are very muddy, it’s not flat because of tree roots or being steep in some places during the descent from the cliffside coastal views to the beachside. So at least have shoes with traction. Check out AllTrails for the latest conditions.
Crescent Beach also offers a little waterfall and a little sea cave, and a view of Tillamook Rock Lighthouse in the far distance to the south back towards Ecola Viewpoint, as well as Haystack Rock facing north towards Bird Rocks and Chapman Point.
Eats
Before or after your Haystack Rock adventures, Cannon Beach has so many options of delicious places to eat. I think the best way to dine is to order takeout and eat on the beach. I got carry-out at two places in Cannon Beach. The first is Ecola Seafoods which boasts fresh wild seafood from fishing vessels- the owning Beckman Family has been fishing since 1977. This restaurant and seafood market has lots of fish and chips and seafood basket options, but wanting to taste the wild freshness I like getting the seafood cocktails with an add-on of a melted butter condiment, or try one of their wild caught smoked salmon paired with garlic bread and clam chowder. If you are staying at a house rental with a kitchen, you might consider some seafood to grill or bbq back at your rental.
Another options is right as close as you can get to Haystack Rock, from Wayfarer Restaurant. While Ecola Market is mainly open for lunch to dinner, Wayfarer serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so could be a great spot after your low tide morning visit. Or, grab dinner for waiting for the sunset. Sadly sunset was overcast by the marine layer that day so that wasn’t as photogenic as I hoped, but dining while listening to the waves, smelling the burning wood of people who had started campfires, and exchanging side-eye with a seagull (do not feed them!) was still memorable.
I opted for a starter of Fresh Burrata with Heirloom tomato, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze, and a pesto of Public Coast Farm basil, and then Steamer Clams starring local Manila clams, Public Coast Brewing Co. ‘67 Blonde Ale, garlic, heirloom tomato, garden herbs, crostini, and smoked paprika aïoli. You will want a side of garlic bread to soak up all that delicious liquid. They had many other delicious sounding entrees too and I will definitely be back again.
This concludes the relaxing 24 hours I spent at Cannon Beach – my next super low tide day would be visiting Neskowin Ghost Forest so I stayed in Lincoln City, and I’ll cover that in a future post. For a list of more great tidepool locations on the Oregon Coast, including which ones may be offering Interpretive Programs, see this brochure from the Oregon State Parks. What are your favorite things to do or eat in Cannon Beach?
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