Oswald West State Park

As a local micro wedding + elopement photographer– this is hands down one of my favorite locations. Always beautiful and offers a variety of landscapes in a relatively small state park!

This place has some of the most rugged and stunning viewpoints on the Oregon Coast, but it has gotten *popular*. Over the past six years, the increase in foot traffic is obvious, and you can see it in the trail conditions. The steeper sections have become more packed down (which means less traction, more feet slipping) and wider, making them a little trickier to navigate. If you’re planning an elopement here with a small group (we're talking no more than half a dozen, to be comfortable with crowding at such exposed viewpoints), make. sure. your. guests. are. mobile. The walk from the viewpoints back to the car is only about 10-15 minutes, but if someone has bad knees or a hip replacement, it could easily take closer to 45 minutes. That said, it’s still an incredible place for an intimate elopement, especially at sunrise or sunset. The views are worth the effort. Just be mindful of the changing trail conditions and follow Leave No Trace.

Wonderful place to hike. Trail gets a little muddy, but great hike up Cape Falcon n

These turnout parks are on the west side of the highway, but you can enter them when traveling north! Be careful crossing the traffic! What I love about these turnouts, besides the obviously stunning view, are the information and description displays along the walkway. So much fascinating information in those things!

This is a beautiful state park . The trails we walked were well marked. The old growth forest was beautiful , full of huge ferns and evergreens. Short Sand Beach was also a treat. Lots of good waves so it was fun to watch the surfers and also a great place to walk our dog. We will bring chairs next time so we can spend the day .

Highly recommend devil's cauldron hike. Only about a half mile walk to viewpoint from Elk Flats trailhead. Take fork to the left shortly after starting Elk Flats trail. We did not see any signs for devils cauldron. Small parking lot at trailhead.

Beautiful view. When you drive, need stop and breather fresh air. Driver stop and relax.

We were so grateful to be able to drive through this forest every single day to get to our cabin at Arch Cape. So we decided to stop and get out and explore and we found the hug tree and many burrows for small critters the drive from the highway to the beach was so beautiful. I hope this land stays the way it is.