Haystack Rock
Interesting facts
- In July 2023 a cougar was documented climbing Haystack Rock for the first time, apparently crossing the sand at low tide.
- In 1968 a protruding knob of the rock that climbers used as a route was blasted away with dynamite.
- The basalt that built the rock is linked to the Columbia River lava floods, which are thought to have been fed by the same hotspot that now lies beneath Yellowstone.
- Ownership is split at the tide line: the state parks department manages everything below mean high water, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service everything above it.
- Besides The Goonies and Twilight, the rock appears in Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop and Steven Spielberg's comedy 1941.
- Oregon has a second, smaller Haystack Rock farther south at Pacific City, which often causes confusion between the two.
- Around 350,000 people visit the rock each year, making it one of the most visited spots on the Oregon coast.
Why it is worth it
Haystack Rock rises 235 feet (about 72 metres) straight from the sand of Cannon Beach, a dark monolith of basalt on the Oregon coast, with three smaller spires, the Needles, standing just to the south. At low tide the sea draws back and it is possible to walk to its base, where the rock is ringed by tide pools full of sea stars, anemones, crabs, chitons and sea slugs. At high tide it is an island again, and on grey days, with fog blowing through, it can look like the prow of an enormous ship.
The rock has a long story behind its simple shape. It formed from lava flows around 15 to 17 million years ago, part of the great outpourings of the Columbia River basalts that flowed all the way to the Pacific and created many of the headlands of this coast. It was once joined to the mainland; the sea has since cut it free.
Today it is protected on several levels. The intertidal zone has been a marine garden since 1990, and the rock above the tide line belongs to the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, so climbing is not allowed. From spring to late summer tufted puffins nest on its upper slopes, alongside common murres, pigeon guillemots and black oystercatchers, and the city's Haystack Rock Awareness Program explains the tide pools at low tide from February to October. The beach and the rock have appeared in many films, among them The Goonies, Point Break and Twilight.
Getting there
The rock lies about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) south of downtown Cannon Beach, beside U.S. Route 101, and is part of the Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site. Portland is about 80 miles (130 km) to the east, and Portland International Airport (PDX) is the region's main airport. Check a tide table before walking out to the tide pools.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Haystack Rock is a 235 ft-tall (72 m) sea stack in Cannon Beach, Oregon. The monolithic rock is adjacent to the beach and accessible by foot at low tide. The Haystack Rock tide pools are home to many intertidal animals, including starfish, sea anemone, crabs, chitons, limpets, and sea slugs. The rock is also a nesting site for many sea birds, including terns and puffins.
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