Cape Meares Beach and Bayocean Peninsula - The Sandy Shore over a Ghost Town

Cape Meares Beach and Bayocean Peninsula sit about 8 miles northwest of Tillamook on the northern Oregon Coast. The peninsula is a narrow sand spit that wraps around Tillamook Bay. It is open Pacific beach on the west, quiet estuary mud flats on the east, and forested dunes running down the middle.

Here, you can walk miles of beach and barely see another person. The beachcombing is excellent after winter storms. The bay-side flats draw hundreds of shorebirds in spring and fall. And beneath the dunes lies the buried history of Bay Ocean Park, a ghost town swallowed by the Pacific over a century ago.

Access to the spit is hike-in only from a single parking area. The dyke road gets muddy and the beach includes stretches of soft sand.

Things to Do at Cape Meares Beach and Bayocean Peninsula

Hiking

The Bayocean Dyke Road runs about 3 miles north along the bay to Kincheloe Point near the Tillamook Bay south jetty. The ocean-side beach covers roughly the same distance. A full loop with dyke road north, cross to the beach, return south runs about 7 miles round trip. The terrain is flat, but soft sand slows you down, so allow extra time.

Beachcombing

The 5-mile beach between Cape Meares and the south jetty is one of the best beachcombing stretches on the Tillamook Coast. Winter storms push driftwood, shells, and polished stones onto the sand. Few people walk this stretch, so finds sit untouched longer than on busier beaches.

Birdwatching

The bay-side mud flats are outstanding for shorebirds. During a moderately low tide in spring or fall, exposed flats attract sandpipers, plovers, dunlins, great blue herons, and bald eagles. Bring binoculars since the flat terrain makes it easy to scan from the trail.

Fishing and Clamming

The south jetty produces perch, rockfish, lingcod, and occasional salmon, but the rocks are slippery and exposed to heavy swells. On the bay side, experienced diggers find gaper clams, butter clams, and cockles in the mud flats. Carry a valid Oregon shellfish license and check the biotoxin hotline before digging.

The Bayocean Ghost Town

Ever walked over a buried town? In 1906, developer T.B. Potter began building Bay Ocean Park here, the so-called "Atlantic City of the West."

By 1914, 600 lots were sold. A natatorium with a heated pool went up. Hotels were planned. Then the ocean ate the shoreline. The natatorium collapsed by 1936. Homes fell into the surf. By the late 1950s, the entire town had vanished. Today, sand and dunes cover almost every trace.