Cannon Beach Surf Guide

Cannon Beach Surf Guide

Through the tunnel and past the tiny hamlet of Arch Cape, the signed turnoff road leads you into Cannon Beach, a classic beach-tourist community surrounded by the ocean and mountains.

Offshore rocks and seastacks abound, including the famous Haystack Rock (the third tallest monolith in the world at 235 feet), fronted mostly by hard-sand beaches and steep, dripping cliffs. As for the surf, the nine or so miles from Ecola Creek south to Falcon Cove (including Tolovana Beach and Cannon Beach proper) is basically all beachbreak, thus surfable only when small and clean. The mouth of Ecola Creek occasionally has a good bar.

Cannon Beach received its name from the 500-ton U.S. Naval survey schooner Shark, which was wrecked while attempting to leave the Columbia River on September 10, 1846. In an effort to slide the ship off of the rivermouth's immense sandspit, the three masts were hacked off and the cannon were jettisoned, but the boat began to break up and the crew took to its boats. Part of the Shark's deck, including a small iron cannon, drifted ashore south of Tillamook Head, thus bestowing the name to Cannon Beach.