Oregon Coast Fave is Back Open After Almost a Year: Hug Point Near Cannon Beach

Published 09/03/2026 at 6:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Fans of the north Oregon coast's Hug Point can rejoice: the park with the waterfall, weird caves and the trippy old road is back open. (Photo OPRD)

It was sliently reopened just recently, but today it was official.

And there's a bit of a catch: there's still work to do..

Hug Point originally closed because erosion made the access stairs unsafe, almost a year ago.

Back in November, the Cannon Beach-area favorite was shut down after king tides destroyed the stairway and carved into the cliff. A month later, landslides along the roads into Indian Beach and Ecola State Park forced closures there as well.

Both areas needed extensive reconstruction. Ecola reopened relatively quickly, but Hug Point remained closed - even through spring break. Summer came and no opening.

OPRD’s message at the time: “Thanks for your patience while we work to reopen these areas safely.”

It's been a rough year of issue-after-issue.

Damaged stairs last year

Oregon State Parks and Recreation (OPRD) spokesman Lauren Wirtis told Oregon Coast Beach Connection at least the basics are back open. There's still work looming in its future, however.

Damaged stairs last year

“Hug Point is open now that we have fresh paving, improved drainage, and a short-term fix for the stairway,” said Oregon State Parks and Recreation (OPRD) spokesman Lauren Wirtis. “This improves the visitor experience through increased parking, improved traffic flow and limiting runoff that was impacting the beach access itself.”

Heavy rains and king tides wiped out the only viable access, leaving half the stairway gone. As with Ecola, crews had to wait for storms to ease before beginning repairs, but Hug Point also had long-standing drainage problems that needed attention. Improper drainage around the access and parking lot had been an issue for years, and the winter storms finally pushed it past the breaking point.

In March, OPRD said: “We’re currently working through design and permitting for the rebuild. A major factor in the failure was improper parking lot drainage, and that must be corrected before we can safely reconstruct the access. Our hope is to reopen the park before Oregon’s Spring Break, but that depends on the progress of engineering and permitting.”

It’s been a long wait, and sadly not everything is is in tip-top shape.

This marks phase 1 of the needed improvements, Wirtis said. Hug Point Geolgic Oddities - Take the Walking Tour 

“Long-term stability of the beach access area against erosion and a new stairway or other means of accessing the beach are still needed,” she said. “We do not currently have the budget for design, permitting and construction of this long-term fix.”

That may mean a risk for future closures still.

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