Cannon Beach tide times

Cannon Beach sits on the northern Oregon coast, 120 kilometres from Portland, at the base of Haystack Rock — a 72-metre basalt monolith standing in the surf 90 metres from shore. The rock is the third-tallest coastal monolith in the US and the defining landmark of the Oregon coast. Tidal pattern is mixed semidiurnal with a large range: mean range around 1.8 metres, but spring tides producing higher-lower extremes of 3.0+ metres between the highest and lowest water of the day.

Haystack Rock is a marine garden at low tide. The rock's base is exposed for roughly 2 to 3 hours around low water, revealing some of the most accessible intertidal habitat on the Pacific coast. Purple sea urchins occupy the mid-tide pools; ochre sea stars (recovering from sea star wasting disease) and giant green anemones populate the lower pools. The rock is a designated Marine Garden — no collecting of any species is permitted. Cannon Beach Haystack Rock Awareness Program volunteers staff the site at low tides and can identify what you're seeing.

Surfers use the beach break north of Haystack Rock. The Oregon coast receives consistent northwest swell year-round, with the best shape in autumn and early winter when the groundswell organises and the wind briefly goes offshore in the early morning. The water is cold — 10 to 14°C — and wetsuits are mandatory in all seasons. The beach break has several sand bar sections that shift through the year; the north end near Ecola Creek mouth tends to be the most consistent.

The tidal flats exposed at low water around Haystack Rock are the main reason visitors plan tide-aware trips. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes a free pocket tide chart for Cannon Beach; the Cannon Beach Visitors Association has current low-tide times posted at the trailhead. Photographers targeting the rock's reflection at sunset need to coordinate high water (when the reflection appears in the wet sand foreshore) with the correct sunset angle — typically October through December.

Clamming for razor clams is productive on the beaches north of Cannon Beach toward Seaside. Oregon ODFW issues razor clam alerts when harvests are approved; seasons are often restricted due to domoic acid testing. A shellfish license is required from ODFW.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. For authoritative US tide data, consult NOAA CO-OPS at tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov.