Cannon Beach at Sunset: Haystack Rock & the Best Light
Cannon Beach is the most famous stretch of the Oregon Coast, and Haystack Rock is the reason. It's that 235-foot sea stack standing right off the sand that you've seen in a hundred photos, and at sunset the whole scene turns into something worth driving out for. I've shot this beach in that evening light more than once, and it's given me some of my favorite Oregon Coast frames. Here's what to do at Cannon Beach, how to make the most of a sunset here, and where to stand for the best of it.
Haystack Rock and the tide pools
Haystack Rock is the star. It rises 235 feet straight off the beach, and the base of it is a protected marine garden, which is the part a lot of visitors miss. If you time your visit with a low tide, you can walk right up and find sea stars, anemones, and crabs living in the tide pools around it. In spring and summer, tufted puffins nest on the rock too, so bring binoculars if you're into birds. Just remember it's protected habitat, so look but don't touch or climb.
Ecola State Park
Just north of town, Ecola State Park is worth the short detour. Its clifftop viewpoints look back down the coastline at Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock from above, and the light up there in the evening is beautiful. Ecola's Indian Beach has also shown up in movies like The Goonies, Point Break, and Twilight, so it's a fun stop if you know those films.
The town
Downtown Cannon Beach is walkable and full of galleries, shops, and restaurants, plus a famous candy store or two. It's a nice place to grab dinner before or after a sunset on the sand. Fair warning, Cannon Beach is popular and gets busy, especially on summer weekends, so if you want it calmer, come on a weekday or show up in the evening as the day crowd thins out.
Sunset is the best time here
If you only get one window at Cannon Beach, make it sunset. As the sun drops toward the water, Haystack Rock and the smaller sea stacks go to clean silhouettes, the sky over the ocean can light up in deep oranges and pinks, and the wet sand left by the outgoing tide turns into a giant mirror reflecting all of it back. It's one of the most reliable good sunsets on the coast.
A few tips for making the most of it:
Check the tide chart and aim for a lower tide near sunset. More exposed sand means more of those glassy reflections, and it lets you get closer to the rock.
Get there early to scout your spot and stay through blue hour, the stretch just after the sun goes down when the sky often gets even better.
Bring a layer. The beach cools off fast once the sun is gone and the wind picks up off the water.
Take the sunset home
Both of these prints came from evenings right here on this beach, and they capture the two different moods Cannon Beach gives you at sunset.
The first is a fiery spring evening where the whole sky lit up over the sea stacks and the wet sand mirrored it back:
The second is Haystack Rock itself, gone to a clean silhouette in the golden light, with a lone figure walking the shore:
Cannon Beach Haystack Rock Sunset Print →
Both come in sizes from a small 5x7 up to a 24x36 statement piece, printed on demand on matte or lustre paper, unframed with free shipping. If you love the Oregon Coast, or you just want that warm, calming beach light on your wall, either one brings a little of it home.
Cannon Beach is also one of the stops on my full Oregon Coast road trip guide, and if you want a quieter, more hidden stretch of coast, my Secret Beach guide covers one of my favorites down south. I'm a landscape and cityscape photographer based in Portland, and this coastline is one of the places I keep coming back to shoot.
