Today we continue our Have Dog, Will Travel series down the Oregon Coast to Cape Lookout State Park.

This beautiful state park is located just a couple miles south of Tillamook, Oregon, making it another great place to visit on a day-trip from Portland, Oregon.

Cape Lookout Beach -- looking south

After a week of on and off rain and not nearly enough trips to the local park for fetch. We decided to take our two wound-up dogs, Stella and Tuesday to Cape Lookout State Park for a healthy sprint in the sand.

The State Park is divided into two sections. The first is the campground area. This area, although pleasantly outfitted with clean bathrooms and water spigots throughout, was packed the day we visited. There were many groups of families and spring-breakers staked out throughout campground and walking along the beach, so we opted for the somewhat less visited, day-hiking trail.

About 3 miles south of the campground, the hikers trailhead offers three trail to explore the Cape Lookout point. We choose the 1.8 mile, easy -to-moderate South Trail hike down to the beach.

The hike begins in the forest next to the parking lot and almost immediately descends into a series of long switch-backs down the the beach. The trail is a typical foot-hikers path, spongy and wide enough for one person to walk easily, but difficult for two to walk side by side.

Cape Lookout Beach -- looking north

On the first day of many people's spring-break, and on a day where the Cape Lookout Campground was teeming with campers, we passed only two groups on our nearly two mile hike down to the water.

By the time we got to the beach, we had it all to ourselves. As far as we could see, the wide, sandy beach stretched down the coast. Stella and Tuesday wasted no time exploring the sand a full-tilt. Running, digging and tossing driftwood in the air.

We had a short picnic and poured the dogs some water before setting off down the beach. After a showery hike down to the ocean, the bright sun was a welcome sight while we strolled along the sand.

Getting there:

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Special Considerations:

• Bring doggie poop bags - there are no bags provided at the beginning of this trail
• Bring plenty of water – while there are a couple of streams that cross the path as you hike, we always find the dogs are only truly thirsty once they hit the beach and sprint around for awhile
• Bring a rain jacket – you never know what kind of weather the Oregon Coast has to offer. We encountered sun, rain and wind all within a 2 hour period at the beach
• Bring leashes. Dog are required to be leashed along the hike
• There is one outhouse stationed at the trailhead. If you'd like to use a real real restroom before you hike, use the ones at the campground.