This hike was hard, but not impossible. Bring hiking poles. It took about 4 days for my legs to recover, and I am an avid skater with pretty strong legs to start. Cardio wise I was fine, my friend and I marched right up to the top, but it was very steep at places. For me, going down was much harder and I was slipping a lot on loose gravel. The warning at the trailhead about "sheer drop offs" was a bit scary since I am not a huge fan of heights, but the trail itself is not along any ledges and I felt perfectly safe. Views at the top were great. Bring poles, hike during good weather, and you will be rewarded with a great leg workout and a view at the top. read more

King's Mountain - View at the top - Hiking Near Me - Tillamook, Oregon

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Unrelenting beauty, even on this wet, misty superbowl Sunday. I set out to hike the King Mountain - Elk Mountain loop, a difficult 11 miles. All the advice about this being a hard hike are absolutely correct. Take it seriously and wear sturdy boots, bring water and snacks. Layer carefully. The trailhead has a good size parking area with overflow across the highway. There is a potty, yay! I headed off counter clockwise, I intended to take Elk first. All the advice says you dont want to have to descend Elk at the end of this crusher. The trail paralleled the highway for a while then at about 3.6 miles I took a hard left and headed up. The gain is 1700 feet in a mile. The "trail" is often a narrow, nearly vertical rock face, and needs careful foot placement. The views are gorgeous. It's a gasping, burning scramble to the top. It was cold and raining (that light omnipresent rain forest rain, not a downpour) until I got to the top, then it was snowing! I'm okay for that, I live in merino base layers, but I was not ready for the other side of that mountain. The snown hid the trail, and if I had thought the east side was a scramble, the west side would have made a mountain goat pause. It was like trying to walk along the backbone of the mountains. The very first part of that side was me on my butt, trying descend a rock face. I got about 500 hard earned yards and decided this wasn't how I wanted to die. I went back to the summit and returned the way I came. Oh, but it's downhill! Easy peasy - not! What was left of my knee cartilage was put to the test and my toes got real sore from jamming up against the front of my boot. Sure, I made better time, but it was very hard going. When I got back to the lower trail and only had that 3.6 miles to go, it was a huge relief. My 11 mile loop ended up a 10.2 mile out and back. If you're looking for advice, I'd say save this one for better weather. read more

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This is a hike with a trailhead located directly on Wilson River Highway (known to some as OR-6). It is located at approximately milepost 25.5 on the north side of the road. If you travel OR-6 during the summer months, you'll almost inevitably notice a parking lot full of cars at the trailhead, a couple miles east of Lee's Camp. People love this trail, myself included, for reasons that become evident upon your first trip up it. There are a handful of trails and loops you can take from this trailhead. I have only hiked the King's Mountain trail, but I've heard the other ones are great as well. The trail starts at approximately 500 feet elevation. It is 2.5 miles to the top of King's Mountain during which time you gain damn near a half a vertical mile (summit is at 3,226 feet). For those that know, 1,000 vertical feet elevation gain/loss per mile is pretty damn steep. It is not a trail for beginners, but definitely can be completed by anyone in decent shape with some stubbornness in their bones and an ability to pace themselves. I've hiked this 5 or 6 times now since I've moved to Tillamook almost two years ago. It is a great hike that gives a great sense of accomplishment upon reaching the summit. There is a cool feature at the top--a sealed tube with a spiral notebook journal inside wherein hikers scratch their names, the date and any notes they want to add. It is pretty cool to see the other people that have climbed it and some of the things they made note of in the journal. The view from the top is spectacular. On a clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean to the West, Mt. Hood to the ESE and Mt. St. Helens to the NE. Very cool stuff. There is a great little location to eat near the top (about 2,950 feet) with a picnic table and a great view of the ocean (on a clear day), the Coast Range and the Wilson River Valley. It has some trees around the small clearing that block some, if not all, the wind (which can be significant at the top of the ridgeline/range. The directions are pretty basic: from PDX, take US-26 west out of Portland to OR-6 (to Tillamook) and drive over the pass until approximately mile-marker 25.5. There will be a sign with "King's Mountain" on the right hand (north) side of the road as you're heading west which marks the trailhead. It is right after a right hand curve, so it can sneak up on you. If you like to hike and haven't experienced this hidden gem yet, do so! I highly, highly recommend it. read more

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Great hike - views are spectacular. I do believe it is poorly labeled as "moderate" (hence the 4 stars - I looked at several websites). I've hiked a fair amount of Oregon trails - moderate usually means you can get away with sneakers, even if hiking boots are better. I say that because the person I hiked with wore sneakers, was over 30 - not great, given the steep, rocky, terrain. This has some very steep, dusty parts - I needed to use my hands to help me during several rock ladders. We're in relative good shape, but this was definitely a difficult level hike. The elevation gain was intense, but the terrain is what made it more appropriately a difficult hike (maybe for people who hike all the time it's moderate??? I'm really not sure). A great hike, but like another reviewer mentioned, be prepared for it. Wear good hiking shoes, poles would be good, water and snacks - it's steep, but definitely worth the views! It's also fun that at the top, there's a capsule to sign your name! read more

Pretty hike thru the forest. It is a tough hike. When you think you are at the top there is another 1/4 mile to go. Take your time. Be careful coming down. It gets slippery. Wear good hiking shoes read more

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This is a beautiful and difficult hike for most people. Elevation gain is 2500ft in 2.5 miles, meaning you need to make sure you have good hiking boots if you want to have a good grip of the ground in the way down. Trekking poles are highly recommended and the usual: plenty of water and food. My boyfriend and I did this hike on Memorial Day 2017 and besides the breath taking view, the mountain was covered with wild flowers that made all the hard work pay off. If you bring your dog please keep it on a leash, we met a person who lost his dog on this trail because the dog dash out the trail chasing after an elk. Highly recommend this amazing hike even on a holiday is not that crowded and I believe is because it is a difficult hike. read more

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Amazing hike! Very tough at times but the view and the end makes the work worth it! Any one looking for a workout with a view should definitely check it out. Parking lot gets a little full and is currently closed but once it opens up again it would be a great way to work off those quarantine pounds we all packed on. read more

My dog (an active basset hound mix) and I just hiked this trail for the first time. I had read that it was a bit challenging, but what I read said it was a moderate difficulty. This meant I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult it was. To be clear, I have not been exercising regularly recently, but I was not the only person making frequent stops and groaning towards the top. I'm sure for super fit folks, it wouldn't be that difficult, but it was for us. We made it though, and wow what a reward! The views at the top are breathtakingly beautiful and you can see for miles. There are some great stops towards the top to sit and take it all in. Make sure to bring a lot of water as we didn't come across any when we were there just a few days ago. We finished up a little more than 3 liters between me and my hound. I can imagine this would be a tough trail when it's raining as there are a few places that are fairly loose dirt. UPDATE: Upon telling the boyfriend about this hike, we realized the elevation gain was something like 2500 feet in 2.5 miles. Just for fun, we did some comparing and found it is steeper than the Grand Canyon (I am from Arizona). I highly recommend this hike, I just want folks to be prepared. read more

It's "very difficult". The view at the top is pretty, but not worth the strain to get up there. We didn't try the loop, which probably would have more pretty things to look at, although it's a lot longer. read more