Oceanside Ecola Hike with a Surprise Proposal | Oregon

Cannon Beach was a truly magical stop along our PNW road trip. We parked our little Casita at an awesome campground just a couple blocks from the beach, and I walked to the ocean with Migo every morning to play fetch. It rained during much of our time there, but we were blessed with a few beautiful days to get out and explore. We had recently discovered an awesome app called The Outbound through Instagram and used that to guide our hikes. Both Ecola State Park and Cape Disappointment were recommended by The Outbound and both turned out to be great places to visit.

Ecola State Park was incredibly close to our campground, so we decided to hop on our bikes and ride in. Something we did not realize is that the ride would be almost entirely uphill. A place that seemed so close on the map took a surprising amount of effort to get to. But of course it was totally worth it! We were happy that dogs were allowed in the park as well, so Migo got to ride along and enjoy the hike.

I rode to the main parking lot and picnic area. We locked up our bikes and took in views of the rocky oceanside for a bit before hopping the Coastal Trail. We hadn’t had an actual trail in mind, so this was just a lucky choice. The Coastal Trail wove through the forest and along a cliffside before eventually meeting up with a trail that went down to the  beach. Migo knows that beach time equals fetch time, so you can imagine he was very happy to arrive on shore.

After walking around the beach and peeking in the tidal pools,  I was getting kind of hungry, so we decided to head back on the trail. No sooner than we hit the trail did we run into an adorable young couple. The guy held up a GoPro and the girl held up her left hand with a gorgeous sparkly ring on it. They had the biggest smiles on their faces as he told us “She said YES!” Well, what are the odds you run into two wedding photographers right after proposing? We couldn’t help but offer to take their picture . After all, we had just basically scouted out the epic scenery in our hike. In chatting with these two it  turned out that we had a lot to talk about. They were visiting Oregon from Illinois (where we are from originally), and they were staying in a tiny home for the weekend in Portland. How fun! Big congrats to Sarah and John! We’re so happy to have been able to capture some of these happy memories for you both!

When we did head back, Migo’s muddy paws got washed off and then we hopped on our bikes to head back to our campground. Time to relax in the hot tub and make dinner before heading out to Portland the next day.

Thanks so much for reading! ~ Shelley Hartman, Asheville + Cannon Beach Wedding Photographer