[Pacific City, OR, May 15, 2026]
Neskowin what now? I was surprised that more Oregonians didn’t already know about the tree stumps one could only see at negative low tide at the beach near Pacific City. I had been wanting to see the ghost forest for a long time, but negative low tides are generally rare and even rarer on a weekend. So when a meetup group I’ve been a part of posted a meetup in Neskowin for the negative low tide on Sunday, May 17, I jumped on it. Extending it to make weekend trip out of it was a no-brainer.
We headed out late afternoon on Friday. It rained the whole drive to the coast but things started slowly clearing up as we approached Pacific City. We spent two nights at Pacific City Inn. It’s small and family-owned, so don’t expect a lot of frills. But it was clean, comfortable and affordable compared to the other two options in town.
I noticed the for sale sign out front and talked to the owner about it when we checked in. He shared there have been some health issues in the family. Given that I was only 4 days away from leaving for Bulgaria to deal with my own parents’ health issues, my heart went out to him. I wished I had $2.7M to buy the property, although I am sure I am romanticizing what being a motel owner is really like.
Given that Pacific City is home to only 1,000 people, it was not yet summer and today’s weather as abysmal, we did not expect to have any trouble grabbing dinner at the Riverhouse Nestucca. But perhaps precisely because of its size and the limited number of restaurants in town, the wait for a table was 90 minutes!
We put our names on the list and headed out to the Headlands Coastal Lodge and Spa. We didn’t stay there because of the cost but I thought it would be fun to grab drinks at the bar and check out the outdoor hot tub. On Instagram, the hot tub looks amazing with a great view of Pacific City’s Haystack Rock, very much like the one in Cannon Beach. But in reality, Haystack Rock is only visible from one corner of the hot tub and the rest of the time you’re looking at the public parking lot.
The bar was full but we found a spot down the hallway by a window overlooking Haystack Rock. It was perfect.
Afterwards, we took some photos at the beach. The sky was dramatic, half sunny and half covered in ominous dark clouds.
Cape Kiwanda was in full view and I couldn’t wait to check it out tomorrow.
Back at the Riverhouse, we enjoyed our seafood dishes – crab cakes, scallops and halibut.
The sunset turned out to be amazing but we were already in our hotel room relaxing. I still managed to grab a couple of good photos. The airstrip in the foreground is Pacific City Airport, one of the smallest in the country at 1,875 ft long and only 30 ft wide.
