Secret Beach — Attraction in Brookings

I dont know where else to share this, but it happened here so.. I'll leave this message here as well. I was just recently reminded of this event, even though it happened while visiting a few months back. A group of maybe 10 or more adults and even more children arrived, it was around low tide, so there happened to be creatures of low tide visible clinging to the rocks surfaces... a small group of fairly small children kept wading out, almost neck deep, peeling off sea stars and whatever other living creatures from the rock side, then running back out to present to their im assuming parents. No one discouraged this, it went on for some time. I almost interjected but figured at least one of the adults would maybe end the "fun". Moments later a family of 5 who had jumped the rocks over to the other side had finally reappeared where mom had been pacing and waiting, and one teenage daughter had a sea star in her hand. She had brought it back with her like some sort of prize only to then grab her phone and begin to take 10 minutes worth of photos of it in her hand. Mom stood by and watched in awe. This is not ok. No im not being a Karen. These are living breathing important species. Peeling them off the rocks is almost always fatal. You aren't just being curious, you're doing it for clout and its ugly. The ocean isn't just some big tic tok post or whatever social media garbage you subscribe to. Just look at them as they are and take your photo. Here's the science - Pulling a sea star from a rock will damage or rip off its hundreds of tube feet, which it uses to attach itself firmly to surfaces with a hydraulic suction system. This causes significant stress and injury to the animal, and it should never be forcibly removed from a surface. A good rule for tidepooling is: "If you pry, it will die". Teach your children how to interact with nature. Lead by example. Maybe those families will see this,...

Words are inadequate. Pictures don’t even do it justice. The beauty of this place makes it seem almost other-worldly.

So secluded, so private, so pristine and undiscovered, so awe-inspiring that it felt like the sensory experience of what the love of God, our Creator, feels like. The words wow, so amazing, so beautiful, escaped my lips probably a dozen times.

When people describe near-death experiences of a light, and a feeling of love and comfort, and arriving in a place they never wanted to leave, that is the feeling I had here. I’ve never been to any other place on earth that has felt so much like a religious experience.

On to mundane matters: there are two ways you can get here. The road more traveled, and the road less traveled. The road more traveled is to park at the Secret Beach Trailhead and do the 30 min hike from that point.

The road less traveled is to park just north of the bridge over Miller Creek, approx 0.3 miles north of the Secret Beach Trailhead. It’s not marked, and is a small area, but there are usually a few vehicles parked there. Important note: if you park here, take the trail at the far northern edge of the parking area, not the south one. South one isn’t really a trail and doesn’t really go anywhere. The northern one will lead you down to Secret Beach in only about 5-10 min rather than the 30 min hike from the more traveled Secret Beach Trailhead.

There are no services of any kind and you can really only bring in whatever you can carry in a small day pack. Make sure you have grippy shoes and decent balance and agility as you’ll need it to get all the way...

This is a small beach made popular by Instagram. A bit overhyped in my mind, it's not even an officially designated public beach, the parking area is an unimproved dirt lot right on the side of the highway, and a bit sketchy. Zero services or facilities, not even trash cans. There are multiple ways down to the beach, which require a steep climb along use-trails, one of which seems to take a circuitous route through the brush and trees, very narrow with steep drop offs. Not for those with physical limitations.

Once you get down to the beach, it's rather small and though the initial view is impressive, the rest of the beach is just ok. I wouldn't go down here during high tide or rough seas. It was a nice place to go check out, the rocks jutting out of the water with trees growing on top was pretty cool, but the times we went, it was relatively crowded for being a "secret" and not a lot of room to find a quiet spot. If you are going for a beach day, I'd skip this one, if you're just looking to check out every cool location along the Samuel Boardman Corridor, it's a worthwhile quick stop. I wouldn't want to hang out here...