Rockaway Beach Cedar Wetlands Preserve is a hidden gem containing a mammoth old-growth cedar. 

This 50-acre preserve is tucked away within Rockaway Beach city limits. If you didn’t know what you were looking for, you might miss it on your way out of town. The Rockaway Big Tree trail is worth the stop, though. It’s an easy 1.2-mile walk along a newly-constructed boardwalk that leads to one of Oregon’s largest trees!

Pull into the small parking lot and you’ll immediately see the start of the stroller-friendly boardwalk. Little birds flit around and you might hear some frogs carrying on as you start out amongst the thicket and skunk-cabbage. As you continue walking along, you’ll begin to leave the marshland and enter a woodland area where tall, 500-year-old cedars and spruce emerge. Moss and ferns surround you and you no longer feel like you’re a mere half-mile from the ocean.

Eventually you come to a large viewing platform that completely surrounds the famed Rockaway Cedar. At 154 feet tall and 54 feet in circumference, it’s hard not to feel like an ant gazing up at it. It’s estimated to be 1,200 years old. Let that sink in for a minute.

After making your way around the tree, you can either head back just the way you came or opt off the boardwalk for a short stint in the woods. Be aware, especially in the rainy months, this section of trail can get very muddy. It quickly connects back with the boardwalk, though, where you can enjoy the rest of your stroll back to the trailhead.