Cape Arago East Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Wildflowers

The lower trailhead for the East Trail is unsigned and barely discernible. It is on the east side of the Cape Arago Highway 0.3 miles north of the northern trailhead for the Cape Arago Pack Trail, directly across from a service road, and just north of a parking area on the west side of the highway. The trail becomes completely obvious less than 50 feet in from the highway.

The Cape Arago Pack Trail is the best known trail in Shore Acres State Park, with clearly signed trailheads on the Cape Arago Highway. The Cape Arago East Trail (also called the "New Trail" or "East Loop" or "Perimeter Trail") connects with the Pack Trail and, in conjunction with that trail, can be used to do a slightly longer hike.

Although obscure at first, this trail quickly blossoms into a solid singletrack that takes you up and around the east and south edges of Shore Acres State Park. Part of it passes through the scar of a long-ago wildfire but most of it is under the Sitka spruce canopy. There is one short section where the trail is carved through some serious brush, but otherwise it is open, easy hiking. Soon after you start, you'll begin hearing the Ork! Ork! Ork! calls from the sea lions and seals hanging out at Simpson Reef. Their melodious croaking will be with you off and on for the entire hike. The East Trail ends at an unsigned junction with the Cape Arago Pack Trail.