How to Get to Dead Man’s Cove | A Photographers Journey

Ever wonder how to actually get down to Dead Mans Cove near Ilwaco in Washington? I couldn’t find ANYTHING on the internet that really helped me at all and I’m sure there are others that would like to see this place.

First and foremost, I want to encourage you to Leave No Trace. If you find trash, or other debris, pick it up and pack it out. Stay on the path and leave it the way you found it.

I definitely think if you want to enjoy this location, you have to be willing to do the steep little climb off of the path to get there.

So how in the heck do you get there?

  1. You need to drive to the Lewis + Clark interpretive Center which is located at: 244 Robert Gray Dr, Ilwaco, WA 98624
  2. Park in the parking lot and take the LEFT hiking path. The one that is on the far left of the lot is the one that will take you directly to the stairs to climb down to the beach.
  3. Be aware that there is a Coast Guard station there and you must stay on the actual path.
  4. You will get to a paved section of the path in front of the coast guard station. You will see to your right a little path that goes between trees and that will have the stairs to go down to the beach and looks like this:

That is it! I also found a neat little map that might help you:

There is a set of stairs that lead from the red path after the Coast Guard Station down to the cove.

Make sure you pay attention to the tides. Sometimes if there is high tide, the little island with that gorgeous tree will be inaccessible. The tide calendar for the Cape Disappointment area is HERE.

Also, in consideration of photographs and the best times to take photos, if you do sunrise, the light will be filtering through the trees behind you as sun rises in the east. Sunset photos will be gorgeous there as the sun will set on the Ocean. It is kind of obvious, but great for planning. We shot sunrise, but it was too cloudy to get any golden rays through the trees.

I love this location and highly encourage anyone wanting to go to be mindful of their surroundings and respect the environment so generations to come can enjoy it as well.

In the meantime, I want to share this sweet engagement session with Taylor and Austin. <3 You can read the full post about their engagement HERE.

two people walking on the sand at dead man's cove in washington