The last minus-tide mornings at Haystack Rock in 2026 arrive August 11–14: four consecutive dawn lows, bottoming out at −1.77 ft MLLW on Wednesday, August 12 at 7:04 AM, with a walkable window from 5:00 to 9:30 AM. We compute these from NOAA's Garibaldi station 9437540, the nearest harmonic station, about 35 minutes south of Cannon Beach — so treat the clock times as close rather than exact, and arrive an hour before the low.
Haystack Rock is Oregon's most photographed tidepool destination and one of its most protected. The intertidal zone around the rock only opens up on a real minus tide, and only a fraction of those land in daylight. Here is where the 2026 windows fall, what the station math actually covers, and the rules that apply once your boots hit wet sand.
When is the lowest tide at Haystack Rock in 2026?
The year's deepest water has already been and gone: July 13–16 posted four straight mornings below −2.0 ft, bottoming at −2.35 ft on July 15 — the deepest daylight low of 2026 (computed at original publish, 2026-07-03). What the calendar still holds is one more real run. August 11–14 strings together four consecutive minus-tide dawns, three of them at −1.6 ft or deeper, and after it ends no daylight low the rest of the year gets deeper than about −1.4 ft. None of the remaining windows reaches our "Exceptional" band; August 12's 85 is the ceiling.
| Date (2026) | Low (ft MLLW) | Low time | Walkable window | Arrive by | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Jul 30 | −0.93 | 8:05 AM | 6:10 AM–10:10 AM | 7:05 AM | 69 |
| Fri Jul 31 | −0.85 | 8:37 AM | 6:45 AM–10:35 AM | 7:37 AM | 72 |
| Sat Aug 1 | −0.60 | 9:09 AM | 7:25 AM–10:55 AM | 8:09 AM | 72 |
| Tue Aug 11 | −1.61 | 6:18 AM | 4:15 AM–8:45 AM | 5:18 AM | 78 |
| Wed Aug 12 | −1.77 | 7:04 AM | 5:00 AM–9:30 AM | 6:04 AM | 85 |
| Thu Aug 13 | −1.66 | 7:47 AM | 5:45 AM–10:05 AM | 6:47 AM | 83 |
| Fri Aug 14 | −1.29 | 8:27 AM | 6:35 AM–10:30 AM | 7:27 AM | 81 |
| Sat Aug 15 | −0.67 | 9:05 AM | 7:30 AM–10:50 AM | 8:05 AM | 73 |
Best 8 windows in the next 60 days, computed 2026-07-27 from NOAA station 9437540 (Garibaldi, Tillamook Bay) predictions, MLLW.
Note the drift: each day of the August run the low arrives about 40–45 minutes later than the day before. If you want the deepest water-line with the least alarm-clock pain, August 12 and 13 are the picks. If you can only come on a weekend, Saturday August 15's −0.67 ft at 9:05 AM is the tail of the run at a civilized hour. And if you like your tidepools lit like a postcard, Tuesday August 11's 6:18 AM low sits just minutes off morning golden light — our golden hour overlap tool ranks it the run's best light.
The full day-by-day grid is on the Garibaldi August 2026 calendar.
Where do these numbers actually come from?
Honesty section. Cannon Beach has no NOAA harmonic station. The nearest one is Garibaldi (Tillamook Bay), station 9437540, roughly 35 minutes south by highway. Every number in this article is a Garibaldi prediction, not a Haystack Rock measurement.
That matters because Garibaldi's gauge sits inside Tillamook Bay, and water funneling through a bay entrance doesn't keep exactly the same schedule as the open beach where Haystack Rock stands. The tide's depth pattern carries over well; the clock time of the low at Cannon Beach can differ from the Garibaldi prediction by a meaningful fraction of an hour, in either direction depending on conditions.
Our answer to that uncertainty is width, not false precision. Each window above spans four to five hours, and the arrive-by time is a full hour before the predicted low — a buffer that comfortably absorbs the station offset. Arrive by the arrive-by time, follow the water out, and the exact minute of slack low stops mattering. The formulas behind the windows and scores are on the methodology page, and the Garibaldi station page carries the live-updated list.
How does the rest of 2026 look?
Like the whole US West Coast, the good daylight lows front-load into summer and then fall off a cliff.
| Month (2026) | Lows below +1.0 ft | Daylight windows | Daylight minus tides | Top window | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | 30 | 18 | 13 | Wed Aug 12, 7:04 AM | −1.77 ft |
| September | 30 | 8 | 4 | Fri Sep 11, 7:18 AM | −0.50 ft |
| October | 24 | 5 | 2 | Sun Oct 25, 7:02 PM | −0.71 ft |
| November | 22 | 5 | 3 | Mon Nov 23, 5:43 PM | −1.25 ft |
| December | 21 | 6 | 3 | Tue Dec 22, 5:26 PM | −1.35 ft |
Computed 2026-07-27 from NOAA station 9437540 predictions, MLLW.
Read that middle column twice: daylight minus tides drop from 13 in August to 4 in September and 2 in October. September still has 30 lows below +1.0 ft — the tides don't stop, they just move into darkness. What daylight lows remain in late fall shift to the last hour before sunset: the season's best is −1.35 ft at 5:26 PM on December 22, with only about an hour of usable light. Deep winter evening lows belong to the king tide season, which is a spectator sport, not a tidepool trip.
What are the rules at the Marine Garden?
Haystack Rock is a designated Oregon Marine Garden, a status set by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and carried in the rocky habitat designations of Oregon's Territorial Sea Plan. The rules, verified from the Haystack Rock Awareness Program and Oregon's fishing regulations:
- No take of shellfish or other invertebrates within a 300-yard radius of the base of the rock, including all tidepools and beach between extreme high and low tides. Harvesting marine vegetation is likewise prohibited.
- Everything above the barnacle line is off limits. Land above the mean high tide line on the rock is part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, overseen by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and closed to public use. No climbing, ever.
- Dogs must be leashed at and around the Marine Garden, to protect nesting birds.
The Awareness Program puts poking, prying, and collecting in the same bucket: harassment of a delicate ecosystem. Look closely, touch gently or not at all, leave everything.
Can you see puffins on the same trip?
Yes, but August is last call. Tufted puffins are generally present at Haystack Rock from April through August, after which they leave for winters on the open ocean — the rock hosts the second largest onshore tufted puffin colony in the continental United States — and the Awareness Program says the best viewing runs about 8 to 11 AM, when the birds are most active. Look toward the grassy patch on the rock's northeast side.
Now overlay the tide table. On August 13 the walkable window runs until 10:05 AM, putting about two puffin-peak hours inside it. On August 14 the tide bottoms out at 8:27 AM, mid-puffin-hours. The August 11–14 run is the season's final chance to pair the two: one early alarm, two spectacles.
One safety note, from the people who own it
Oregon State Parks' beach safety guidance, quoted directly: "Know when the tide is coming in, especially when exploring tidepools or secluded beaches. Incoming tides can quickly leave you stranded away from shore." And: "Always keep one eye on the ocean so you won't be caught off guard if a bigger wave surges up the beach." The windows above end when they end; walk back in with the flood, not against it.
For arrive-by times at any station we cover, the Tide Window Finder computes them the same way: an hour before the low, daylight required, no exceptions for optimism.