The Creepiest Hike in Oregon Takes You Through the Ruins of an Abandoned Bunker and Ghost Ship

While we're all for lacing up our boots and hitting the trails, there are some hikes here in the Beaver State that aren't for the faint of heart. We're not talking about advanced-level treks; we're talking about creepy hikes—excursions that lead through ghost towns and abandoned places in Oregon. Trails like the Fort Stevens, Jetty Loop, and Fort Steven Ridge Trail. This nine-mile loop trail, made up of the other Fort Stevens State Park trails, might lead you through one of the most beguiling coastal landscapes in the state, but it's a haunting sort of beauty that will catch you off guard. You see, this trail winds through an abandoned battery park, around earthen forts and mysterious marshland, and even past a real-life ghost ship, making it easily the creepiest hike in Oregon.

In a past life, Fort Stevens State Park was the primary military defense installation in the Harbor Defense System at the mouth of the Columbia River. The fort was in service for 84 years, from roughly the Civil War through the conclusion of World War II.

Today, Fort Stevens is a 4,300-acre state park that's a marvelous place to hike and explore, and the Fort Stevens, Jetty Loop, and Fort Steven Ridge Trail is the best trail to truly experience all this park has to offer ... and we do mean all.

Because in addition to its immense scenic beauty and historic significance, Fort Stevens is rumored to be one of the most haunted places in Oregon.

Beautiful AND spooky? Sign us up!

As you traverse the Fort Stevens, Jetty Loop, and Fort Steven Ridge Trail, which loops around the entire park, you'll marvel at the old fort, the only Civil War-era earthen fort on the West Coast. It's amazing how much of it is still standing.

But you won't be able to shake the unsettling sensation while you wander through the old fort. There's something undeniably eerie about these old fortresses, built into the Earth and left to decay. And there's also the turn-of-the-century, concrete artillery gun batteries, their empty halls holding so much history ... and secrets.

There are accounts of a man dressed in a 1940s-era military uniform walking the trail with a lantern in hand. Will you see him?

Of course, it's not just the eponymous fort that makes this hike in Oregon so darn creepy. The marshland and sand dunes are eerily quiet and mysterious. And then, of course, there's the abandoned ghost ship. You read that right: an abandoned ghost ship. How cool is that? The Peter Iredale shipwreck on the Oregon Coast is one of the coolest places to visit in the state, and it's notoriously haunted.

Think you're brave enough to check it out?

A former shipping vessel, in 1906, the Peter Iredale encountered inclement weather while en route to the Columbia River, and the crew had to bail out. The ship's fateful journey ended on the shores of what's now known as Fort Stevens State Park, where it remains to this day.

Ghosts or not, tackling this loop trail is a bucket-list must for many Oregon hikers. Will you be among the brave to say you've hiked this trail?

Of course, if you are up for a haunted adventure that lasts more than a single day, the Fort Stevens campground has been called Oregon's most haunted campsite, and visitors have claimed to hear footsteps near their tents in the night with no one to be seen. Would you be brave enough to camp here overnight?

Feeling brave? Try planning your own trip to this haunted destination using Only In Your State’s itinerary planner.