Churning seas beneath Treasure Cove.

The swirling Pacific Ocean sounded a thunderclap through the coastal meadow.

Not far from the start of Elk Flats Trail, on the southern end of the hike where it meets U.S. Highway 101 at a gravel pullout — full of cars on that rare blue afternoon in spring — I stood where the trail divides into two, listening.

In any direction, this is a hike of wide and dramatic ocean views and the ever-present sound of wind and waves.

The south fork continues on a steep downhill decline, through patches of salal and brush to a promontory that looks out over vertical basalt cliffs. Unlike the last time I had taken this part of the trail, which had been in the fall, I also found a trickling waterfall.

To the north, the trail continues for about 1.5 miles through old-growth forest on a switchback decline to Short Sand Beach. There, it meets up with the Necarney Creek Trail and forms part of a 13-mile stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail within Oswald West State Park.

But shortly after the southern fork, it also intersects with the Devil’s Cauldron Overlook Trail, a 0.1-mile detour that leads to the churning overlook of Treasure Cove.

A cormorant drifted into the cove’s sandstone arch, many hundreds of feet below. There was the thunderclap again.