Oregon beach's rare low tide phenomenon: The Neskowin Ghost Forest

With seawater lapping at their feet, the ethereal trees hold steadfast, survivors of powerful earthquakes that have pummelled the USA's Pacific Northwest shores for millennia.

The eerie forms of the Ghost Forest of Neskowin, 150 kilometres west of Portland, Oregon, are a drawcard for adventurers and nature lovers. They gather here at low and super-low tides to witness the emergence of the remains of a forest of sitka spruce and cedar that has been carbon-dated to 2000 years old.

Geologists estimate that an earthquake smashed Oregon's coastline around 1700, submerging the ancient forest that would remain hidden for more than three centuries. However, nature again redefined the Oregon shores during the storms of 1997-98, as El Nino lashed the coastline to reveal around 200 timeworn stumps of the forgotten forest.

Rising eerily from the ocean floor, the dead stumps are just a few metres high, a far cry from their glory days as live trees soaring up to 60 metres skyward. They are not alone: there are several ghost forests in the Pacific Northwest – just 300 kilometres north in Washington State, another ghost forest of cedars stands at Copalis River, west of Seattle.

Possibly one for the last-chance-to-see list, geologists warn that a similar earthquake is expected in the near future, when the ocean takes Neskowin's forest back into its underwater realm.

But for now, Neskowin's ghost forest is visible at low tide – a monthly occurrence – while keen nature lovers wait for super low tides, which occur around once a year, when humans can walk into the past.