All rhodies lead to Lincoln City
Dave’s Detours
By Dave Powell
The 2023 hiking season continues, and I still continue to find new detours along the coast. This week, I am happy to report that I have found a better rhodo detour than the rhododendrons at Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats.
The Cutler City Wetlands are south of Lincoln City at 63rd Street, with Roby’s Furniture at the corner. Turn right/west for about a tenth of a mile to the wetlands. The only return to Highway 101 is 63rd Street, so this detour is a loop. If you are driving, there is another parking area at the southern end on 69th Street but, since it is often filled with multiple piles of wood chips used on the trails, I would use 63rd Street.
There a good map at the start, and a posted QR code. I will share that the rhodos are on the western side, with an evergreen forest toward the east. Personally, I hear more car noise on the east near the highway. So, with two trails named after Frodo Baggins on the western side, enjoy your inner Hobbit.
There are various ways to take the paths through the wetlands. Covering all the trails requires some retracing your steps but, if rhodos are your goal, this is my rhododendron-maximizing path. Take the Alder Trail to the right for 150 yards, turning left on the North and South Frodo trails for 210 yards. Then head left/east on the South Cross trail for 100 yards to the Pond trail (a total of 390 yards, with the pond at roughly 130 yards). Turn left to connect with the West trail for 250 yards, then continue on Alder trail for 250 yards back to the entrance/exit.
The total detour is less than a mile. The beauty is well worth it and, as a bonus, there is enough quiet on the western sections to hear bird songs. And if this whets your appetite for the woods, just a few miles down the road is the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge with its loop of roughly a mile going clockwise and counterclockwise, (the right way and the Powell way) and one of my favorite thinking benches roughly at the midpoint looking over the Siletz River.
I still have a question for Lincoln City officials: Why is there no rhododendron festival like in Florence? I can easily picture a small parade using some of the blooms. Some classes at Oregon Coast Community College taught by Master Gardeners; perhaps potted rhodos propagated from cuttings given away or sold at very reduced prices for visitors. I live in Newport, but I wouldn’t mind volunteering several hours to plant native rhodos to restore their presence in other Lincoln City parks and purchasing one or two to plant where I live.