Heads up: it’s quite a hike
By Dave Powell
For the TODAY
I have been thinking — always a cause for concern. This time during the lunch break while working with Trailkeepers of Oregon at Camp Westwind. We are trying to build a trail that follows the rainfall from the top down to the Salmon River Estuary. It is a difficult task, trying to keep close to a creek while not having the trail too steep. The goal is to have the trail hopefully having a maximum 10-percent grade, but keeping it under 15 percent where forced. To give an idea of a 10-percent grade, think of climbing the steps of a 50-story skyscraper every mile (or the 1,200 feet gained going to the top of the Cascade Head Trail in just two and a half miles).
And, more thinking, this time about the complaint that the Oregon Coast Trail has too much road and too much beach. Being the person who discovered and informed Hebo Rangers about the slide problems on the Rain Forest Trail back in May, resulting in the closing of the trails, I am responsible for six miles less of forested trails (until Rain Forest Trail reopens).
Actually, of the roughly 425 miles of the Oregon Coast Trail there is very little forest trail. Seaside through Ecola Park, Oswald West Park, Cape Meares and Cape Lookout, Cape Perpetua, the Hobbit Trail/Heceta Lighthouse Trail, Humbug Mountain, Cape Sebastian, and Samuel Boardman total about 70 miles of trail. All told, only a sixth of the Oregon Coast Trail runs through forests. The loss of Rain Forest Trail is roughly a 10-percent decrease. So, it’s time for a Dave’s Detour to add some forest trail, add some altitude gain and loss, and get a grand view.
After six hours working at Camp Westwind a hard, but rewarding conclusion would be hiking up Cascade Head.
For people hiking the Oregon Coast Trail since the Rain Forest Trail portion is closed, this detour starts at Highway 101 and Three Rocks Road (mile 104), where you head west two and a quarter miles toward Knight Park. At the parking lot are several signs and, near the estuary, a good placard of several major Salmon River restoration projects: Crowley Creek, Pixieland Amusement Park, and Tamara Quays trailer park. From the parking lot a sign points the way back to Savage Road. A trail goes along the east side, catches a short section of road before the start of major forest trail, and grasslands to a scenic view of the Salmon River estuary, Lincoln City beaches, and lots of flowers in bloom.
Along my hike up, I pass a worker for The Nature Conservatory. With the Fire Road closed (probably not rebuilt for another year), Conservatory workers and Trailkeepers of Oregon workers have long hike up to rebuild two replacement trail sections.
In the movie “A League of Their Own” screenplay writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel have Geena Davis as Dottie Hinson — the best player in the league — decide to leave the team because “It just got too hard.” The reply by Tom Hanks as manager Jimmy Dugen is “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.” Having reached the “Lower” viewpoint, the hard part has come. At the two-mile mark the elevation is 520 feet. In another half mile, you gain 700 feet to reach the peak at 1,220 feet, a 30-percent grade. But it is worth it — the elk were grazing up high, and the view was incredible.
“The hard is what makes it great.” And the same is true at Cascade Head.
Final Tally
The Powell Way detour adds another four and a half miles of road (out and back on 3 Rocks Road), but you get another five miles of trail and an iconic viewpoint of the Oregon Coast.