Take a (very) short stroll in Lincoln City

Lincoln City makes the occasionally disputed claim of being home to the world’s shortest river. Tides and seasonal changes affect such a thing but a paved trail, once established, is fairly static. Lincoln City is now claiming a new title as the host of the “World’s Shortest Park Trail,” a more defensible boast.

The very short, 135-foot paved park trail is located within the open space on the southeast side of the new Schooner Creek Discovery Park. It traverses park wetlands, creating an environmentally friendly way for hikers to enjoy the natural wetlands and Schooner Creek, which empties into the Pacific Ocean.

The trail is constructed and paved with compacted natural stone and is surrounded by native plantings from Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, including salal, huckleberry, twinberry and cedar. The trail also hosts a bench, so hikers can take a breather on their .02-mile trek.

As Lincoln City Parks & Recreation was unable to verify this status with Guinness Book of World Records due to Guinness’ required cost, beginning at $14,000, the department Googled their own research.

“I couldn’t justify spending more funds on bragging rights than spent on the actual trail construction,” said Director Jeanne Sprague. “We’ve done our work and found no shorter paved public park trail. Believe me, this trail is teeny-tiny.”

Department staff welcome any competitors in the designation of World’s Shortest Park Trail — and say that if there is competition, they will simply make their trail shorter.

“Game on!” said Parks Supervisor Monte Demaris. ‘I’ve never seen a trail shorter than this one but I’d like to see someone try!’

Schooner Creek Discovery Park is located at 4815 SE 51st Street in Lincoln City. For more information, go to lincolncityparksandrec.org.