The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

Journey to a Land of Water Wind and Fire

Part B: The Oregon Coast II d

Out to the Ocean

One of the main reasons I had booked us into a motel in the Reedsport area was because Reedsport also had the Visitor's Center for the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area of the National Forest Service. I hoped I could get the type of information from them that I needed. This turned out to be a good decision on my part. But there is a story behind this:

I walked into the Visitor's Center on that morning of the 2nd day and saw three people behind the desk. Two guys, one youngish, one my age, and a woman probably in her late 40's and 50's. The young guy asked if I had any questions. I explained to him that I was interested in information about the Recreation area, but that he needed to understand I was a "retired" hospital chaplain who had spent more week-ends than I would care to remember working with families whose loved one, often their teen-aged son, would now be living the life of a vegatable as a result of an ATV accident. Accordingly, I didn't want any information on dune buggies, rides etc. which is most of what you see advertised. I was sure it was a "lot of fun' but not for me. Was it possible to go to someplace on the dunes and walk and not be bothered with all the motorized demons that are so frequently pictured? The young man said it was and showed me the two best places to go. I followed his advice, and I must say it was very good advice. But be warned, if your idea about a trip to the Oregon Dunes includes use of a motorized device, go elsewhere, you will not find any information on this site.

His first recommendation was for us to go to a location just south of the Carter Lake Campground and Boat Launch, on the Ocean side of US 101. It was entitled the "Oregon Dunes Day-Use" area. There he said I could walk to the Ocean as it was only about a mile through the dunes.

And so, after our lunch in Florence, we headed south past all the "sport vehicle" signs and soon found the Day-Use area. After changing into sandals, we joined others and walked out to the beach. The trail to the beach is fairly well marked out with poles along the way. This is good, because at the beginning, it resembles nothing so much as a scene out of "Lawrence of Arabia." I had feared we might get lost on our way out. However, I found my fears to be unfounded.

After the initial portion of sand, the trail dips into what is referred to in the "literature" as a "Tree Island." And this was my first surprise. I am used to an area of dunes being devoid of much in the way of plant life. Maybe some grass, a few shrubs, but not much else. Here in the Oregon Dunes, there are patches of forest all over the place. The trees within these forests are not huge, particularly by Oregon standards (and they grow them big out there), but they are not small either.


The trail came out on the other side of this forest into a sea of grass. I was unsure whether this was native grass, or if it was grass that had been planted at an earlier time when the idea was to "stabilize the dunes" so they wouldn't blow all over the place (this idea has been rejected in recent years, but the grass that had been planted was still everywhere).

(Note: the picture shows me attempting to make a cell phone call to my nephew. I have included it in order to warn any potential visitors out there, cell phone service on most of the middle part of the Oregon Coast is awful, at least for my service. They may advertize more bars in more places, and show Spain, France, etc. But trust me, in Oregon, there are few bars and fewer places.)



But we persevered and at last, in the words of William Clark "Ocian in View, Oh the Joy!"