It had been a while since we went for a little sight-seeing and since James was all caught up with work and we were a little tired of fighting black-berrries, we decided it was time to take a day off and go for a hike.
We chose the Drift Creek Falls Trail, which descends through the Coast Range Forest about 15 miles inland from Lincoln City and ends at the Drift Creek Falls, an impressive 75-foot waterfall.

                                                                             

This trail had been on our list for a while and came highly recommended by our landlords as well.
So, early on a nice, cool (it was actually rather cold at 58F for a change!) Saturday morning we drove the 1.5 hours to the trailhead. The last 16 miles are part dirt-road and very windy and take you deep into the beautiful coastal forest.

 
                    

The well-designed trail with gentle changes in grade over the entire route is 1.25 miles and leads you through second-growth coastal woodland with Douglas firs and Sitka spruce ..                                                     

The undergrowth is lush with western hemlock, sword ferns, salmon-berries, huckleberries, vine maples, and salal bushes. There are a variety of wildflowers and mushrooms on the route too.

After a mile, the trail passes Drift Creek over a footbridge and the remaining quarter-mile path runs along the creek ..

              

                                                    

Eventually we arrived at the largest pedestrian suspension bridge in Oregon and Washington (240 feet).

                        

              

Extending 100 feet above the canyon floor, the bridge is anchored in the rock on one side by ties and cables and firmly cemented on the opposite side.

We made it to the other side .. me right on James' heels, holding tight to the handrail and looking straight ahead .. yeah, I'm not too keen on heights!

The view of the falls is worth it though and a well-deserved cup of coffee restored me enough that I could face the way back as well ..                             

                                                      

This brave little chipmunk was very happy to score some peanut-butter cookie crumbs ... yeah, yeah, I know .. don't feed the wildlife ..
 

There is an alternate 1.5-mile loop connecting the main trail known as the Northern Loop, that starts and ends at the bridge over Drift Creek Trail, which we decided to take on the way back.

         

This part of the forest is much older and the trees are huge, gnarly, moss-covered and very impressive!




By the time we arrived back at the trailhead it was almost lunch-time and we decided to take a slightly different road out of the forest towards the coast and Lincoln City.
One of the first restaurants we came across was Shucker's Oyster Bar .. oysters .. count us in!

                                                         

Apparently the only oyster bar on the Oregon Coast (how's that possible?), they also offer a full menu including seafood, steaks, hamburgers, and a full bar.
This place is almost the poster child for a dive bar with a rather broken down appearance, but it was full of locals, the staff were friendly and the food was amazing.

We had some oysters on the half-shell, which were very fresh and a decent seize (for Pacific oysters that is, which are a lot smaller and more triangle-shaped than the larger and rounder 'European flats' that we're used to).

           

But the clincher were these oysters in a white wine, garlic and butter (lots of butter) sauce!
Oh, my god, I've never had them served this way and they were soooo delicious!

               

OK, thus properly fortified, we drove to the beach. We turned out to be in the Taft Historical District, a part of Lincoln City near the mouth of the Siletz Bay where Schooner Creek empties in the ocean.

Prior to settlement it provided a gathering place for the local Salish Indians for centuries until it became an Euro-American trading community in the early 1900s.

   

By shear luck, this being a nice Saturday morning and all, we managed to snatch up a parking spot at the tiny parking-lot right at the beach!
By this time it had warmed up to a perfect 72F and people started to show up ..

We weren't planning to do any sun-bathing but we walked along the flood-line for a little while, checking out all the driftwood ..



And people fishing and crabbing:

                                                           

Instead of putting out pots they were throwing these triangle-shaped traps, attached to a long rope which were baited with chicken-legs of all things!
After a 5-10 minute wait they would haul them back in. Nobody had much luck, but they had fun trying.

The bay is home to a large group of sea-lions who live on a kind of refuge/island across from the bay, especially in the winter months.

Just before we turned around we noticed this strange phenomenon in the air just a little away from us in the near distance ..



It appeared to be some sort of haze, like a small fog-bank, hanging above the sand. People disappeared into it for a couple of minutes and appeared again on the other site .. sort of eerie almost .. very odd!

                                 

But for the most part the ocean and beach looked like they should on a beautiful, sunny, summer afternoon on the Oregon coast!

It was a great day all around and we agreed to repeat it soon.
Life is good!