Drift Creek Falls - Oregon

It's been a while!  I have been hiking, at least once a week all winter (did we have a winter???) revisiting all my favorite trails, sometimes on snowshoes, sometimes with microspikes and often with missile sled in tow.  I also had the opportunity this winter to hike a couple of trails in Oregon, coastal Oregon to be exact and one of my absolute favorite new discoveries is the subject of my blog post today.  Drift Creek Falls! in the Siuslaw National Forest.  The trailhead was challenging find (9 miles on a single lane winding logging road through dense forest), but the pay off was a beautiful 65 foot waterfall and 240 foot long cable suspension bridge.

 

I fell in love with the mossy greenness of Oregon forests.  And yes, it rains in coastal Oregon a lot!  But the trick is being prepared for the rain and hiking anyway.  You just need good rain gear and rubber boots.  And don't worry about how bad your hair looks!  On my hike this day I had rain, hail, sunshine and a little more rain.

Sun peeks our for a little while.

 

 

Plants I saw along the hike.

Banana slug.

Drift Creek Falls is found east of Lincoln City, Oregon.  From Highway 101 north of Lincoln City take state road 18 towards the tiny town of Otis and after about 3.5 miles on SR 18 you will come across signs for Drift Creek Falls.  From the turn towards Drift Creek you are on a very narrow winding road (good news - the road is paved)  to the trailhead.  Watch out for large logging trucks.