Day 6: Oregon Dunes Hike
On Thursday, the clouds seemed to lift palpably, and every now and then a blue patch (we’re calling them “sucker holes”) appeared in the gray ceiling.
One of our favorite hikes here is in the Oregon Dunes Recreation area south of Florence. There’s a long strip of the coast from Florence south to Coos Bay that is comprised of sand dunes. The dunes start at the water’s edge and go inland for 1 to 2 miles before gradually becoming forested. Our hike is a 7 or 8 mile loop that begins in dense forest, emerges onto the dunes, crosses the dunes to the ocean. From there you hike a mile or so along a wide, hard-packed sand beach, then turn inland back across the dunes, and end up with a 3-mile walk through dense forest again. We love the variety of terrain, and the otherworldliness of the dunes.
