2 min
Overview
Coos Bay’s Empire Lakes, now part of a city park, are sand dune barrier lakes typical of this stretch of the Oregon Coast. The dunes are not much in evidence as they lie beneath a forest understory that has been developing for centuries. The lake levels are now regulated by a couple of low dams. A web of mostly paved trails surrounds Lower Empire Lake, offering both an inner and outer circle with connector trails. The inner circle is more scenic as it runs close to the lakeshore and is the one described here. The park is named after John Topits who, with the help of the Oregon National Guard’s Company A and other agencies, coordinated the development of this public space. The map linked to below is an excellent guide, and the numbered junctions correspond to those on the map. Where the entrance road comes into the parking area, you’ll see a paved trail leading up behind a No Motor Vehicles sign. Then bear right to follow a low wooded ridge under hemlock and Douglas-fir with rhododendron, salal, evergreen huckleberry, and deer fern in the understory. At a junction, turn left and walk near an inlet of stark snags, trees that drowned when the water level rose. Stay close to the shore, passing benches looking over Lower Empire Lake. Where a trail heads right from Junction 23, there’s a “Bridge Out” sign, so take the “alternate route” to the left. You’ll need to keep right at a couple of junctions where irises bloom before getting more views of the lake and the stranded remains of the footbridge that once crossed an inlet. Near Ackerman Avenue, another park entrance road, bear right to cross the lower dam at the a parking area. Past the port-a-potty, keep right on a trail to hike under shore pines and large waxmyrtle bushes. Stay right at junctions as the trail rolls along old dunes. At Junction 10, you can head to the shore of Lower Empire Lake, where there’s a picnic table. You can scan the shoreline for herons and egrets and the lake waters for mallards, geese, buffleheads, scaups, and mergansers. Return to Ju
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