1 min
Overview
South of Cape Arago, the rugged slopes of the seven ridges known as the Seven Devils drop precipitously to the sea. Then a series of beaches and rocky points lead to the long strand that ends at the mouth of the Coquille River and the Coquille River Lighthouse. You can hike all of these beaches, but the particular stretch described here begins at the Seven Devils State Recreation Site and ends at Whiskey Run. Whiskey Run gained instant fame in 1853, when John and Peter Groslius, sons of a French Hudson’s Bay Company fur trapper, discovered gold in the black sands. Within a year, about 2,000 miners were working the deposits and a million dollars worth of placer gold was extracted. The raucous mining town of Randolph was constructed atop the bluffs ¼ mile south of the creek. It all came to an abrupt end during a violent storm in 1854, when the deposits were scoured by wave action, and shafts and sluicing boxes were buried under tons of sand and debris. Later, around 1900, Chinese miners resumed placer activity at Whiskey Run for a short time. Even today some pan for gold here, but the area has become better known for its agates. “Seven Devils” refers to the seven demons responsible for the temptations of the Seven Deadly Sins: Lucifer (Pride), Beelzebub (Envy), Satan (Wrath), Abaddon (Sloth), Mammon (Greed), Belphegor (Gluttony), and Asmodeus (Lust). Your first task will be to cross Twomile Creek with dry feet. This can be done at the driftwood jam at the head of the beach, or you can simply wade the creek. Hike south on wide, gently sloping Merchants Beach, but turn around to get a look north to the rugged slopes of the Seven Devils leading to Cape Arago. Merchants Beach is named after Charles Merchant, an entrepreneur and financier who settled here in 1860. To the south, an array of stacks pepper the surf off Fivemile Point. Gorse, shore pine, and spruce forms thickets on the bluffs and the slumping slopes to your left. Cross a series of seeps, and come to a thirty-foot dark siltstone needle on the beach. Th
Trail Stats
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Photos
250px-FivemileBeachMap
250px-FivemileBeachMap
250px-Surf_scoters_and_harlequin_ducks%2C_Fivemile_Point
250px-Surf_scoters_and_harlequin_ducks%2C_Fivemile_Point
250px-Rock_needle%2C_Merchants_Beach
250px-Rock_needle%2C_Merchants_Beach
250px-Looking_to_the_Seven_Devils_and_Cape_Arago%2C_Merchants_Beach
250px-Looking_to_the_Seven_Devils_and_Cape_Arago%2C_Merchants_Beach
400px-Dragon_spines%2C_Whiskey_Run_Beach
400px-Dragon_spines%2C_Whiskey_Run_Beach