3 min
Overview
Lake Marie’s tranquil 15 acres nestles in a coastal forest on the inland edge of the Umpqua Dunes. The lake is part of the Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, and right below its campground (which has the most luxurious yurts in Oregon), with the Umpqua River Lighthouse itself being only a short stroll away. While you can walk to the Umpqua Dunes, it’s advisable not to hike in them here as this section is a heavily used ATV playground. Lake Marie itself, however, offers a shady loop hike, a small swimming beach, and trout, perch, and largemouth bass for fishermen. From the parking area, hike down towards the swimming beach, and take a trail leading left. Keep close to the shore on this hike as there are numerous connector trails leading up to the day-use area and then also the campground. Picnic tables are tucked into the undergrowth here: the day-use facilities at the park were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Pass through dense thickets of evergreen huckleberry, rhododendron, salal, and wax-myrtle. Pink rhododendron blooms provide splashes of color in late spring. The forest canopy is composed of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western red-cedar. Pass through a dark tunnel of evergreen huckleberry, and keep right at a junction with a paved trail leading to the campground. Note the little identification plaques informing about some of the plants. Drop to a salmonberry, horsetail, skunk-cabbage bog, and pass under some large Sitka spruce. Then walk up through another huckleberry tunnel before hopping over a trickling creek in a salmonberry thicket. At an unmarked junction, take the trail leading left through a tunnel of rhododendron and huckleberry. Note that what you are hiking on are actually old sand dunes now densely vegetated. Drop to the Umpqua Dunes Overlook at a boundary sign for the ATV area. You can see over an expanse of sand to a staging area and north to the mouth of the Umpqua River. A strip of shore pine/spruce thicket separates the open dune area from the beach and oce
Trail Stats
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15 m
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Photos
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