Siltcoos Lake Loop Hike

Overview

A quiet loop beginning right off of Highway 101 takes you into deep and lush coastal forest, now about 80 years old, and then to the shore of Siltcoos Lake, where there are a few backcountry campsites. The trail is also used by bikers and of course boaters can come into the campsites. You’re unlikely to meet many other humans, however, although warnings at the trailhead alert you to the presence of bears. The trail runs along an old logging road for three-quarters of a mile. This route heads up a slope under Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and western red-cedar, with evergreen huckleberry, salal, sword fern, and deer fern dominating the understory. Then a singletrack trail veers off the road bed to the left and begins to wind downhill. You’ll notice large old growth stumps remaining from the logging of this area in the 1930s. You’ll drop alongside a ferny gully and come to the Siltcoos Lake Loop Junction. Bear right here on the South Route. You’ll traverse in and out of gullies before you cross a puncheon (boardwalk) over a spring area. Then the trail winds down under a dense canopy until you reach a sign for the South Camp. Turn right to eventually pass an A-frame outhouse and reach a single campsite with a picnic table and shore access to Siltcoos Lake. Across a channel is Booth Island, with its private home and dock. Return to the junction, and bear right on the loop trail. The path drops, making four switchbacks down to a running creek crossed by a boardwalk. Then you can follow a sign for Sites 4-5. From these sites, you can get more views across Siltcoos Lake. You can also scan the lake for bird life, which should include cormorants, buffleheads, mergansers, and scaups. Head through the campsites: there are five sites here in all, sharing three picnic tables and an outhouse. The sites are on a steep forested bluff. From the last site, turn left and then right onto the main trail to resume the hike. The trail winds around through coniferous woods and then begins to traverse up, passing a

Trail Stats

Photos

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