South Slough Loop Hike

Overview

Trails take you down through secondary forest to the tidal marshlands along the South Slough near Coos Bay. There was a time when farmers drained these flats and converted them to pasture, and the hillsides have been extensively logged. Now this reserve, established in 1974 and the founding property in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, has been in the process of restoring these slopes and inlets while also hosting educational and research projects. The wooded creek valleys are home to Port Orford cedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Douglas-fir, while several viewing platforms at the slough inlets offer opportunities for wildlife watching. An interpretive center at the parking area explains the ecosystem. Take a few minutes to check out the exhibits in the visitor center, which also lays out the native and settler history in the area. Then find the 10 Minute Loop Trail leading into a dense thicket of salal, evergreen huckleberry, and waxmyrtle. At the junction with the North Creek Trail, stay right and cross a footbridge. At the next junction, keep left on the Middle Creek Trail. This trail descends in a dense woodland. See if you can pick out the Port Orford cedars, a conifer native only to southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Winding down, you’ll cross another footbridge in a dark gully and pass a carved seat. Deer fern overhangs the trail, and large mossy stumps attest to former logging. Cross a paved road, and come to the junction with the Hidden Creek Trail, where you’ll make a left. The trail switchbacks and proceeds above thickly forested Hidden Creek. Then switchback again, and follow the creek down under a canopy of alder. The trail switchbacks again and crosses the creek four times. After the 11th footbridge, come to a boardwalk which takes a winding route down the narrow valley. A much longer boardwalk with a couple of diversions carries you on the level over the skunk-cabbage, sedge, and saltgrass of the Hidden Creek Marsh. You’ll emerge in an open bog before enteri

Trail Stats

Photos

400px-SouthSloughMap

400px-SouthSloughMap

250px-Rotting_pilings%2C_Sloughside_Trail%2C_South_Slough

250px-Rotting_pilings%2C_Sloughside_Trail%2C_South_Slough

250px-Cross_the_marsh%2C_Hidden_Creek_Trail%2C_South_Slough

250px-Cross_the_marsh%2C_Hidden_Creek_Trail%2C_South_Slough

250px-At_Hidden_Creek%2C_Hidden_Creek_Trail%2C_South_Slough

250px-At_Hidden_Creek%2C_Hidden_Creek_Trail%2C_South_Slough

400px-View_to_the_slough%2C_Tunnel_Trail%2C_South_Slough

400px-View_to_the_slough%2C_Tunnel_Trail%2C_South_Slough

TKO put tools to trail here.png

TKO put tools to trail here.png

Tags