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| Common murres and gulls on top of a rock at Coquille Point, Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Bandon, OR |
July 9, 2015.
New River ACEC
From Cape Blanco, we traveled back to Highway 101 and north along the Sixes and its tributary creeks until we were in the vicinity of the New River. New River is just north of Floras Lake, emerging at Floras Creek near the town of Langlois, and running north alongside the coast of the Pacific Ocean into Coos County. It's a trip, because the river actually runs alongside the surf on the sandy beaches. Accessing the river is not a simple matter if you're not sure where to go. We turned toward the river and found ourselves in the New River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM manages public lands throughout the nation, often meeting the needs of multiple land uses for people and nature alike, but an ACEC is land set aside to manage specifically for the special cultural or natural resources that land has to offer. The New River ACEC is a unique set of ecosystems rich with a diversity of habitat types including estuary wetlands, meadows, forest, shrubland, and dunes. These ecosystems host a wide variety of birds, plants, and other wildlife--some rare and native to the State of Oregon.
The ACEC has four access points to its four main units. We encountered Storm Ranch first, which has a nice trail system. We started at a visitor center at what was once a thoroughbred horse ranch owned by the Wilson sisters from the rock band Heart. BLM acquired the land from Ann and Nancy, and it is now open to the public for low-impact recreation such as hiking and birding. From the visitor center, we took River Road to the second parking lot to hike the east and west Muddy Lake Trail loop. At the crossroad between a birding platform at Muddy Lake and a spur trail to the New River, I chose the birding platform. My brother took the spur trail and caught the view of the New, which I missed out on. After this hike, and continually encountering another traveler and her dog, we moved on up the highway.
The Lost Lake Trail unit of the ACEC caught our attention--we liked the name and decided to check it out. If we were enchanted by the name of the trail, the utter beauty of this scenic hike was even more enticing until we stood in awe next to the gorgeous little hidden lake that gave the trail its name. It was magical. Two of us decided to stop there and relax near the lake and take in the quiet and the peace, since this was a relatively unpopulated trail. 
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| tree snags emerge from within the lake |
My brother and I decided to hike on. Now back to the part of me not getting to see the New River. Knowing we were going west and running into dune-like terrain, we were certain that if we kept going that direction, we would get near enough to overlook the beach that hosts the river. Dune hiking, however, can be deceiving in two ways--direction and time. Without a map and any certainty on which way to turn at the fork just at the northern tip of the western most little lake connected to Lost Lake, we used up time and physical energy trudging through the sandy dune in the wrong direction (north) until we were met with a surprising sign that told us we were now exiting public land. We unknowingly wandered onto the private land and had to turn back to the main trail and head west again. The other deception of dune hiking is the feeling of "we're almost there." I thought every hill in front of me would be the one I would stop at to take in the anticipated view, and then we would turn around. But at the crest of every hill was a new hill until I realized I was running out of energy, we were running out of time, and the mother and husband left behind were probably getting annoyed having to wait. So I rested while my more fit and adventurous brother scouted ahead to confirm the view of the New was still a ways off, and we turned back. I think we hiked far enough west to have left the ACEC and enter the southern tip of the Bandon State Natural Area, a roadless forested dune wilderness between Lost and Laurel lakes and New River. Halfway back, I noticed I had left the lens cap of my mother's camera at my resting spot. So we had to backtrack to find the lens cap and double-hike that portion of the dune system before our worn out legs met up with a little more solid ground. That was quite a workout.Bandon
Sore and getting hungry, we reached our car and left the ACEC to head north towards the town of Bandon. We got a nice room at the La Kris Inn, owned by a couple of professional photographers, Steve and Susan Dimock, who displayed their beautiful work of Oregon coast birds, landscapes, and wildlife--and that work was temptingly for sale in the office. We satisfied our hunger by getting some nice Chinese food just down the street from our motel at the Asian Gardens restaurant and lounge. The evening was still young and there was still a good amount of daylight to do some exploring. To my absolute delight, we stumbled upon one of the many units of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge at Coquille Point. We walked a portion of the interpretive trail and saw a rock topped with gulls and common murres, as well as stunning views of the rocky coastline.
As it started to get dark, we enjoyed an incredible sunset over the Pacific.
I decided this would be our first stop of the following morning, and we returned to our motel. The night wasn't over yet. My brother likes to party when we travel, so we set out to find a nice local bar to top off a great day with a couple of drinks. We heard about some good places in the old part of town, but didn't know exactly where to go or how long it would take to walk there. We ended up back at the Asian Gardens chatting up a storm with the bartender about music and being in bands, and after our drinks, stumbled back the block or two to our room.It was a fantastic day of experiences I never had before and may not ever have again. Although, some day I might realize the goal of actually seeing the New River. There are a couple of roads that get pretty close to it, but who would have known when using chance and randomness as our mode of travel.
