Nelscott Beach Hike

Overview

This coast hike offers you a few varied glimpses into Pacific shore geography while you walk the length of the southern half of Lincoln City. First, hike the entire course of the D River, billed locally as the world’s shortest, and follow a boardwalk to a campground in Devils Lake State Recreation Area on the shores of Devils Lake, another of those shallow backwaters, or "barrage lakes", formed by a natural sand dune dam. Then you’ll return to the beach and walk south below sandstone bluffs to the mouth of the Siletz River to get views of its resident pod of harbor seals. From the parking area, head north to the D River, and walk back to Highway 101 to cross it. For years, the river was made famous in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s shortest until other regions contested the honor with candidates of their own. Lincoln City retorted by restating the length of the D as measured at “the highest of the tides,” but by that time Guinness had become heartily fatigued by the controversy and retracted the category entirely. Cross Highway 101 at N.E. 1st Street, and descend to the gravel parking area at shore pine-shaded Hostetler Park. Here, the D emerges from Devils Lake, but it’s difficult to tell where to begin measuring although the high tide statistic says 120 feet (40 yards). Walk up the road past a row of yellow bollards to enter the Devils Lake State Recreation Area to cross a bridge and come to a former parking area. Go left at a trail sign, and begin the boardwalk over a willow/spiraea vegetated sphagnum peat fen. An interpretive sign indicates that this peat swamp is 14,000 years old, with a 35 foot accumulation of peat. A footbridge leads you to a gravel trail that takes you along the west side of the campground to the entrance kiosk. Go right here, and then left along the campground road. A couple of trails that lead to the shore of Devils Lake are under water for much of the year. At the northeast corner of the campground, a wide track leads through an alder/sedge swamp to a moorage do

Trail Stats

Photos

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