"Golden Gate Bridge" in the Woods

Well, not quite...but here's what we did.. Just a couple of miles south and east of Lincoln City, there's a hike you can take to Drift Creek Falls.  You take a ridiculously curvy ten mile road (by car) which is one lane in MANY places to get back to the Drift Creek Trailhead.  Our average speed on this road was about fifteen miles an hour to get back to the trailhead. It was so full of blind curves that we were afraid we were going to meet another car head on, so we took our time. You just have to go slow. At the end of the ten miles, you pull into a wide open, well maintained parking lot with bathroom facilities. Surprising to see that, I thought we would be in a totally primitive area for the trailhead start.

This three mile round trip hike was a very slow decline all the way...I could see Eldo's wheels turning in his head, thinking, oh, brother...uphill all the way back, but it really wasn't hard at all. (Sparky was right, folks.) The path was wide enough to be easily traversed. Every step of the way was a fantastic journey into the deep, lush, Coast Range forest. It was like being in a rainforest...old growth and 50 year old growth, lush ferns everywhere, the colors of the ferns and plants were a bright, bright yellowish green. They contrasted starkly with the decaying stumps and dead wood laying on the ground. The colors were beautiful. I hope some of these photos show that.

At the end of the trail you come to a 240 foot suspension bridge, the longest in Oregon. It hovers about 100 feet over Drift Creek and off to your right is an 80 foot waterfall, Drift Creek Falls. The suspension bridge feels every movement of your steps across. Eldo started shaking the bridge while I was walking, that stinker! (Paybacks are _ _ _ _, Eldo!)  I wasn't nervous till he started rocking the bridge. So we took a funny photo of me hanging onto the cable sides--I didn't know there were people behind me waiting to cross. They were laughing!

The bridge has 29 foot support towers at each end, and they are connected by cables anchored in bedrock.  It was built in memory of someone who loved this area. What a wonderful sight to see in the middle of the woods--so unexpected to come across this if you didn't know about it. Sometimes Eldy isn't too excited about going on hikes--but if there is something amazing to see along the way--scenery or something cool like this, he's in! I'm the same way...just to walk for a couple of miles on a straight away hike where the scenery stays the same, not my favorite thing to do. We both like hikes on hilltops, mountainsides, rainforests and great scenery along the way, even if it is just a log or leaves...

Or tiny little flowers barely seen....

Or a semi-comatose lizard! (?)  (It was in the fifties that day, surprised to see him out and about!)

And then, there's the Golden Gate style bridge....

And the waterfall....

What a gorgeous hike and within minutes of Lincoln City...we truly enjoyed this one and highly recommend it!