A stretch of temperate rain forest along the coast of Northern Oregon.
Oswald West is home to 2,484 acres of temperate rainforest, coastal mountains, sandstone cliffs, and a beach sheltered in a cove of volcanic uprisings. My first trip to the park was a family hiking adventure up the South Neah-Kah-Nie Trail, which we did as a 3 mile out and back to the Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain Viewpoint. The trail is accessed via a gravel road, just outside the southern end of the park. The road heads back up to the park boundary, where there is a small parking lot for hikers.
As the trail begins, switchback after switchback takes you through old-growth forest and dense undergrowth. In the breaks in the tree canopy, the ubiquitous salal and ferns were overwhelmed by walls of greenery, spotted with wildflowers. It’s the kind of trail that requires a machete for maintenance.
As we continued to rise in altitude, the canopy became thicker, and the forest was dominated by the massive western red cedar. The last bit of the total 840-foot rise in elevation was a bit difficult for our 5-year old, but well worth it for the view from the lookout point. The final ascent was a steep, 20-foot scramble up to a rocky ridge. From there, the precipitous drop below opened up a panorama of the Pacific coast to the south. The beach stretched off into the haze, with mouth of Nehalem Bay slashing through to meet the ocean.
There wasn’t a flat surface to be found, making the promised mid-point turnaround snack a bit precarious. We ate crouched in uncomfortable positions to keep a hand free for shoveling food into our mouths. Once free, our daughter perched herself up on the hogback. She seemed pretty nonplussed.
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