Members Bill and Katie Nelson forged ahead on a hike at the Bob Straub State Park on a beautiful morning in the sand lake area. We guessed that other Chemeketans may have had an unfortunate experience hiking the Straub park trails as nobody else signed up for the hike!
When the trails are dry every trail is deep DRY sand, and it takes quite a bit of effort to make some headway around the entire park trail system. This seems to be due primarily to the equestrian traffic on the trails. Hooves break through the duff/pine needle surface exposing the soft sand beneath.
Katie and I quickly realized that this would be the case when starting on the Dune Ridge trail. After going a few hundred feet we ascertained that walking on the firm sand at water’s edge would be MUCH easier! That was certainly the case.
While walking at water’s edge we watched Subarus, and other all-wheel drive rigs zoom past us closer to the dune ridge. One is allowed to drive vehicles on the beach at this latitude. We only saw one get apparently stuck in the sand the whole day! 😀
We walked about 2.1 miles up to the jetty where the Nestucca River meets the ocean. A few fishing boats were crossing (or attempting to cross) the bar there. Nestucca bay is really spectacular and if you have not seen it it is well worth the trip and effort, especially if you are a fisherperson!
One man was using a unique triangular crab trap thrown from the beach/river/bay side. He baited it with a raw chicken drumstick. As we walked by he caught his second and was elated that he had a “keeper”. He indicated that if he caught eight more he would be “at his limit” of ten!
As we turned around to start back toward the parking lot on the Bay trail/River trail the skies began to cloud over. We avoided the rain that day.
All together a pleasant hike if one can get over hiking in soft dry sand all day!!
