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Fort Stevens State Park

© Wayne R. Brown

We had to take it easy for the "Big Hike" this year. More specifically, I had to take it easy. The week before the hike I spent two days replumbing the kitchen sink, which required considerable crawling around on a concrete floor. Ouch.

Avoiding anything with much of an elevation gain, we headed for the Oregon Coast and Fort Stevens State Park. This is an old fort built to protect the entrance to the mighty Columbia River. In addition to hiking opportunities, there are miles of bike trails, camping, swimming, the beach, and the gun batteries and museum to explore.

To get to Fort Stevens, take Highway 26 west from Portland. Then follow Highway 101 north, through Seaside and toward Astoria. About nine miles north of Seaside, turn left on Ridge Road and follow the signs.

First we explored the park a little by car, checking out the gun batteries (Battery Clark, I believe) near the museum. This gave us the opportunity to see how I would do with the knee braces without getting us too far from the car. It went well and I had a good time exploring the gun positions and underground ammunition and radio rooms. Then we went to Battery Russell and clambered around there for a bit.

Emboldened by how successful the knee braces turned out to be, we headed for Coffenbury Lake and an actual two and a half mile hike.

Parking at the picnic area at the north end of the lake, we proceeded along the western portion of the trail. Coffenbury Lake is a little over a mile long and much less wide. The water was murky and covered at the shoreline by gunk that we believe was from a considerable coating of pollen. The first half of the trail was well maintained and a joy to traverse. At about the midway point along the west shore the trail was boxed in by vegetation and crisscrossed by invisible spider webs. At the far end of the lake, we came to a dirt road that leads to the east lakeshore trail.

The east shore of the lake is more fun. There are stretches of open lawn with nearby picnic tables and parking. We encountered a number of fishermen out to catch the bass that swim in the clouded waters.

Returning to the car, we decided to hike the half mile or so to the shipwrecked Peter Iredale. This was on asphalt, with which my knees were not as happy, but we reached the beach and the wreck without incident. By the time we returned to the car, we had covered around five miles all total, and were ready to head for Seaside and some good food.

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