Walks with Moss: Lake Siltcoos Trail

This is a pretty little trail in Dune City Oregon. I discovered the Florence Oregon area when I was 9 and my mother flew me down there to visit her one glorious summer. It was the first airplane ride I ever took (not counting when I was a baby and don't remember) I flew down on a bright yellow Hughs Air West plane. My mother She took me water skiing, swimming, dune buggy riding and even on a seaplane flight during that visit. She also cooked 5-7 course meals and served them up all fancy while I was there. She took me to the Sea Lion Caves several times. We rode everywhere in a brand new corvette stingray convertible.

My mother did not raise me and I never got to know her very well, but I got to learn a little bit about her in Oregon when I was 9. I went back down there to visit her again the next year, but did not have as much fun.

The next year when I was 10, my mother mostly worked while I entertained myself. She worked on a beach house that they were flipping somewhere near North Jetty (I think) and she cleaned apartments above the Post Office in Mapleton. Well that is where the Post Office is now anyway. Not sure if it was there at the time. My stepfather was the bank manager at Siuslaw Valley Bank in Mapleton. I would sometimes wait in the bank waiting area while my mother cleaned the nearby apartments and to this day I feel sort of nostalgic when I see a waiting area in a bank never realized why that was until just this last week though.

At the end of that second visit my mother drove me all the way up to Bremerton along the coast taking a few days to do so. We had great fun exploring tide pools and happy memories were made on the way home anyway.

Apartments that my Mother cleaned while I waited either in the car or a the bank

Bank that my Step-father managed

We took the Bremerton Ferry to Seattle where we met up with my Dad at Ivar's indoors. We had three rounds of drinks while my mother and my father talked nice to each other. My drink was coke, not sure what my parents were drinking but I think it was something stronger. That was the second to last time I would ever see my mother and father in the same room. My mother did not even go to my own wedding. The next time they were together in the same room was at the memorial for my mothers parents.

The next year my mother did not want to see me at all unless she could have me for six full weeks and my father would not agree to that, so I did not get to see her at all that year. I felt hurt and rejected.

After that she moved to a farm off of Vincent road in Poulsbo, my Stepfather got a job managing American Marine Bank there. I had fun at the farm riding a horse and a motorcycle, but it was no where near as much fun as Dune City Oregon! My mother would have stayed in Oregon but my stepfather was not happy being relegated to Mapleton, he wanted to manage the bank branch in Florence or he wanted more money to manage the branch in Mapleton if that is where he had to stay.

My mother died three years ago and I spread her ashes at North Jetty Beach in Oregon because to me, she was all about Florence Oregon even though she had only lived there for three years. My mother did not tell me where she wanted her ashes spread, but after I had spread them I read an entry in her diary that told me I spread her ashes in the right place. She wrote this in Bremerton roughly "Home is where the ocean laps the shore and it's as warm as or warmer than here". Florence Oregon met all the requirements of home.

My mother had a boat and took me water skiing and fishing on Woahink Lake and I think maybe on Siltcoos Lake too. I need to look at her diaries again to be sure.

The Siltcoos Lake trail is very pretty in spite of having been logged and the hike is gentle enough and it ends at a picnic table. The entire point of hiking is to sit somewhere really comfortable and brew a cup of coffee. Hikes that end at picnic tables are perfect for this.

I started my hike sometime after breakfast in camp and I was feeling very tired. I was not even sure I would make it to the lake. My energy level has been quite low lately. I'm feeling anxious and depressed most of the time. My monthly income just went down by about 1/3 and that 1/3 was my breathing room that allowed me to go on long drives to go hiking and allowed me to relax a bit at the grocery store, it was just enough to keep us from qualifying for food stamps too. We could get food stamps now, but I don't bother since the paper work is so awful and it makes my husband angry.

Anyway, back to the hike, since I was tired, I chose the shortest route to the lake. I was surprised when the lake arrived so quickly and I knew I would be just fine hiking out the long way. I had coffee and a dog biscuit at the second set of picnic tables, sage had a packet of fake dog hamburger.

On the way out I took lots of pictures with my off camera flash in a way that highlighted the stumps. This seems to be the best way to photograph stumps. Stumps are great subjects to practice my off camera lighting skills on too they never complain or move.

4 miles with 400 feet elevation gain