Humbug Mountain, Sisters Rock, and Otter Point

With our vacation plans changed due to the potential for rain in SE Oregon we had returned home after hiking in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness to regroup. We swapped guide books and some or our supplies and headed for Gold Beach on the southern Oregon coast on Monday morning. We took our first set of hikes on the way down Highway 101 starting with a climb up Humbug Mountain.

The Humbug Mountain Trail begins at the signed Humbug Mountain Trailhead across from the state park campground.

The trail promptly crosses a creek then climbs through the forest for a mile to a split in the trail.

Rhododendron

Wild iris

Hedge nettle

Wild iris

Two routes led to the summit, the 1.4 mile West Trail and the 1.9 mile East Trail, allowing for a loop. We took the shorter West Trail to the right which offered limited ocean views.

When the trails rejoined we took the short .1 mile trail to the right up to the small meadow at the summit of Humbug Mountain.

A few flowers dotted the meadow which was mostly filled with bracken ferns and trees obscured much of the view.

Common catchfly

Elegant brodiaea

We took the East Trail down completing the loop and returning to the trailhead. The 5.5 mile hike was nice enough and a good climb, but the lack of views was a little disappointing albeit fitting for a mountain named Humbug.

From Humbug Mountain we continued driving south on HWY 101 to our next stop, Sisters Rock State Park. If not for our guide book describing the pullout between milepost 314 & 315 we would likely have driven right by. There was no sign for the park prior to the little pullout along the highway and the sign at the park was set back off the road making it difficult to spot while driving.

The wind was really strong whenever we were exposed to the north but the half-mile path down to the Sisters Rocks was full of views and flowers. Humbug Mountain was visible to the north and to the south was scenic Franklin Beach.

Scarlet pimpernel

Cows clover

Lupine

We headed for the largest of the rocks where a trail brought us to the mouth of a sea cave.

We found a spot on the rocks between the largest Sisters Rocks where we were protected from the wind. Here there were more caves and some small tide pools.

We then made our way to Franklin Beach which we shared with a lizard.

Our final stop for the day was at Otter Point State Park. This was another somewhat hidden park located along Old Coast Road 3 miles north of Gold Beach. Again signage was lacking for the park until we were at the entrance which took us some time to locate. It was worth the effort to find this little gem though. The parking area was lined with azaleas and wild roses and the trail to Otter Point had big views.

In addition to the views several types of flowers were present.
Sea Figs

Seaside daisy

Wild iris

Sea thrift

We were pleasantly surprised by both Sisters Rock and Otter Point and were glad we took the time to stop and check them out. These were short hikes (1.4 & 0.7 miles receptively)that really paid off. It was a nice start to the vacation and they set the bar for the rest of the weeks hikes. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums