| Date: February 21, 2006 | | Location Sutton Trails Hike | | Where: Siuslaw National Forest | Looking at the weather forecast, it looked like my odds for sunshine and moderate temperatures would be the best at the Oregon Coast. I called John Stolting and talked him into exploring the Sutton Trails just north of Florence. This network of trails would allow us to get in a good hike, lunch at a campground and check a couple of small lakes. We drove into clear blue sky and bright sunshine at Florence, but our trailhead was just far enough north to be under a cloud. As time went on the cloud moved and we hiked most of the day in sunshine.
|  | We started our hike at the Holman Day Use Area, and followed the trail as it wound along side Sutton Creek, stopping for a convenient lunch at a picnic table in the Sutton Campground. After lunch we found the bridge across Sutton Creek (its not where the map shows it), and then hiked through the sand dunes catching the Alder Dune trail which allowed us to check out these two lakes.
|  | At Dune Lake we found a lone fisherman, and extremely high water levels. After circling through the two campgrounds and checking out the high water at Alder Lake we headed back through the dunes. By now the warm temperatures allowed us to hike in shirtsleeves.
|  | John and I counted this a very successful day, an interesting hike, with a good workout, in warm sunshine. While Salem we would hear, never saw the sun.
|  | | Sutton Creek |  | | John in the dunes |
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