Soapstone Lake with the hounds - 8/16/11

[Thum]

Last tuesday my gf and I wanted to check out Soapstone Lake on our way back from the coast. The Soapstone Lake TH sits just a few miles south of highway 26 off highway 53. The trail stays mostly level as it passes a meadow that used to be the site of an old homestead. About 1 mile in and you reach the lake and an intersection with a trail that loops around the lake for .6 miles.


Soapstone trailhead:





Jack on the trail:





Not too far in and you cross the east fork of soapstone creek:





where we found this little guy:





lots of work was put into this trail recently, here's one of the many bridges:





The best apart about this trail for me was the huge stumps of the past giants that used to call this area home. There is also a nice mix of several large trees because of the location. You're close enough to the coast to have a few huge sitka spruce and several huge doug firs/hemlocks and western reds:





Joie and the hounds barely compare to the massive Sitka Spruce stump:








Reflection shot of the trees surrounding Soapstone Lake:





there were rough skinned newts everywhere:





and several boggy/swampy areas that are characteristic of the lakes in the northern coast range surround the lake. this part had a great boardwalk feel:





on our way back we were stopped by the toll keeper:





We had the lake and trail to ourselves the whole afternoon as it doesnt seem this one gets too much attention. But it was a welcome change to go from the crowded coast to a quiet and wooded lake trail.

[pdxgene]

Hey, thanx for the report. I always wondered what that lake looks like. The only time I tried going there was an active logging operation going on and they were kinda pissed that we went past the signs to see what was happening. There's another Lost Lake off 26 too that's kind of neat but the access road is very annoying, kinda like Gates Hill Rd but gravel.

[mayhem]

That tree stump was huge!! I'm glad you got a shoot with you guys in the frame. I would have never guessed. Also I have never seen that kind of snake, do you know what it is?

[Crusak]

Looks like a good hike! I'm wondering about the snake also.

Edit: so the trail is one mile?

[Thum]

I know you're a true lake lover gene. I thought this one was better than expected and definetely worth a return visit to spend some more time lounging at the lake on a nice day. Ive been to spruce run lake which is very close to lost lake and bloom lake as well. Lost Lake is the biggest of the four and I assume the best for fishing? It looks like they stock it with trout and occasionally steelhead.


yeah, the stumps and the few giants left standing were an awesome treat. I spent like 25 mintues around that particular stump marveling at it's size. semi related but - has anyone been to the valley of the giants east of Lincoln City? Ive heard the legends but wonder about the roads?


I believe it's a northwestern garter snake but I could be wrong. They can vary in color/pattern a ton.


Its a short one, its only 1 mile to the lake and it's about 2/3 or 3/4 mile around the lake. About 3 miles round trip.

[pdxgene]

Valley of the Giants is something to see but the drive just drags on forever. And when you get there it is such a short trail. You always want to call blm before you go because there are any number of gated roads that could be closed due to logging or fire season.
If you look at the Siuslaw Forest map there appears to be a series of roads from near Drift Creek Falls that would cut off a bunch of the time/distance. I've never been able to find out if they still exist, are useable or are even open to the public.
It goes past something called Horner Ranch and then along Gravel Creek and meets up with the road to VoG what looks like maybe 5 miles away. It seems like it would cut off a fair amount of distance on unpaved roads. In theory at least.