Russ from Taos wrote me about some hobbit trails north of Florence that he had remembered from years past, so I made a point of seeking them out. He wrote: “I’ve been to some really cool places on the Oregon coast, but I can’t remember where most of them are. One great place that I went to once is the hobbit trails. You had to know someone who knew where it was, because it was just a series of what seemed like wildlife trails going off 101 to the beach. You had to park on the side of the road. The branches of the trees, snarled from wind, were thick, so you had to crouch down when you went through them — really neat. It was about a half a mile to a nice beach with very few people. It has been developed since then, so there’s a parking area and a groomed trail — and no doubt more people on the beach (I haven’t been there since that happened). You might be able to find one of the smaller old trails though — they’re hard to spot in a car, but being on a bike is very different.”
Sure enough, I found the remaining Hobbit Trail. It’s a Hal-mile trail down to a secluded beach. Rather than describe it in words, I’ll let some pictures convey the message.
Heading down the rabbit hole…
A tree on the path to Middle Earth
I expect that several forest nymphs were watching me from this glade, just out of my sight
A genuine tunnel in the undergrowth, heading down toward the beach
The same trail, looking up from the beach
The beach at the end of the Hobbit Trail. Windy, chilly, beautiful and uncrowded