Nestucca Spit (no pictures) on April 10, 2016

[BigBear]

This past week Oregon State Parks opened the trails at Bob Straub State Park (formerly Nestucca Spit State Park). It was my first time on these trails, and likely my last time. The heavy rains this winter had left many of the trails flooded and on this day, I came across two inconvenient ponds: one near the south end of the Bay Trail and one between the parking lot and the Bay Trail junction (near the end of the maintenance road). This required some backtracking on my part to find a dry alternative on my loop hike.

The trail system, in simple terms, includes a short loop with three trails running relatively parallel toward the south end of the park: River Trail (along the river), Bay Trail (no idea why they selected that name), and Marsh Trail (well-named). A long marsh appears to separate the Bay and Marsh trails, and during wet periods this marsh extends out to the trails.

Had I not opted for a clockwise loop on this day, I would have found the trail flooded early in my walk and that would have been that. Finding the ponds at the end of the loop was not met with favor on my part.

Unfortunately, there are more trail connectors than could be printed on the trail map, especially at the north end of the Spit. This makes for difficult navigation through the thick, dry sand that fills your shoes with sand. There is signage at most of these official and unofficial junctions which mentions where the spur goes, but infrequently identifies the trail you are walking. For example, in my clockwise loop, I passed two "To River Trail" signs, one "River trail" sign and two more "To River Trail" signs before I decided to see why there were so many off ramps leading toward Bay Trail.

Another example of signage issues is at the north end of the Bay Trail where the path abruptly comes to a T-intersection with "To Marsh Trail" for the left path and "To River Trail" to the right. On the map, the Bay Trail is supposed to continue north, but you do not find this signage (Bay Trail) unless you go to the right and come upon the next trail junction just beyond the end of the Maintenance Road.

Where the River Trail and the Bay Trail meet at the south end, there is signage pointing out a 4-way junction, but the "To Bay" and "To Marsh" arrows point to a pile of logs. On the map, the Bay Trail appears to continue south on a less-used path (which was submerged a short distance further on this particular day).

What is missing is signage telling you how to get back to the parking lot. All of the signage merely points to the next of the three trails, which starts making a person wonder if they are merely walking around in circles (which, on a loop, you are).

[bobcat]

Yep, with all the user trails and the marshes in the middle, I find it easier not to use any kind of "trail map" there. Go up the beach and around the end of the spit. Head inland on a user trail where walking the bay shore is no longer feasible and keep near the bay until you head across to the parking area. More a sense of direction is needed than a map.

[Peder]

Funny! My family had some adventures with the "trails" there too!