We did this short loop during a brief stay at the coast right after New Year’s. Sutton Creek is just north of Florence and part of the northernmost section of the Oregon Dunes but not within the boundaries of the National Recreation Area. All around the parking area, silktassel was blooming, the flower strings dangling like rain chains throughout the understory. We took the boardwalk out to the Holman Vista, where we could see over Sutton Creek to seasonal lakes in the dunes and Sea Lion Point and Cape Mountain to the north. Another short trail led to a ford of the creek and a path that goes out to Baker Beach.
We decided, however, to confine ourselves to a couple of loops inland. These took us through a densely vegetated dunescape shaded by shore pine and Sitka spruce and never far from Sutton Creek. Near the edge of a more open expanse, invasive gorse and Scots broom have staked a foothold. We also came across a swing strung from a pitched over spruce and couldn’t resist! The trail returned us along the creek through salal and rhododendron thickets with the temperatures a balmy 58 degrees under a canopy of high clouds.