Hiking from Corvallis to the sea60-mile stretch of uninterrupted trails

THERE IS SOMETHING alluring about the idea of hiking from one place to another without interruption. From the Pacific Crest to the Continental Divide to the Appalachian, hikers in America have tested their mettle against trails that span thousands of miles and traverse the breadth of the country. Now hikers can walk from the heart of the Willamette Valley to the Oregon Coast on a 60-mile stretch of uninterrupted trail.

The Corvallis-to-the-Sea Trail leads from downtown Corvallis through the coastal mountain range and finishes at the Oregon Coast just north of Seal Rock.

Like most Oregonians with a thirst for the outdoors, my summer months are spent with my camping gear in my car, my backpack neatly packed, my camp stove and camera always ready to go. So, one three-day weekend in September, I drove to Corvallis to do a day hike of the Corvallis-to-the-Sea trail, C2C, with an old friend.

The section we picked is a part of the Corvallis watershed, paralleling Woods Creek Road. The territory is all protected growth. The light filtered through the trees, pale yellow and evanescent green in the dry season of this temperate rainforest. The biodiversity astounded me. Vine maple, salal, ocean spray and myriad edible berries---black cap raspberry, trailing blackberry, filberts, elderberry, salmon-berry, rosehips, Oregon grape, thimbleberry and huckleberry---bunched together in the undergrowth with sword and maidenhead ferns, arrowhead plants and wood sorrel. Overhead loomed Douglas fir, hemlock, oak and alder.

The Corvallis-to-the-Sea trail doesn't have the same sweeping vistas or grand mountains you'd find in the Cascades. But it has two advantages. First---for many, it's close. Residents of Corvallis can be in the wild sections of the trail in ten to fifteen minutes, and from the surrounding areas it might take you an hour. Second---it's less crowded. As anyone who has visited the Cascades in recent years knows, the sweeping vistas and grand mountains draw crowds, from PCT thru-hikers to ambitious Instagram photographers to Portlanders. Not so with the C2C.

There's more than meets the eye on this trail, with or without a knowledgeable plant guide. Look carefully and you might find evidence of Oregon's early homesteaders, whose tenacity contributed so much of the character of this state---and, in the search, you may happen across a patch of tasty mushrooms.