Drift Creek Wilderness - Siuslaw National Forest

Drift Creek Wilderness (5,798 acres) is located in the Oregon Coast Range where towering Douglas fir, western red cedar, Sitka spruce and western hemlock that sometimes reach seven feet in diameter shade the Coast Range’s largest rainforest stand of old growth. At the wilderness’s upper reaches, giant Douglas firs dominate the skyline. Spruces and hemlocks thrive on the flatter, boggier ground near Drift Creek. Western red cedars are also common in this forest and when left alone, as they are in the Drift Creek Wilderness, Pacific Northwest cedars can live to be over a thousand years old. If possible, look up at the cedar crowns, if one has a candelabra crown and a big wide base then it is an old tree, maybe a very old tree. The steep canyons of Drift Creek may give the impression of mountainous county, but the forested hills rise only slightly above 2000 feet.  

Lobaria is a light green and pale algae with a rubbery consistency that grows in the big conifers of the Pacific Northwest. Hikers will see Lobaria lying on the ground only in the old, unlogged portion of the forest. Lobaria captures nitrogen from the atmosphere and then when it blows to the ground and decomposes, transfers that nitrogen to the soil.

Numerous species of mushrooms are hidden and not so hidden in this forest. There are large stumps and massive root structures along the trail that are covered in mosses, lichens and mushrooms. Bring your magnifying glass and your curiosity and explore these fascinating micro-environments.    

Soaked by as much as 120 inches of annual rainfall, moss and ferns as thick as six inches cushion the ground along numerous streams shadowed by overhanging bigleaf maples. 

Roosevelt elk and black bears share this lush territory along with northern spotted owl, woodpeckers, bald eagles, forest wrens, woodpeckers, banana slugs, crayfish, dragonflies, kingfishers, newts, salamanders and many others. In the fall, Drift Creek comes alive with spawning chinook and coho salmon, as well as steelhead and cutthroat trout.