We returned to Yakona Nature Preserve to get some walking in and to search for the rumored surprises on the trails.

We found this cast woodstove part propped against a tree. It attests to the presence of European settlers in the area circa late 1880’s.

After many walks into and around Yakona we finally found ‘the Bridge’! A miniature model of the Yaquina Bay Bridge, built over a creek that enters the bay.And a beautiful detail on the bench in the middle of the bridge!

Actually a road through a private forest area (open to the public with a permit) full of walking trails, mountain bike tracks, elk, bald eagles, hawks, and lots of wildlife!

Early morning on the beach!

The early seagulls get the beach to themselves!

We spent the day finding a new hiking area, private but open to the public with a permit simply gotten. Yakona Nature Preserve. Our new “Happy Place”!

The artful benches throughout the preserve are whimsical and offer wonderful vistas.

New hiking area! Crossing the gravel road over King slough, you can see the tide coming and going. The bay is very shallow here, the slough is almost completely emptied at low tide.

Slough on the left, Bay on the right.

The water moving through the culverts create small whirlpools as it passes either in or out of the slough. In this case the tide is going out!