Hiking

We started out this glorious Oregon coast morning with another bucket list hike, God’s Thumb and the Knoll. Located in Siuslaw National Forest, a prominent basalt dike formed during the late Eocene covered with grass on one side and a sheer cliff on the other, the God’s Thumb juts out into the crashing waves of the Pacific. The name alone, God’s Thumb, was more than intriguing, and after this hike, wouldn’t you know it, we felt blessed to have a place like this to ourselves on an absolutely perfect day. Starting at the deserted cul de sac at the end of Devils Lake Boulevard, we were the lone car (always a great sign). The hike starts up along an old roadbed under red alder and Sitka spruce with thickets of blackberry, salmonberry, and elderberry. Every guide and trail report will say the trail can be muddy, and on this day, we were muddin’, fo sure. After making it onto the ridge, we could see the Salmon River estuary through the trees. We steeply drop down the slope to enter an expansive alder-lined meado