Back road adventures are the very best!

This week, we head high into the hills of the Oregon Coast Range west of near Carlton and find what some call a “heavenly ribbon of asphalt” – the Nestucca River Back Country Byway. The Nestucca River sings on its way to the sea and along the narrow winding roadway that follows it you may hear its song.

Be prepared to spend some time in these mountains and savor the road that threads through the heart of these mountains. It’s a place where milky white clouds wisps dance above giant Doug fir trees or tiny wild iris bunches burst to life close to ground.

I am on a back road so significant that the Bureau of Land Management designated eleven miles of it a National Back Country Byway. You are apt to find me along this river in summer – especially on a day when sunbeams light up the scene and a Fairy Slipper orchid waves you along the river as it rolls toward the sea with its magical, ageless song.

If you like to travel in Oregon, the Nestucca River Back Country Byway is not to be missed!