Visting The Elliott: Links with the Outside

SFR 4000

This good quality (although narrow) link road starts at the village of Lakeside; to get there take US 101 from the McCullough Bridge on the north end of Coos Bay for 10.6 miles to a right onto Airport Way, then go 0.6 miles to the T-intersection, then go one long block to the center of town. From Lakeside take North Lake Road left (east) for 4.3 miles to the end of the pavement; the right fork is SFR 4000. From here it's 7.8 miles of good but narrow gravel road through young forest. The first mile or two was sold to a logging company in 2014.

Umpcoos Rd? SFR 5000?

I mark this one "Unnamed Road" on my map as the latest official map doesn't show it, much less name it, but Google calls it "Umpcoos Rd" and Mapnik calls it "5000 Rd". It's an excellent gravel road, full width, with active logging projects along it. To find it take State Highway 38 east of Reedsport for 2.2 miles to a right turn onto paved Scholfield Rd, then go 3.1 miles to a right turn onto narrow gravel Scholfield Ridge Rd., an attractive little farm track. The state forest road starts 2.2 miles further on, a right turn over a creek.

SFR 2000

While most of SFR 2000 makes up the end of the Ridgetop Drive, its northernmost section leaves the ridgeline to drop down to State Highway 38 and the Umpqua River. The road quality isn't very good (the photos show you what it's like) but it makes up for it by passing through some of the oldest forests in the Elliott, forests that haven't been cut since the devastating 1868 fire. To find it take OR 38 east of Reedsport for 5.8 miles to a right onto paved Deans Creek Road, then take this straight ahead to the end of the pavement in 2.6 miles. SFR 2000 forks off to the right, uphill and into the forest.

SFR 7700

This leg, just 2.2 miles long, manages to climb 1,400 feet for an average gradient of 12%, the steepest you'll find in these pages. It starts just north of Loon Lake and joins the Ridgetop Drive at Cougar Pass. To find it, take OR 38 east from Reedsport for 13.1 miles to a right turn onto Loon Lake Road (which emerges impressively from a rock-bound canyon), then go 5.9 miles to a right, steeply uphill, onto SFR 7700. It will remain narrow as it switchbacks up the mountainside to crest out above a large sandstone cliff at 1.6 miles. Here it levels and follows the top of a new clearcut that gives numerous panoramic views for the next 0.75 miles. You'll meet the Ridgetop Drive (SFR 7000) about a half-mile along the clearcut. You'll have noticed the historic Cougar Pass Fire Tower on the ridge crest to your left; the gated track to the fire tower (a quarter-mile walk) is to your left down FSR 7000 a short distance.

SFR 1850 (Loon Lake Road)

From the 1930s to the 1950s Loon Lake Road ran south, marked as a state highway, to pass through Allegany and eventually reach Coos Bay. In 1957, however, a landslide wiped out its most remote section and was never rebuilt. Somewhere along the line Weyerhaeuser gained control of the ruinous road and the old right-of-way is now off limits. Today Loon Lake Road swerves into the Elliott, becoming SFR 1850.

To find it proceed as with SFR 7700 (above), but keep going to the end of paved Loon Lake Road, a total of 13.5 miles from its intersection with OR 38. Go right over the bridge onto gravel SFR 1850. This will continue as a very high quality gravel road for the next 4.2 miles, intersection with the Ridgetop Drive (here FSR 1000). Scenery is unimpressive; the first 2.4 miles are on private land and is mainly clear cut.