Elliott State Forest

The Elliott State Forest occupies 144 square miles of steep, second growth land between Coos Bay and Reedsport. Like much of the Coast Range it features slopes in excess of 70% covered in forests, mostly Douglas Fir mixed with red alder, western red cedar, maple, and western hemlock. Although these mountains are steep they are not particularly high, with ridge tops running consistently above 1,000 feet but never quite reaching 2,000. Clearcuts are fairly common, although lawsuits have limited them in recent years.

These aren't old forests. A 2003 state hydrologic study found only 189 acres greater than 200 years old, two-tenths of one percent of the forest. Less than half of the forest is as much as a century old. There's a reason for this; in the 1860s and 70s, long before logging took place, virtually the entire Elliott burned down, scorched to the soil. So what you see today are healthy young forests made up of same-age stands.

In 1927 the Siuslaw National Forest traded what was then known as the Millicoma Tract to Oregon's Department of Forestry in exchange for a similar acreage in small, scattered tracts within the Siuslaw. Because the lands Oregon used in the trade were part of the Common School Fund, a portfolio of lands established in 1859 to fund public schools, the new state forest became part of that fund. When the Department of Forestry's founding Forester, Francis Elliott, died in 1930 the state changed the name of the Millicoma Tract to Elliott State Forest.

Like most of the Coast Range, Elliott State Forest looks like a mad jumble of ridges and streams. It's not; there's a sensible organization to it. The Elliott consists of the watershed of the 35 mile long West Fork Millicoma River, along with its surrounding ridgeline and the ridges that radiate away from it into the adjacent watersheds. This watershed ridgeline forms a great oval at the center of the forest, and is followed virtually in its entirety by fairly good gravel roads.

The Ridgetop Drive. This ridgetop drive — highlighted in green on the map below — is the heart of the forest, and everything radiates from it. This is the prime backroad drive in the forest, giving you a topside view of the entire tract. It also serves as the forest's mainline, and forestry activities tend to concentrate along it. Views from the tops of clearcuts can be very dramatic, and there are plenty of stretches through mature young forests that haven't seen an axe since the state took it over.

Ridgetop Cross-Connectors. Two roads run through the area inside the ridgetop loop, offering cross access and (more importantly) access to the West Fork Millicoma River and its tributaries. The map above highlights them in blue. The southern one, FSR 2300, is short and good quality. The northern one, SFR 8000, gives good access to the Millicoma if approached from the west, but from there on is badly maintained and not suitable for an ordinary auto. It also has the more attractive scenery of the two.

Outside Links. You can reach the ridgetop loop at any of six places, highlighted in brown on the map.

• Two are on the east, reached from Loon Lake Road.
• Three are on the west, reached from county roads off US 101.
• one is on the north, reached from State Highway 38.