Over sixty volunteers along with staff from the Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon State Parks, ODOT and the Angell Job Corp crews along with the Yachats trails committee have been working this spring to repair damage that was done to the Amanda Trail. The December storms caused a landslide and flood in the area that washed out much of the trail plus the footbridge and the Amanda statue.
At 1:00 p.m. this Saturday the popular Amanda Trail will officially reopen to the public following the six-month closure. The trail is a scenic part of the Oregon Coast Trail that stretches over 3-miles from the City of Yachats to the top of Cape Perpetua with views of the coast range and the Pacific ocean. private land owner Joanne Kittel who donated land for the trail along with many volunteers, have worked together to begin to rebuild the trail. Joanne said they utilized as much of the existing material as they could.
They were even able to get a donation of a new Amanda statue. 18-feet of the bridge was able to be salvaged and they have created another gathering area to replace the grotto. Beyond the damage to the trail itself, it was the emotional loss of this sacred trail that honored a Native American blind woman of the Coos Tribe who was forced to leave her 8-year old daughter and march barefoot through the rocky terrain to the Alsea Sub-agency internment camp in 1864.Her story was told from the diary of a soldier who spoke of how much her feet bled that left a trail of blood to track her by. The re-opening of the Amanda trail coincides with National Trails Day.
