804 Trail rehabilitation project makes a smoother walk by the sea

Start at The Fireside Motel and walk north to the end of the 804 Trail where the trail meets the sand. The surf is doing what it always does. The shore pines still sweep away from the wind, and the ocean still opens up between them in those sudden, breath-catching views.What’s different is underfoot.

Where the path used to puddle, rut and slick over after a hard rain, where a single winter storm could carve a channel straight down the middle of it, there’s now a firm, level surface that sheds water instead of holding it. Two stretches got the attention of trail restoration volunteers: a 400-foot section just north of our sister property, Overleaf Lodge and Spa, and a 200-foot section at the far north end, where the trail spills out onto the beach. Guests who’ve walked these parts a year ago and remember picking their way around the soft spots and washouts will notice the change right away.

The best part of the fix is the part you can’t see. Beneath the gravel, a hidden drainage channel now carries water off and away from the path rather than letting it pool on top. The surface sits over a honeycomb-like grid that locks the gravel in place, so the next big storm can’t wash it downhill. This same technique was used on a nearby section nearly a decade ago and has held up beautifully. Simply too steep in places to be fully ADA accessible, the 804 Trail is now at least meaningfully easier to walk, including for visitors with mobility challenges, and that was the goal from the start.

Funded a dollar at a time

None of this happened the fast way. It happened the Yachats way — slowly, together and one dollar at a time.

Back in 2020, The Fireside Motel began collecting $1 per night of each guest reservation as a voluntary donation to View the Future, a Yachats-based nonprofit that’s responsible for stewarding and conserving land and wildlife habitats in the Yachats area. The group maintains the 804 Trail. Our guests, without much fanfare, have become the quiet engine behind years of trail care, their dollars flowing into a restricted fund set aside specifically for new and rehabilitation work along the 804 Trail.

Five years of single dollars add up. For this project, The Fireside fund covered $13,371.18, including the archaeological evaluations required before any ground was disturbed along this historically significant corridor, a path the Alsea people first walked long before it was ever a county road.

But the real story is what that money unlocked. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff guided the work and contributed roughly $6,712 in time and expertise. Yachats Trails volunteers donated labor, valued at $16,629.62, to steer wheelbarrows of gravel down the path on a cold January morning. Added with the roughly $13,000 contribution from The Fireside guests, the total became close to $36,000 of community effort. And that total doesn’t even count the machinery, gravel and stone that went into the ground.

A thank-you to our guests

If you’ve stayed at The Fireside since 2020 and donated that extra dollar per night of your stay, you helped rebuild a piece of one of the Oregon Coast’s most beloved trails. A handful of determined Yachats retirees fought for this path in court and won in 1990. It’s been battered by storms and is loved by just about everyone who has explored it since.

There’s more ahead, too. The fund still holds resources for future work, from additional trail improvements to new interpretive features that will help walkers understand the deep history and ecology of the ground they’re standing on. So, thank you for your contributions!

Plan your stay along the 804 Trail

The Fireside Motel sits right on this spectacular stretch of Oregon’s Central Coast, with the pet-friendly 804 Trail just outside your door — and your dogs are always invited along. There’s no driving, no hunting for parking; you can roll out of a cozy morning in bed and be walking the surf, on freshly restored footing, in minutes. Take your time out there. Thanks to your donations, the trail is yours, too.

Prefer a quieter, spa-forward escape? Our sister property next door, Overleaf Lodge & Spa, offers pet-free oceanfront rooms with the same sweeping views. And for families or groups who want more room to spread out, Overleaf Cottage Rentals make a roomy home base with that same 804 Trail access.

Check availability at The Fireside Motel.