Florence to North Bend (81km)

 The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area stretches 80km  along almost all our route for today. We sat and gazed at the sight for as long and often as we could.

We seemed destined to have to peddle over high, windy, busy, shoulderless bridges. The Coos Bay Bridge at the end of today was one such scary example.

Wildlife notes: Great Egret, Coos Bay.

We are on the traditional territory of the Coquille People and are staying in the Mill Hotel which s owned by the Tribe. 

“The Coquille Indian Tribe was terminated in 1954. On June 28, 1989, the Coquilles regained their status as a federally recognized Indian tribe. After 35 years of “termination” and federal policy that denied their status as Indian people, Public Law 101-42 restored the Coquilles eligibility to participate in federal Indian programs and to receive federal funds for tribal education, health, and law enforcement programs. The Coquille Restoration Act recognizes the sovereignty of the tribe and its authority as tribal government to manage and administer political and legal jurisdiction over its lands, businesses, and community members. Its members are descended from people who inhabited the watersheds of the Coquille River system, a small portion of Coos Bay at the South Slough, and areas north and south of the Coquille River mouth where it enters the ocean at present day Bandon. Coquille ancestral territory encompassed more than 700,000 acres, ceded to the US Government. Coquille headmen signed the treaties in 1851 and 1855. Because neither treaty was ever ratified by Congress, those Coquille people and their descendants were denied a permanent homeland until the modern Coquille Tribe negotiated several land purchases, which constitute today’s 6,400 acre tribal land base.”