If you want to get away from the city buzz, just come to this park and take a stroll along the duck…read morepond to find the Japanese gardens. There, you will find peace and tranquility. Very easy trails to walk on. I even saw some older people in wheelchairs using the path.

Now this is truly a hidden gem!…read more I wasn't expecting too much from this park. We just wanted to go for a stroll after our long drive to Coos Bay. We were able to get in an hour stroll because we walked through the disc golf area. There's plenty of parking. And the bathrooms near the swimming pool were very clean.

This is a great urban-type park in the northwestern section of Coos Bay. 120 acres of natural area…read moreencompass the Empire Lakes complex, protected coastal dunes, and forest land. The park has two main entrances, although park trails may be reached from surrounding neighborhoods. The main park entrances are on the north end of Ackerman Street, and on Hull Street off Newmark near Southwestern Oregon Community College and the Walmart. No motor boats are permitted on the lakes so you don't have to listen to roaring engines. However, there is a launch for canoes, kayaks and other non-motorized boats. The City says there are over 5 miles of incredibly well-marked asphalt-paved pedestrian and cycling trails. Watch out for the tree roots though. The Empire Lakes are home to a variety of fish (Bass, Blugill, Perch, Catfish), waterfowl and other birds. On a recent walk we saw: Mallards Double-crested Cormorants Osprey Turkey Vultures Western/Glaucous-winged Gulls Rufous/Allen's Hummingbirds Steller's Jays American Crows Common Ravens Violet-green Swallows Barn Swallows Bushtits (a nesting pair) American Robins Song Sparrows Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon type) Black Phoebes Common Starlings Facilities are pretty basic, but then there is no use fee either. *** Park history (from bayareablaster.com): Originally known as Empire Lakes Park, John Topits - a former Coos Bay city councilman - proposed building the park back in 1977. John's enthusiasm and guidance were instrumental in making the place it is today. For over 20 years (beginning in 1977), John (and many other volunteers) spent countless hours upgrading, cleaning and maintaining the trails. The local National Guard Unit also donated over 2,500 hours of time in making improvements. This was truly a community effort and it fulfilled a special dream for John Topits. The Topits Family has preserved John Topits's scrapbook. It is available on the bayareablaster.com website.

A very nice park & lake tucked away in an urban neighborhood. Quite honestly, the Mrs & I stumbled…read moreupon it as we drove by. No fees & a nice parking area as you enter off of Hull street, close to Newmark. They don't allow motorized boats, but we spotted a couple of kayaks floating by, with the occupant casting a fishing line out. Beautiful scenery with well maintained, mostly shaded, asphalt trails. Very peaceful & the people we did see on the trail were polite & cordial.

Nice little park with a paved and dirt walking path around the pond…read more Ample parking and handicap accessible around the lake. Even at the start of winter the pond and ducks are a relaxing and calm sight to see. I imagine in the spring when everything is in foliage, it's more crowded. But I look forward to seeing it change throughout the year. They do have porta-pottys but would be nice if they had real restrooms. Across the street is a baseball field. Still didn't see any restrooms. Only had a short time to explore, but look forward to seeing the many hiking trails it offers.

Very small and not well taken care of. A little TLC and this could be much better and there is room…read morefor expansion.

What a fun experience here with some friends for the weekend! The dunes are massive and so…read moreexpansive! This is definitely a great stop for weekend fun! Most of the campers seemed thoughtful and having a good time especially with atvs and side by sides all over the place!

Fun stuff. You can do almost anything and has something for anyone at any age with any interests.read more

What a beautiful bridge! We were on our way to meet family in Charleston, OR. Such a treat to come…read moreacross this old bridge. Gorgeous views from both sides while driving over it. It's a cantilever bridge built in the 1930's. It spans a mile over Coos Bay. At the end of the bridge driving South on highway 101, you come up to the cool neon North Bend sign welcoming you. It's named after it's designer who has designed numerous other bridges in Oregon along highway 101. If you're in the area, I highly recommend driving over it and experiencing the beautiful structure and views!

If you've ever driven many miles along US Route 101 you're one of the lucky ones, the California,…read moreOregon and Washington coast lines holds some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever see, I've been fortunate to have driven the entire coast line over several years and some extended sections multiple times. One of the things I've most admired were the bridges that cross the many rivers, canyons and valleys along the way. All of these bridges are unique in design and presented different challenges for the engineers that were assigned to complete this sometimes daunting task but it was always a labor of love. You also may notice that some of the bridges are eerie similar in design even though they cross a variety of different terrains this is especially true along the sections of highway along the Oregon coast - this particular bridge was engineered by its namesake Conde Balcom McCullough who worked for the Oregon DOT from 1919 - 1935 and returned to service again in 1937 until 1946. McCullough personally designed a number of bridges in Oregon over his lengthy career and aided in the design of over 600 bridges across the continent and abroad. The cantilever design was chosen due to the high volume of traffic passing under it, the 793-foot main span has 145 feet of vertical clearance and is part of a 1,708-foot long steel cantilever span. Overall length, including the concrete approach spans is 5,305 feet. The approach spans are concrete arches more typical of McCullough's designs with main towers rising 280 feet above the water surface, with curved sway bracing in a Gothic arch style. The ends of the bridge are marked by pedestrian plazas meant to provide a viewing point for the bridge and to provide access to the shoreline. The stairs descend in sweeping curves to the park below. This bridge opened in 1936 and at some point will be tagged for replacement so spending a few minutes admiring this historic structure while it's still in service is something to behold....

This is a solemn tribute to the veterans from the area…read more Located on the side of the Highway 101, this landmark can be easily missed. It's around a bend and no real signage to tell you it's there. Once you enter the memorial, there's no marked stalls so to park you just pull over. There's black marble tablets that line the memorial with inspiration quotes and the bricks that line the floor have names written on them. It's a peaceful area, with a few park benches and a lovely view of the bay. There's plenty of open space to reflect and remember what true sacrifice means. Overall five stars. For those that have given so much to this great country, I salute you and those you left behind. Now excuse me, it's time to reflect. M

I have a group of friends who do hiking trips together every few years, and this year we picked…read moreMorrisons Rogue River hike with support from guides on rafts. Booking the trip was relatively straightforward, but Morrisons highly encouraged us to do trip insurance because they don't offer refunds, which should've been the first red flag. Before I go too far, I do want to give a huge shout out to our guides Drew, Adam, and Johnny. They were amazing, and if I were rating just them, this review would be 5++ stars. They were friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and genuinely cared about us and our hike. The rest of the Morrison's staff...not so much. There was an active wildfire in the area before we started the hike. We talked to Morrison's several times in the days leading up to the trip (before we flew out) and even asked about rebooking the trip for a different time, when the forest in the area wasn't on fire. We were assured that even though they were planning a few modifications to our itinerary (i.e. at least one day of rafting instead of hiking), they were confident that it would be a wonderful trip. Fast forward to the end of day 2 of our trip...and they had to cancel the rest of the 4-day hike due to safety concerns and, ultimately, a mandatory evacuation. To be clear, I'm not upset that we were pulled out of the woods, as that was an obvious safety decision. I'm mad because we specifically asked about rebooking for different dates and were told no. Morrison's got us back to their main lodge the following morning, at which point they considered themselves done with us. There was no refund, no help finding rooms for the night, and the last lodge we were in literally wouldn't even let us use the bathroom in the hour we were waiting for vans to get us back to safety. Morrison's did at least send us all an official email about the trip cancellation so that we could share that with our travel insurance (if we'd purchased it) to try to get a refund, but that was about it. Morrisons also made the guides tell us, rather than having anyone higher up in the company talk to us. From what we can tell, they also didn't do anything to help their guides (e.g. helping them find lodging) once the trip was canceled. I will also add that I'm vegetarian, and although there was a lot of very tasty vegetarian food available, vegetarian protein was extremely scarce. For dinner the two nights we hiked (~9 mi on day 1 and 15 mi on day 2), there was no source of vegetarian protein for me to eat. (The gluten free and dairy free people fared much better.) It would've been so easy to roast a portobello mushroom the way they roasted salmon, or to do some kind of meat substitute when they did ribs (they did have meat substitute at the lunches, and eggs or veggie patties at breakfast). I had brought some protein powder with me, but not enough to make up for dinners without protein. My friends ended up giving me the protein bars they'd brought for themselves to try to make up for the dinners. To Morrison's: please consider all macronutrients (carbs, fat, AND protein) when planning meals for your guests! Overall, I would absolutely go back to the river with any of the guides, but I'll never use Morrisons again, and I recommend that you don't either.

Great time with my family. The guide was excellent and we had a blast. We did the afternoon 1/2…read morerafting trip and are definitely coming back to make this annual event. Dan was an excellent guide!

If all communities would ban together as Charleston has to establish safe play areas for our youth,…read morethe world would be a better place. I've watched the dedication, donations, grant writing, labor, and continuing generous acts of unexpected community service that have gone into this particular ball park. So proud of BACAPA for sticking with their vision and making things happen... even during difficult times. Hats off to the Richards family for all their personal effort on this project! WELL DONE!