Lin proposed raising the level of the ground at the amphitheater like a natural sloping surface, high enough to see the sun set into the ocean beyond the dunes. Dune restoration and plantings of dunegrass in this area were an element of the artist’s vision. Flat lawn was to be torn out, and the area regraded to create rolling forms. Facing due west, the amphitheater’s curving cedar benches and stage were plotted out to repeat the same radius curve of the estuary viewing platform.

For the surface of the trail itself, Lin chose crushed oyster shell–an aesthetic and environmentally considered choice, as well as a reminder that oysters had been a mainstay of the Chinook people just north at Willapa Bay.

The completed gently curving trail leads from coastal forest, through restored dunes, behind the amphitheater, to an art installation among trees–the Cedar Circle. From above, the crushed oyster shell trail has regular nodes along it, almost resembling the nodes of a reed. While walking the path, its nodes are visible as sections of concrete with the words of a Chinook praise song. A tribal leader recited the praise song here on November 18, 2005, the 200th anniversary of the Corps of Discovery’s arrival at the site. The song’s verse and refrain form is displayed visually as each appears at intervals on the path.

Lin has said that sometimes, when she does her work well, that people may not even realize it is there. Here on the trail among dunes, there is no need to draw boundaries between landscape, environmental restoration, and art installation.