Exploring Oregon

Spirit Falls, March 2004

(Click on the image to see the full photo.)

Circumstances have conspired to keep me from getting out this Spring as much as I would have liked, between Llama’s six-day work schedules, bad weather and most recently, my German Shephard’s surgery.

(The stitches come out tomorrow, which means we get to take off the “Shrek” sized elizabethan collar used to keep him from licking the incision. I’m not sure who is more happy about it, the dog or me!)

We did manage to get out a few of times, though, including a trip back to Spirit Falls in early March.

It was really amazing how different the falls looked in just a few short months. Last October there was hardly any water at all. The huge rounded rocks looked like the bottom two sections of a giant gray snowman, the water flowing down as though someone had used a hairdryer to melt the snowman’s head. In March, it was nearly impossible to tell what those rocks looked like, there was so much water cascading down.

Spirit Falls
October 2003

There were other changes, too. We had some rough weather during the winter, after several years of drought. There were several trees that had fallen down the hill, as well as much more debris from the river. One rather large log looked as though it had tumbled down from the falls. We could see the evidence of recent Winter storm damage in every direction we looked, the bright contrast of the newly exposed wet wood against gray bark and deep green moss.

Still, it was very beautiful. And the sound of the rushing water was delightful and calming. Well worth the effort to hike down a trail that wouldn’t be properly groomed for several weeks.