Theres
July 8th, 2002, 09:43 PM
(or, Why I Love Oregon)
well, driving 600 miles really played hell with my back, as did chopping wood! but we had a great time, and got some well earned relaxation, and shot 5 rolls of film. life without the internet is a beautiful thing!
we saw 10 waterfalls, 5 of them new to us. that brings our total to almost 275 (i have to count them up!)
this one was the main focus of the trip... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/mill_creek.htm
it's about the biggest waterfall that we hadn't already seen, so i was anxious to shoot it. but the only angle to see it from was at the crumbly edge of a VERY steep cliff.
this one was only a few hundred feet away... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/barr_creek.htm
it's actually taller, but less impressive due to the lower volume of water. both of these (and two others) were near Prospect, Oregon, and very close to 'The Avenue of the Giant Boulders', an amazing collection of MASSIVE boulders that Prospect Falls winds it's way through. many of these are bigger than a house! all i could think of was "these things would look better standing on end!".
this whole area is near Crater Lake, which 7700 years ago was a 12000+ foot mountain called Mazama. but a volcanic eruption blew away over 5000 feet! that's nearly four times the amount of devastation that St. Helens caused! the resulting crater filled with rainwater, and it is now the clearest water in the world, with visibility to well over 100 feet deep.
this is where we camped... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/whitehorse.htm
and this one is close by. we've camped there a few times in the past... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/clearwater.htm
this waterfall is cool because at the top the river is partially underground, and you can see it flowing through holes in the surface. Liebe loves to walk across the fallen logs, but fell off into the river at this one! she was quite the kamikaze all weekend, showing NO fear as she jumped over wet rocks and down mountainsides, very uncharacteristic of her. i was freaking when we were at the cliffs!
anyway, the final one is Toketee Falls, one of my all-time favorites... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/toketee.htm
this place is really powerful, with a beautiful 1/2 mile hike along the lava flows to get there. the local natives considered it a magickal place, and with good reason. you can really feel the energy, and it's easy to go back in time and imagine yourself looking at it hundreds of years ago. just an amazing place. Dragonfly even painted this one a few years back, and it hangs on StitchinWitches wall now. the vertical rock formations are 'columnar basalt', and formed that way as the lava cooled. this is the same type of stone that we used in the garden for the uprights, and smaller versions i'll be standing up soon (hopefully this weekend!).
we caught another new waterfall on the way home, this one called 'Moonfalls'. it was in a rather remote location, but i couldn't resist a name like that. it was pretty, but the water level was fairly low. it was probaly alot nicer a month or so ago. but as we were hiking back to the car, i looked down and there in the middle of the trail was a polished, perfectly clean piece of hematite! D'fly said that it must be a sign that our trip was coming to an end, and that it was time to ground!
we checked out a couple of covered bridges before returning to the freeway for the run home, and then off to the pub for our traditional end-of-trip sandwich and pitcher of ale.
anyway, that was our trip. i can't wait for the next one, but i don't think i can handle it too soon!
well, driving 600 miles really played hell with my back, as did chopping wood! but we had a great time, and got some well earned relaxation, and shot 5 rolls of film. life without the internet is a beautiful thing!
we saw 10 waterfalls, 5 of them new to us. that brings our total to almost 275 (i have to count them up!)
this one was the main focus of the trip... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/mill_creek.htm
it's about the biggest waterfall that we hadn't already seen, so i was anxious to shoot it. but the only angle to see it from was at the crumbly edge of a VERY steep cliff.
this one was only a few hundred feet away... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/barr_creek.htm
it's actually taller, but less impressive due to the lower volume of water. both of these (and two others) were near Prospect, Oregon, and very close to 'The Avenue of the Giant Boulders', an amazing collection of MASSIVE boulders that Prospect Falls winds it's way through. many of these are bigger than a house! all i could think of was "these things would look better standing on end!".
this whole area is near Crater Lake, which 7700 years ago was a 12000+ foot mountain called Mazama. but a volcanic eruption blew away over 5000 feet! that's nearly four times the amount of devastation that St. Helens caused! the resulting crater filled with rainwater, and it is now the clearest water in the world, with visibility to well over 100 feet deep.
this is where we camped... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/whitehorse.htm
and this one is close by. we've camped there a few times in the past... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/clearwater.htm
this waterfall is cool because at the top the river is partially underground, and you can see it flowing through holes in the surface. Liebe loves to walk across the fallen logs, but fell off into the river at this one! she was quite the kamikaze all weekend, showing NO fear as she jumped over wet rocks and down mountainsides, very uncharacteristic of her. i was freaking when we were at the cliffs!
anyway, the final one is Toketee Falls, one of my all-time favorites... http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/falls/toketee.htm
this place is really powerful, with a beautiful 1/2 mile hike along the lava flows to get there. the local natives considered it a magickal place, and with good reason. you can really feel the energy, and it's easy to go back in time and imagine yourself looking at it hundreds of years ago. just an amazing place. Dragonfly even painted this one a few years back, and it hangs on StitchinWitches wall now. the vertical rock formations are 'columnar basalt', and formed that way as the lava cooled. this is the same type of stone that we used in the garden for the uprights, and smaller versions i'll be standing up soon (hopefully this weekend!).
we caught another new waterfall on the way home, this one called 'Moonfalls'. it was in a rather remote location, but i couldn't resist a name like that. it was pretty, but the water level was fairly low. it was probaly alot nicer a month or so ago. but as we were hiking back to the car, i looked down and there in the middle of the trail was a polished, perfectly clean piece of hematite! D'fly said that it must be a sign that our trip was coming to an end, and that it was time to ground!
we checked out a couple of covered bridges before returning to the freeway for the run home, and then off to the pub for our traditional end-of-trip sandwich and pitcher of ale.
anyway, that was our trip. i can't wait for the next one, but i don't think i can handle it too soon!