Waterfalls, More Oregon Adventure, Return to California

 

Here we are in front of Bridal Veil Falls, the first waterfall we stopped at in the Columbia River Gorge

    After Leaving Bandon we headed north along the Oregon coast with our first stop for the night at South Beach State Park just south of Newport on Tuesday, May 11. We spent one night there before heading up to Fort Stevens State Park on the mouth of the Columbia River where we would stay for two nights before following the Columbia River upstream and eventually along the historic Columbia River Gorge highway and past its beautiful waterfalls.

The trail to the beach from South Beach Campground

Highway 101 crossing the river at Newport as seen from a trail at South Beach State Park

South Beach

Sunset over South Beach

A replica of the salt cairn at Seaside, Oregon used by the Lewis and Clark expedition 

to extract salt from sea water.

Fort Stevens State Park - a place of lots of interesting history at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Some of the batteries from World War II days

The remains of a 1906 shipwreck of the Peter Iredale on the beach at Fort Stevens

Remnants of a trestle across a bay near the mouth of the Columbia River

An Elk that crossed our path at Fort Stevens

A Great Blue Heron on the lake at Fort Stevens

A Bald Eagle sitting on the beach at Fort Stevens

From a distance I wasn't sure if this was an Eagle or a piece of drift wood, but as I got closer it flew away and confirmed that it was a beautiful Bald Eagle

Salal - very similar to what I identified as Winter Green in Humboldt County.

Pretty spring growth

New pine growth along the path

    We made good use of our bicycles at Fort Stevens on their 9 miles of paved bike trails and enjoyed walking and hiking in the park. The campground was huge - over 300 campsites - the third largest campground in the United States.

A replica of the winter home of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at Fort Clatsop, 

just a few miles upriver from the mouth of the Columbia

    It was fun and interesting to see some of the sights of the Lewis and Clark Expedition here at its western terminus, and to have seen sights along our earlier travels across the U.S., including the place of Meriwether Lewis' death along the Natchez Trace.

    We took our time following the Columbia, spending the night of May 14 at an RV Park a little east of Portland before entering the historic Columbia River Gorge at Troutdale. We were able to drive the historic highway in 26 foot LesThora, but there were a few tight squeezes before we made it to Ainsworth State Park where we would camp for two nights.

Gateway to the Gorge

Rob found a friend on the streets of Troutdale

A view of the Columbia River Gorge from the historic Vista House

Bridal Veil Falls

It was hard to find parking for LesThora at most of the stops along the way, but we did manage to get a spot at Bridal Veil Falls and enjoyed a short hike to the falls and along a trail with lots of views of the Columbia.

An island in the Columbia as viewed from the trail near Bridal Veil Falls

Can you see the trail?

This is part of Trail 400 that we took for a couple of miles east from our campsite at Ainsworth State Park after we arrived there Saturday, May 15.

 

Part of the historic Gorge highway that we walked back along after our hike on the overgrown trail

Trail 400 going west

Sunday morning I hiked Trial 400 the opposite way - much better condition that way!

Some blooms along the way

Upper Horsetail Falls, or Pony Tail Falls as the Camp Host called it.

This was my goal on the Sunday morning hike - a couple of miles from camp.

The back of "Pony Tail" Falls

Multnomah Falls - the morning lighting was not good for picture taking.

    We had driven past the famous Multnomah Falls on Saturday, but it is terribly popular with absolutely no chance of parking LesThora there. Ainsworth State Park where we camped was about 4 miles away so on Sunday we rode our bikes along the highway so we could go see the falls. It was an easy ride, but I was a bit nervous in places due to the narrow road we had to share with cars. The good news was that there was not much road traffic and our new electric bikes helped us get through the narrow sections quickly. We hiked up to the bridge between the upper and lower falls, along with lots of other people, bought a pin for my hat at the souvenir shop that had every possible souvenir available for purchase, and then rode back to camp. Monday morning I hiked again to "Pony Tail Falls" and beyond it to Oneonta Gorge.

A view of the Columbia River Gorge from the trail to Oneonta Creek

 

The bridge across Oneonta Creek as viewed from the trail above it.

See the switch backs on the trail?

The bridge where I crossed and then turned back

Looking up Oneonta Creek from the bridge

The base of Horse Tail Falls that I walked down to on the way back to camp

    Monday we left the Columbia River and headed toward Mount Hood. We saw beautiful views of the mountain as we drove, but I managed to get no pictures of it before we camped in the woods by Camp Creek where we woke to some light rain and heavy cloud cover.

A Trillium along a trail we stopped for a short hike on while driving in the Mount Hood area

Our campsite at Camp Creek with the creek just behind us

Camp Creek from our camp site

Some cool trees 

Another cool tree 

This one was on the Still Creek Trail we hiked part way when we arrived on Monday and that I hiked the whole way on Tuesday morning with some light rain. It was a short hike that went up and over a ridge.

Part of a large area of trees that had fallen across the trail and been recently cut.

We wondered what kind of wind storm must have brought them down.

Part of Still Creek Trail showing the steep slope it cut across

A Rhododendron Bud along the trail

    Tuesday, May 18, we headed to Silver Falls State Park near Salem, Oregon where we had reservations for three nights. The whole reason we chose to travel in Oregon in May was so that we could be near Salem on May 18 - the date originally scheduled for Claremont School of Theology's commencement. Last year when I earned my Doctor of Ministry Degree from Claremont School of Theology our commencement was held virtually due to COVID, and plans for this year tentatively planned to include last year's graduates on the Willamette Campus in Salem, Oregon where Claremont School of Theology is now imbedded. When I made the reservations several months ago it still seemed possible that commencement would be in person and I wanted to be there even if last year's graduates were not to be a part of it because I have friends in this year's graduating class. As it turned out commencement was held virtually again. We decided to keep out reservations at the beautiful Silver Falls State Park where I had walked the Water Fall Trail with a classmate in January 2020 at the end of our last week of in person classes in Salem. The Water Fall Trail includes 7 falls on one loop of a little over 5 miles and another 3 falls if you walk the whole trail. Rob and I walked the loop with 7 falls on our first afternoon in the park, and then we walked various other trails over the four days we were there. On Thursday morning I hiked the whole Ten Mile Water Fall Trail and saw all of the water falls, including walking behind 3 of them. The water falls are of course the main attraction at the park, but the other trails and the beautiful green vegetation were also outstanding.

Us on one of the trails

The leaves of this tree caught my attention at Silver Falls and at other locations in Oregon.

INaturalist says it's some kind of Maple, but I'm not sure specifically which one.

One of the beautiful trails at Silver Falls State Park

Upper North Falls

North Falls from a distance

Walking behind North Falls 

Twin Falls - impossible to find a good spot to get a picture

Winter Falls

Middle North Falls 

One you can walk behind, but not on the main trail

Drake Falls

Double Falls

Lower North Falls

This was one of my favorites and the picture just doesn't show how grand this fall is. The diagonal log is actually a very large tree, but looks small here.

Lower South Falls

Note the trail behind.

South Falls, with trail passing behind

Interesting flowers along a trail

More beautiful flowers

Three trees growing out of one fallen log.

A closer up picture of one of the trees growing out of the log 

- note the roots wrapped around the rotting log.

    I have long loved dead trees, especially the beautiful silhouettes they make while still standing. I heard one of our former presidents say in a speech that once a tree was dead it no longer had any value, but that is simple not true. In Canada dead trees are referred to as "Wild Life Trees," and what an appropriate name that is. They provide homes for all kinds of insects and other animals, and like the one pictured above, now laying on the ground they provide the nutrients for new plant life. They are also important in our rivers and streams, though the stewards of our public lands didn't always know that and mistakenly would clean the dead and tangled wood out of streams after a stormy winter thinking the fish would like it better - not so! Turns out fish like to hang out in the protection of the tangled vegetation that falls in the streams. Some years ago I saw an interpretive sign that said fish prefer a stream that looks like a teenager's room to one that is tidy. Long "live" dead trees!

    Leaving Silver Falls State Park on Friday, May 21, we headed south east to cross the Cascades and enjoy the beauty of the mountains before turning south west and meeting Interstate 5 south of Klamath Falls. We were awed by miles and miles of driving through burnt forest and the remains of many, many homes lost to fire last year. It is daunting to see how much has burned and to realize the potential for more, especially following a year of such drastic low precipitation like this one. We stopped in Sisters, Oregon to eat our lunch. Like Winthrop, Washington, all the buildings in Sisters follow a western theme. There were lots of clouds along the way so we couldn't get as good a view of the Cascades as we might have liked, but it was still a pretty and interesting drive.

The Peaks of the Three Sisters disappearing in the clouds near Sisters, Oregon.

A flock of geese flying overhead near Big Pines RV Park where we stopped for the night near Crescent, Oregon. Geese flying like this always remind me of Eureka where we saw them flying overhead regularly.

    Saturday, May 22, we crossed back into California and found a campsite at Castle Crags State Park near Mount Shasta. We hiked around a bit on the nature trail in the afternoon, crossed the Sacramento River on a "swinging" bridge, and Sunday morning I hiked a five mile loop that included a view of the Crags and Mount Shasta and about a half mile on the Pacific Crest Trail. Most California State Park campsites are $35 ($33 for seniors), but the sites at Castle Crags are $25 ($23). I think they cost less because the noise of I-5 is constant and close. We could hear the trucks all night long. The park is beautiful and the campsites are nice, but the campground is too close to the freeway.

 

A manzanita bush in full bloom on the nature trail.

The Crags from the Vista location on my morning hike

Mount Shasta from the same Vista location

    We made it to our home base in Colfax for one night before heading into the mountains to begin our summer Camp Host gig. We got to meet granddaughter Avienda's new kitten Daphne and play board games with Avi, Ruth, Chris and Alana.

Avi and Daphne

Our summer home at Lake Tahoe!

    This view is at an overlook just about a half mile from our camp site, and this is how it looked when we arrived Monday, afternoon, May 24. I will share about the beginning of our Tahoe summer in my next blog post.

Straus trying to catch the lazer beam from the cat toy given the kitties by Shirley when we visited her in Humboldt. Elsie acts pretty disinterested in it, but Straus gets very excited whenever I bring it out.

Here the kitties are looking out the window trying to figure out where the train noise is coming from at Ainsworth State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. The train tracks were quite close to camp - reminding us of our honeymoon in a tent at a campground some where along the Columbia River. We didn't realize we were so close to the tracks until we heard a train during the night that sounded like it was coming through the tent!

Close up of Straus and Elsie