Today was the first day here in Oregon that the weather really felt like summer. Temperatures reached up to 70 degrees and the sun was out all day long. One of the girls in the apartment, Sarah, wanted to go fishing at Cougar Reservoir down the road, so I decided to tag along so I could do my run on one of the trails nearby while she fished. Afterwards she wanted to see the trail so we hiked back out on it. Above is the gigantic quarry on the dry side of the dam that created Cougar Reservoir. You can see the cross section of where the mountain used to exist...amazing,
One of the many splendid coves on the side of Cougar Reservoir. This one had a nice waterfall and a trail that led to a hot spring I will definitely be back to visit.
I caught a glimpse of a phenomenon I have only see once before in my life back on a boat in Irondequiot Bay at home. A rainbow had appeared in a full circle around the sun creating an astonishing bullseye formation. This is the best picture I got while we were driving.
This is an example of how big the Big-Leaf Maple leaves can grow.
The trail head. I had done some research and the French Pete trail was supposed to go almost 10 miles out, but when I ran along it, it ended after only 3 miles so I had to finish my run on some nearby logging roads. I was fairly confused as to where the trail went, but on my hike later I was to find out why.
Apparently we had now entered the Three Sisters Wilderness.
It seems trails in Oregon have a habit of following beautiful waterways.
This old-growth forest had a wonderful mix of hardwood and conifer trees making for a dazzling canopy display with the sunlight coming in.
This is the first little creek we had to cross. It is called Yankee Creek, the second creek we had to cross (pictures below) was called Doodle Creek. Kind of amusing.
A little toad Sarah picked up off the side of the trail.
Crossing Doodle Creek on a gigantic fallen log. I wasn't able to go this way while running!
Doodle Creek from the log/bridge.
Exploring the bank of French Pete Creek.
When we got to the end of the trail Sarah pointed out a sign I had missed while running that pointed the way to the rest of the trail...on the other side of the creek. At this time of the year, after weeks of raining, the creek was flowing fast and deep. We decided not to even attempt to cross it and look for a place to rest for a minute.
We found a cool rock right in the middle of some rapids.
My shadow cast across the rapids as I cross a log to reach the rock.
Crossing the log-bridge over Doodle Creek on the way back. This log was a great example of a nurse log. Nurse logs show up very often in the research I am conducting and are decomposing, fallen trees which allow for certain species to flourish on top of them. The Western Hemlock is one tree species in particular which loves to root on top of nurse logs.
A view of Cougar Reservoir on the drive back.
No comments:
Post a Comment