After settling in at my brother’s house, we were anxious to play catch up and plan our week together. Even though too much time has passed since we were all together, we laughed and told stories as if the time apart had not been so long.
For the next few days we hiked some of their favorite spots. Bald Hill Natural Area is one of the favorites of Corvallis residents and is several miles of dirt and gravel foot trails that circle and climb to the summit of the hill. We took a more challenging hike up and the view of the Willamette Valley was beautiful and well worth the steep grade. The next day took us to Finley Refuge and the Woodpecker Trail. Again, very lovely with lots of green moss and forest floor growth. We didn’t see any woodpeckers, but our short walk turned long when we circled around a lake and continued to walk before deciding to turn around and head back to our original route. We did see some type of heron on a small lake and watched him through our binoculars for a while waiting for him to reach down and catch his dinner.
My sister-in-law had made plans for the 4 of us to drive up into the Willamette National Forest for an overnight visit to Belknap Hot Springs lodge. The forest is 1.6 million acres of high mountain country in the Cascade Mountain range. When we arrived it was pretty chilly and I was glad Wally had brought an extra pair of gloves (Eagles logo and all). We hiked the Deer Creek trail and saw more beautiful Douglas Fir trees and the floral bounty on the forest floor. Kai is a botanist, and hiking through the woods with her is an experience. It can take a little longer, but is well worth the knowledge gained. Her genuine love of all living plants and their purpose to other plant life and humans is contagious. After the first hike, we made our way to the lodge. Mineral hot springs are naturally produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth’s crust but are, in reality, too hot (this one being 198 degreees) so the mineral spring water is pumped into a large swimming pool and mixed with more temperate waters. The lodge sits directly on the McKenzie River, which was literally raging with snow melt from a very generous winter in the mountains. Our room was a very large, two-bedroom suite with living room and full kitchen. We soaked (twice that day) in the hot springs pool, cooked buffalo burgers in our kitchen and play a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. Only one glitch occurred when Wally and Kai locked their adjoining bedroom door with the keys inside. It was after hours and no one was at the front desk. The ensuing story will be a fun one to re-tell when we get together but the outcome was the night manager was called and opened the door for them.
The next day was a hike to two waterfalls. The weather these two days could not have been more beautiful. Sunny and warm. The first was the Sahalie (or “Heaven) and the second the Koosah (or “Sky”) Falls. Again, due to generous snow melt these falls were spectacular. The water of the McKenzie is a beautiful aquamarine color. They are 100 feet and 70 feet high, respectively. The trails were easy and passed through old growth cedars growing on a lava flow. We then travelled to an area my brother had not previously been, Clear Lake. Clear Lake, the “lake born of fire” is the headwaters of the McKenzie River and was formed 3,000 years ago when lava reached the river and backed up water to form a lake. The original forest that had lined the river banks was submerged. Remnants of some of these submerged trees still stand under 120 feet of water and are visible from the trail or by boat. The nearly freezing temperature of the lake makes it unsuitable for swimming. There was a trail around the lake, approximately 4 miles. At first it looked like the trail would be similar to most forest trails; beautiful, but already seen numerous times. As we worked our way around the lake it became evident this was not going to be similar. The other side of the lake traverses an old lava flow and the terrain became distinctly different. Underfoot was no longer soft and muddy, but sharp and rocky and black lava rock filled the hills and trail. There were many areas where blacktop had been poured so passage was possible. It would go from difficult to soft over and over again as we made our way around the lake.
The plan had been to drive up and over a pass to view a well-known set of mountains, the Three Sisters. We stopped at the Ranger Station and we were told that the road, which had been closed due to a 19-foot snowdrift, had been reopened that morning but there were no guarantees that it would be passable in our Honda Civic. The Three Sisters are three volcanic peaks in the Cascade Range in Oregon, each one exceeding 10,000 feet in elevation. They are the 3rd, 4th and 5th highest peaks in Oregon. Plans changed a little and we decided to drive to the town of Sisters where we enjoyed a dinner of Copper River salmon, a treat not usually available. We then took the scenic route home (everyone by now should know what scenic route means) and arrived late that night and went immediately to bed. Unpacking could wait until the next morning. The Cascade Mountain range did not disappoint. The mountains in this range are part of the Ring of Fire, a string of 452 volcanoes stretching 25,000 miles in a horseshoe shape. The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of plates. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. They are very large and most times barely visible due to the climate of fog and mist. Bob explained that our local mountain range, such as the Pocono mountains, are much older and worn down; therefore, not as massive in height. Also, they are not volcanoes.
Bob and I had not made any real plans for when we were leaving, but decided that Saturday would be the day. We spent the morning at the Corvallis farmer’s market, did a little shopping, and went home to pack it all up for the next adventure. The Columbia River Gorge. This stop was not on our original itinerary but had been suggested to us by Bob’s cousin. We were travelling north to Portland and cousin Susan in Washington anyway, so decided to make this unscheduled stop.
The Columbia River Gorge was formed from fiery volcanoes, massive landslides, tremendous upheavals and thundering torrents of water. Cascadian volcanic eruptions about 40 million years ago laid down lava beds and mudflows (lehars) up to two miles thick. Remnants of those flows can still be seen in the Gorge cliffs, carved by floods about 15,000 years ago. Unimaginable forces of water up to 1,200 feet deep swept through the lava beds, carving a corridor that formed the Columbia River and its towering cliffs. This also created one of the world’s greatest concentrations of waterfalls. Mt. Hood, Oregon’s tallest peak at 11,245 feet, is also the celebrity of this area and was very visible on our drive north due to clear weather. Many of the very high, infamous peaks are not visible often due to fog and clouds in the Pacific Northwest. We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday and decided to do a quick overview of the area and each of the 5 notable falls and then come back the next day and do some hikes and further exploring. We stopped at each of the aforementioned falls, took pictures and continued about 40 miles more to a hotel on the Columbia River. It was incredibly beautiful and the cliff formations and the size of the Columbia River once again went on my “favorites” list. Sunday was again a warm and sunny day. The Pacific Northwest has experienced a very wet spring and cool temperatures, so the citizens of this part of the country get out in full force when the weather turns warmer and drier. We learned this the hard way. After a great breakfast at our hotel, sitting outside along the Columbia River, we headed over the bridge into the state of Washington (which is just on the other side of the river) and decided to drive down the Washington side until the scenic falls started and then make our way back over to the Oregon side. Once on the Oregon side we were met with throngs of cars and people taking advantage of the weather. It was a total traffic jam at a popular outdoor spot and we decided that we had seen what we came for and continued on to Portland.
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