Little River Area, Oregon
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Three More Waterfalls Little River Area, Oregon |
April 19, 2017
For today's outing I had originally planned to head even farther up
SR-138 than we did yesterday, then loop around to the north later;
but the snow level is amazingly low up here, making that not a good plan.
Yesterday we picked up a map at the ranger station over at Colliding Rivers,
showing the area's most prominent waterfalls. Gary and I will use it to
find some more photo-ops closer to the interstate that will be needed later.
Heading up Little River Road south of Glide, we suffer a few miles on a road surface riddled with potholes up to a campground beside a little lake. Our trailhead is supposed to be right across from campsite #1.
Lake-in-the-Woods (trailhead)
The pleasant trail leads down, down, and farther down to the destination, which isn't far at all.
Hemlock Falls, 80'
Those vertical white lines are falling water drops
Gary gets ready to shoot
Scrambling out to the middle of the creek on fallen logs lets me get a new, but not better, perspective.
Some interesting rectangularly shaped holes in a cedar tree catch our attention:
This is the work of a Pileated Woodpecker
Our nation's biggest woodpeckers will go to great lengths in search of carpenter ants.
Snow Queen
Back at the trailhead
Grabbing the waterfall brochure, I discover that we don't even have to drive to the the next trail on the agenda; for it is right across the street! The next walk will be a bit longer, but who cares?
This one has a newer signpost
Preview
Once again, the walk is dispatched quickly.
Yakso Falls, 70'
Over toward the right, the shape changes
The 'artsy' slow-speed version
Poison Oak comes in a variety of colors
Western Trillium
Once again Gary and I are the only hikers on the trail. This is not bad, but it is surprising.
Mellow going
No reaction from this Banana Slug
Turning over a new leaf?
The Shelf Fungus looks like the old hat I just threw away
More woodpeckers at work
Broom Forkmoss
The bridge is so new that we can smell the creosote
Lichenized fungi
Poverty Grass
Tree Lungwort
Bracket Fungi
Spotted Wintergreen
Coltsfoot
On the way back down the potholed road, Gary and I stop to shoot this delicate display that would have been worth an extra walk if necessary.
Roadside attraction
Side view
On the outskirts of Glide
§: Without the nice map that we picked up at the Colliding
Rivers Ranger Station, Gary and I would not even have known about these
falls. Their names never showed up in my online research.
Total Specs:
| Scenery |  |
| Difficulty |  |
| Flowers | |
| Solitude |  |
