Walk On

My plan for this morning was to wake up nice and early and ride a bike down a little road to a short trail that would lead to a waterfall. Easy enough, right? Right.

I woke up a little before my alarm (yes, I actually set an alarm) to the sound of a lone chain saw. I immediately second guessed my choice to be up and out, "flying solo", before the rest of the world. I got up and got ready anyways. It was FREEZING, in the low 40's, so my fingers froze as I began my ride. It was reminiscent of the great Sno-Cone incident of Fowler Fair 2013, minus the pretty colors. Even though the sun was up, it was still pretty dark on the dirt road that led to the path because the sun wasn't up over the trees. I had been assured that the most dangerous animal I had to worry about was a coyote, although I learned tonight that might not be so true. Anyways, I wasn't worried about animals, but the further into the woods I got, the more creepy the whole scene felt. I kept thinking that it was like a scene out of one of those bad horror movies, like Wrong Turn, where cannibalistic mountain men were probably watching me from the woods. Then I came upon this...

Yup...a deer carcass, just hanging from a tree (this picture was taken on the way back when it was light out). "Well, that's fitting, " I thought, as it fit right into my crazy horror movie frame of mind. The trail I needed to take was not marked well and there were no directions that matched up with the roads that led back into the woods, so I kept on pedaling until I reached the end of the dirt road (which I am pretty sure was the long way). Suddenly, the scene changed from dark dirt road, to a sunny, beautiful river--but where were the water falls?

I decided to lock up the bike and head off on a trail along the river on foot. The scenery was breathtaking and I was taking pictures left and right. My apprehension had turned to excitement and relaxation.  I hiked the trail along the river for an hour before I saw a sign for Benham Falls. I knew I was on the right track, so I kept going. The next sign was 30 or so minutes down the path, and the falls were still 3/4 of a mile away. It was at this point I realized I was an hour and a half hike from the bike. Seeing Benham Falls had been my original plan, so I kept going, happily hiking along and taking pictures. Finally, I could hear the roar of the falls! They were a spectacular sight!

 

After hiking down to the river to see the falls up close, and up to a rocky outcrop to see the falls from up high, I knew I needed to head back, as we were heading to Crater Lake! All in all, the quick little trip to Benham Falls turned out to be a 3.5 hour hike (plus a bike ride on each end)...before breakfast, and without a supply of food or water...brilliant, I know.

 

Next stop...Crater Lake!

 

 

Crater Lake was an amazing sight to behold. There was a long drive into the park, then a parking area. There was a small hill to walk up before you could see into the crater and once you hit the top and peered over the edge it was quite the sight to behold!  It has sapphire blue water surrounded by the most spectacular rock formations. Crater Lake is very interesting because it is actually a caldera basin that was formed after the eruption of a volcano. The lake is not fed by any rivers or streams and the water level is maintained solely by rainfall and melting snow. Speaking of snow, there was still snow up there!

 

 

 

There were steep cliffs everywhere, and one false move could send you over the edge tumbling into the lake far below. A word of advice...pay attention to what you are doing, especially when having someone take your picture with your back to the lake. Don't take steps back without looking first... you might just bump into and almost fall backwards over a very short rock wall and off a cliff...not that that happened or anything.

 

 

Crater Lake was lovely, and on the way back we stopped at a little diner for a late lunch. In keeping with today's horror movie theme, it was an interesting little place. Actually, the food was very good, but at first glance it looked like something out of a horror movie. I can picture it now...a group of young adults stops into the diner for lunch and one of the girls goes downstairs to use the restroom. When she doesn't return the others have to go looking for her. None of them are ever seen again. Yup....creepy...but yummy.

There's nothing like the hum of neon lights!



 

 

Tonight, I was fortunate enough to go to an observatory program and do a little stargazing. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience. When I saw Saturn and it's rings, along with it's moon, Titan, I couldn't even believe my eyes! It was so cool! We also saw globular clusters, a ring nebula and many stars. Identifying and viewing constellations ended the evening. Astronomy and Space (space travel, astronauts, etc...) are fascinating!

 

I'm exhausted!

 

 

More tomorrow...