It's Always Something: Eagle Creek

Hello, again!

Last week I learned that my knee was finally fit to use for adventuring, once again. Immediately I rang up my best hiking buddy, Theresa, and we made plans for a low-key hike out to Eagle Creek.

The weather called for rain showers and clouds but we trusted our hiking weather juju and sure enough, bright sunshine, warm breezes and cloudless skies greeted us at the trail head.

Sunshine plus blooming flowers equals butterflies! Why hello there, Senor Butterfly. Do you enjoy my macro settings? You are fuzzy! Whoa!

Shortly after we began our hike, we noticed this elaborate cairn in a dry creek bed off the trail. I'm not sure if it's supposed to signify anything specifically and research is not turning up interesting details. So, we'll assume it's an example of Oregonians being creative.

Of course it wouldn't be a hike in Oregon without some sort of waterfall along the trail! Stay tuned for more...

Another cairn along the trail. Imposing from this angle, no? It was actually only a few inches off the ground. This is an example of my artsy skillz! I fooled you, didn't I?!?

Parts of the trail were a bit desert-like. I love this picture because you can see the beams of filtered sunlight peeking in at the top-right corner. Pretty!

The trail was a bit treacherous if you're not a fan of heights and dizzying cliff drops. Theresa stands with her feet firmly planted along the rock wall. I take a different approach.

OMG another waterfall! Check out that picturesque setting. Oregon is really beautiful, did you know that?

Yo, Theresa!

The work of a very creative caterpillar or amusing hikers? You decide!

To cross the stream to get to Grandma's house, you have to jump from chocolate chip cookie to chocolate chip cookie. Where's the toll house? Ha!

A few miles in, we took a lunch break on the banks of the stream and contemplated dipping our toes in the water. Look how cool and sparkly that water is!

Someone created a little path of rocks out to the middle of the stream so that you could peek around the cliff for a waterfall surprise without getting your feet wet. How thoughtful! Check me out, I walk on water, did you know?

So does Theresa. Theresa, why aren't you smiling? I swear she had a good time!

Ah ok, there's her smile. This is our new hang out, we've decided. Did you know that boulders actually take pretty good pictures?

On our way back up to the trail. We pause for a breath and because these flowers are too pretty not to document.

This is Theresa, looking a little hot from all the hiking. Hey Theresa, how about you scramble up some of the rocks along the creek to cool off a bit in the spray? I'll stay back here to document your journey.

Theresa: "That sounds like a good idea. Hmm, let's see how to do this.." hop.. hop..

Hop-WHOOAAAA!! *splash*

Well, that's one way to cool off, I guess! Do you like how I took a picture at the exact moment things went wrong? I take pics first, ask if you're OK later! (She was fine, btw.)

Let's consult the judges on that graceful mid-air 180 maneuver that resulted in drenching our friend:

Judge number one liked it! Look at that score!

Ooh not so much love from judge number two. It's going to be hard to compensate for those thumbs down in the next round. Can judge number three save her score?

Hmm, perhaps not. That's a bit on the low side for what we'd expect. Better luck next year, Theresa!

Ok, enough fooling around! Wring out your jacket and let's get back to hiking!

Quite a bit later we're still laughing as we encounter a change in the trail that nearly gave us vertigo!

But there were lovely little cacti blooming among the rock slides! This is where we turned around as planned - the trail changed from an "easy" rating to "moderate" and I didn't want to push my knee too much (also Theresa's socks were squishy.)