It’s hard to believe that I could be at work right now. Well not at night, but I was thinking about it for about two minutes while I was on the trail today.

Today was sunny. That sort of thing happens to interfere with my plans. So my backup plan is mostly to just hike and enjoy myself without really taking many pictures. Most of what I took were the I was here variety. I like to take a lot of pictures of my surroundings to remind me of the good life when I’m back at home.

More of the north side of the wall of columnar basalt is visible at Toketee Falls. I hadn’t been there in years, but I really don’t remember being able to see that much. Most people just enjoy the falls, but I happen to like columnar basalt. I’m pretty sure that the reason more is visible is due to a dead tree. There aren’t any needles, and some of the branches have broken off. It’s amazing what a drum of Roundup will do. :o)

There wasn’t any sun on the falls, but a tree in the foreground was lit up. There was a lot of mist in the air lit up by the sunlight. That’s okay. I’ve taken pictures there before.

I didn’t know a lot about the Clearwater River Trail except the location and distance. If you’re looking for peace and quiet you won’t find it there. For the majority of the hike you’ll hear that darn rushing water because the trail is actually very close to the river. My disclaimer is that there is also some traffic noise because highway 138 is nearby.

There are plenty of cascades and some small waterfalls that look very nice. There aren’t many good vantages though. Either there isn’t a place to set up, or branches are in the way. I should have left out the “or” part since branches were pretty much in the way of the scenes I would have been shooting if there hadn’t been mostly shade with patches of bright sunlight.

There was one nice waterfall about ten feet tall. There was a lot of water going over. It was very nice to be standing near it, but I’m pretty sure it would photograph a lot better if the water level had been much lower. There was a Columbia Lily in the foreground. That might have been a good shot if it had been blooming. Speaking of which, there are plenty of rhododendrons along the trail, as well as dogwood. That’s not unusual. I’ve been seeing a lot of rhododendrons. Of course they don’t bloom at this time of year, but I can imagine how nice it must be when they do.

I thoroughly enjoyed hiking today, although it didn’t end up being a day for pictures. I decided to take it easy and come back early. There were some other locations I could have visited, but I’ve been to most of them before and I wasn’t expecting that I would be able to get any shots. I also figured it might be a good day to take it somewhat easy since I will hopefully be doing a lot of hiking in my next location.

When the most you have to complain about is the fact that the day was sunny and pleasant I would have to say that you’re living the better life.