If I’m given a choice between hiking or shopping, you know which one I’m going to pick.

I began the day at Natural Bridge. It was just getting light. I took some long exposure shots of leaves. You know how I like long exposures – usually of creeks or waterfalls. The reason that these particular leaf exposures were so long is because it was still fairly dark. I walked to the manmade bridge downstream from Natural Bridge to take a couple of quick shots. I already visited Natural Bridge once during this trip and I expect to be there once or twice more because that’s a good trailhead for my next two hikes.

It’s a tiny bit difficult to shoot the waterfall because the bridge shakes. It was also a bit misty near the river, which either obscures or adds atmosphere depending on your point of view.

I then walked a few yards back to the Rogue River Trail. I liked this portion of the trail much better than yesterday’s segment. For one thing there was a big more color, although as I mentioned yesterday I know that the Takelma Gorge section can get marvelous color. Another thing is that the trail was very clear and very easy. Finally, I liked this section of the river. It has a bit more action going. Maybe I shouldn’t have said finally. I’ll finish the thought by saying that I just happened to like it a lot.

The above mentioned river action extends to Knob Falls, which was very cool to witness, but not my type of waterfall photographically speaking. I liked it more than I was expecting to. After that the trail descends a very short distance and ends up in an extremely flat, level section of forest. The surroundings later change a bit. I saw some Manzanita and lupine. After 3.5 miles I ended up at Woodruff Bridge, which was my trailhead yesterday. I’m beginning to think that I should take the Falcon Guide’s distances with a grain of salt. That’s at least two times that they’ve been off on trail distances. My goodness, they couldn’t even get the right driving distance from SR62 to Woodruff Bridge.

I continued my habit of taking a long time on my outbound hike. I take all of my pictures and explore during that time. My return hikes have been quick. I still look at things, but I keep a fast pace since I already took all of my shots. This is working out pretty good since I’m either getting wet or the sun is out by the time I return. Today it was the sun. I looked up at the sky and saw that there were big cloud banks, but there were also clear spaces. Since the sun was in the middle of clear sky, and since it was so early I decided to take a chance and head up to Crater Lake.

I had spoken to a couple of people at the Rogue River Gorge the other day. They volunteered the information that they had been at Crater Lake and couldn’t even see the lake. When I was at Crater Lake today a clerk told me that the lake had been obscured for the past three days.

Due to the snow, the Rim Drive was closed. Thus I only surveyed the lake from the Rim Village. It was almost completely cloudy up there, so the water wasn’t as blue as it is when the sun is out. I still enjoyed looking down at the lake. I walked along and then stood there for a long time. I finally decided that it was time to leave. I stopped at the gift shop and bought a T shirt (because that’s what I do when I’m at a National Park). I even spent money filling up my gas tank when I returned to Prospect (where the sun was shining). Now you know about my apparent shopping addiction. Well to be honest, I sometimes choose to go hiking instead.