I’m finally at peace with my tripod. After fighting with the head for this whole trip, I had a new head express shipped. It arrived yesterday. It’s so nice to not have to fight with my tripod any more. I was going to title this entry "Peace". That would have more than one meaning, but it didn’t really seem interesting enough. You’re probably wondering what the heck the actual title means. More on that later.
This morning found me waiting to leave my motel room. I didn’t see any reason to leave before it got light since the drive to the trailhead was only going to be eleven miles. That’s quite different from my previous mornings.
The hiking books mentioned parking on the side of the road, but there’s a big new parking area. I should have known I was in for a long day as soon as I had walked a couple of minutes and there were big trees downed across the trail. The second hint could have been that the bridge is out. I crossed on a convenient downed tree. I doubt that the trail gets a whole lot of use since it’s quite overgrown, which made for slow going for me. For most people dragging their legs through vegetation probably isn’t any big deal, but it causes strain for me. Other than that, there is no noticeable elevation change, so it's an easy trail. The majority of the trail is close to the creek, which was nice. The only vine maple I saw was right at the beginning, so the only fall color was the subdued reds of the abundant dogwood.
It was interesting seeing that there’s actually a waterfall at Union Creek Falls. The last time we were there the creek was flowing so low that I went upstream and downstream trying to figure out where the darn waterfall was. During that trip, we parked at the east trail head, so it was a very short hike to the waterfall, which is at the spot where the eastern trail meets the creek. Something else of interest to me is that there are a few big flat patches of lava that look exactly like a remnant of an asphalt road.
On our last visit we were attacked by hordes of butterflies. This time I saw no wildlife but birds. I did see some really big cat prints in some of the patches of snow. I had earlier seen some bones on the trail. I have no idea what kind, although I do know it wasn’t a chicken.
The forecast was for PM showers, but they must have a funny definition of PM around here since it was raining all day. Even with the water –resistant layers I was wearing, the bottom of my pants and my boots got wet. My jacket was so saturated that it was dripping about fifteen minutes after I finished my hike. But it was still early, so after hiking eight miles, I wanted to do some more. The hikes I have planned are much too long for an early afternoon fill in, so I decided to shoot at the Rogue Gorge and especially the area upstream. I ended up retrieving my filter case from my jacket pocket only to find that it was completely soaked and my ND filter was covered with water. I didn’t even try to dry it off. I figured it was a good sign that I should call it a day, return to my room, and dry off.
About that title. When I was thinking Peace, it reminded me of something a coworker told me years ago. He was going to Oz Fest (or some sort of hard rock concert). His buddy asked if they should bring blankets so they could sit on the grass. My coworker replied, “This ain’t no hippie love fest; get ready for Armageddon.” Well, Peace or Hippie Love Fests. It’s all the same to me.
