Fall Foliage

I was going to call this post "A Dead End Day" because we kept running into little "snags" all day long, but we really did have a nice day, so I decided that title was too harsh. I'll explain a little better as I go along.

These first three pictures were taken at home the day before our little trip up the McKenzie to see the fall foliage. I had looked out the front door Friday afternoon and noticed how beautiful the leaves were on our vine maples with the sun shining down on them. So I took a few pictures (I got some strange looks from several of our neighbors as they saw me out in the front yard pointing my camera up at the trees).


Blue skies and sunshine will become quite rare here in the next few months, so we have to enjoy it while we have it.


There was quite a variety of colors just on a single tree.

On Saturday, we headed up Highway 126. Clay's plan was to pick up a CD guided tour of the Aufderheide National Scenic Byway at the McKenzie Ranger Station. (You listen to the CD as you drive this road, and supposedly it points out all the attractions to stop and see). This scenic byway "meanders for 54 miles through the foothills of the Cascade, first following the South Fork McKenzie River (and Cougar Reservoir) and then following the North Fork of the Middle Fork Willamette River." (Sidenote: Does anybody besides me think the rivers are named a bit oddly in Oregon, i.e. "the North Fork of the Middle Fork"??)

Anyway, we discovered that the Ranger Station isn't open on Saturdays this time of year, so no CD guided tour (1st dead end). We pulled out a detailed map of the area and looked at the route, trying to plan where to stop and eat lunch, and what hiking trails we were interested in.

Before we reached the turnoff for the scenic byway, we stopped to take pictures of the McKenzie River at a picturesque spot, complete with covered bridge.

I know this picture is a lot like the first one, but I couldn't decide which one I liked best so I used both of them.

This is the part of the river that fills Cougar Reservoir.

And this is Cougar Reservoir.

This is further up the road from the dam. The reservoir is drained down quite a bit this time of year. Not quite as picturesque, but it was interesting to see the tree stumps, etc. that are usually covered by water, although it would have made a much better picture of the reflections of the trees if the water hadn't been so low.


We headed further along the scenic byway, and got to the place where we planned to eat lunch and go hiking -- Roaring River Campground. We found out that it was closed (2nd dead end).

Just past it was a forest service road, so we went up it just a little ways, parked the truck and walked up an old logging road, hoping to get in a nice little hike through the forest. It was pleasant, but it ended in less than half a mile (3rd dead end).

Clay saw an "improved gravel road" on the map called the Roaring Ridge road, so we decided to explore that, hoping to get a nice scenic view from the top of the ridge. The drive was okay, kinda pretty (although there was a predominance of yellow foliage all day, and not much of any other colors). Anyway, we got all the way to the top without finding much of a "lookout point" -- and hit a dead end, of course. The road just ended in a small clearing at the top, where a truck was parked and a guy was standing there holding a gun. (Yes, we spent the whole day wandering around the mountains during deer hunting season!! Not the best idea in the world -- we decided we need to buy some bright orange vests if we plan on hiking during hunting season.)

Still looking for a nice hiking trail, we headed up the road to "Skookum Creek Campground."

This looked like a nice place for camping, if you don't mind roughing it a bit. There are several little lakes to hike into, and the trail was nice. It was getting kind of late in the afternoon, so it was hard to get any good pictures because the lighting just wasn't right.

We hiked to Lower Erma Bell Lake, which was 1-3/4 miles from the trailhead. We'd like to come here again and explore a little further.

I think this is a pretty good picture of my best friend.