A hidden pool and other wonders - Fall Creek ROCKS
With a moment of zen video :) Plus a crazy insect and a water snake!
the fam dam - @dillemma & @thingone front and center; @thingtwo and a mostly obscured Yeti the Dog in the background
We loaded up the trusty Suburu with our camping gear and headed up to Fall Creek on Thursday. Our A, B and C plans fell through as it turned out the entire section of the creek we were planning on camping in had been closed to camping!
@thingone's very first solo marshmallow roasting experience!
We had no choice but to head back down the creek a bit to one of the established campgrounds and pay for a night in a campsite. Paying for camping in a campground rubs me the wrong way on a very deep level but we still had a blast for the evening of course :)
The next morning
we broke camp early and headed up to our original Plan A spot in the burn zone. The area is still open for day use, and boy, did we use it all day Friday!A Nymph
I found this interesting black and yellow spiked insect on one of the big boulders which block the old logging road that leads to our swimming hole. I believe it is a nymph of some sort, but I have not been able to identify the species. Any help in the comments?
Hey lookit ma bokeh wut a fancy cell phone photograph
Classic "don't mess with me" coloration and cool looking spikey bits! Poisonous? Just a braggart? I don't know!
I am in lurv
We munched on salmon berries...
and red huckleberries that lined the trail down to the swimming hole.
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The Sun and the Shade
The Sun...
We love this spot! An outcropping of basalt pinches the creek here and creates a small rapids at the upstream side of the swimming hole. A large sandy beach below the basalt outcrop gets full sun all day, staying light a good hour later than the camp ground where we stayed the night before. A shady side canyon carved by a small tributary stream flows into a series of pools that line the near side of the sandy beach before the tributary stream finally joins up with Fall Creek.
Looking up the sandy beach at the basalt outcropping, @dillemma waving near the shadowy mouth of the side canyon
The view across the beach to the swimming hole with the basalt outcropping to the right - this is taken from the spot @dillemma was waving from above
@thingone spent a lot of time wading around in the string of shallow pools formed by the tributary stream where it flows into the sandy beach before finally joining up with Fall Creek proper.
Yeti the Dog spent a lot of time making sure @thingone was safe whilst poking around :)
...and the Shade
One of the magical things about this spot is the shady side canyon with its cool pools and trickling stream, beckoning with the promise of relief when the sun and the hot rocks and sand of the beach become too much to bear.
A Hidden Pool and your Moment of Zen Video
Halfway down the steep dirt trail that descends the bluff to the beach, an overgrown and easily missed side-trail leads to a hidden pond. I say easily missed, because half way down the trail to the beach your attention is drawn to the deep green of the swimming hole beckoning below. Your moment of Zen video starts out with this vista, then follows the secret path around to the Hidden Pool.
How amazing is it
to show your child a mystical place like this where the power of nature is so clearly felt?
Hidden Pool - @thingone approved
Wildflower at the Hidden Pool
Looking down at the Hidden Pool from above up on the bluff
A large garter snake
sunning on a rock was no match for the lightning speed and reflexes of @carlgnash the mighty hunter! I knew it would squirt me with a foul smelling musk when I picked it up, but I also knew what kind of joy this snake would bring @thingone. He loves snakes, and reptiles, and dinosaurs of course. But in the absence of a dinosaur up Fall Creek, a snake will do nicely!
Goodbye snake...
All photos and videos taken by moi on a Samsung Galaxy S8 smart phone
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Word up!
Sorry .. What does that mean?
oh lol it is just American slang :) In this context it basically means, "awesome!"
Ah, we never stop learning! Thanks.
"I believe it is a nymph of some sort"
Hmm, when I think "nymph", I'm thinking more like Khaleesi, from Game of Thrones, walking through flames, not that nasty scary little thing.
And as for Thing One and Thing Two playing with Snakes, I'm betting the Fish in the Pot would have something to say:
"'no! not in the pool!'
said the fish in the pot.
'they should not play with snakes
in a pool! they should not.
oh, that snake it will bite!
oh, that snake it will spit!
oh, i do not like it!
not one little bit!'"
In England, we pay maybe too much attention to the Fish in the Pot, living in our cosy structured safe urban environments, cos that Wilderness Paradise life you are living over there, that is just like wow, hey, snakes, whut, berries, huh, bugs, you kidding, whut!
On the other side, Thing One and Two have a very good chance of not developing allergies.
Life of Riley you are living over there lol. :)
This is a fantastic comment :) Luckily garter snakes are not aggressive or dangerous in the slightest. I have to admit momma got a little hot flash seeing @thingone handling the snake though :) I grew up in Alaska in some true wilderness so Oregon feels downright tame and civilized. Almost the entire area around us was logged in the early 1900s so it is all second growth forest. And sure there are black bears and pumas and snakes and... okay so maybe it isn't so tame and civilized :) LOL
This is a cool post!
The dead trees in a couple of the pictures are a pretty clear sign that a forest fire went through there. It must have been a few years ago, there's a lot of new growth.
I'm guessing that the nymph might be a dragonfly nymph, they're pretty ugly things.
That western garter snake has a bit different coloring than the ones we have in the great lakes region, neat looking snake!
Those poor kids, having to run around naked all day! LOL
Yeah I linked to a forest service page with info on the fire at the top of the post, second paragraph (Clark Creek fire) - it was back in 2003. I don't think it is a dragonfly nymph, they are aquatic and this was up a fair way from the water. The dragonfly and damselfly nymphs are all over the place down in the creek and don't have that crazy coloration either. I was one of the naked kids running around that day as well, poor me :) LOL
I found it! it is a ladybug nymph!!!
That's a ladybug nymph? I never would have guessed that!
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haha I laughed at the first part, thingone and thingtwo.. my gosh .. hilarious @carlgnash! Luckily the dog made sure thingone was safe at all times.. it's good when a thing has a guardian dog :)
lovely to see the hidden pool, hearing the sound of the water was really relaxing, you must feel so relaxed after staying there a bit :)
Lol! Are your kids ever wearing clothes? Also, you should pin this to Steemitworldmap
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I wasn't wearing any clothes either :) I think I added it to the map. I generated the code and added it to my post anyway... not sure it worked? EDIT nevermind it worked :) Cool! I am a steemitworldmap-er now :)
Such amazing pictures and beautiful environment 😊 looks like a great place to visit and your kids really have no fear of snakes 😉
Really cool and thank you for sharing the video made me smile. This was a joy to take part of. Thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful evening. Cheers! 🌹
Fantastic pics, Carl! Great to see you & fam communing with nature :) Pic of thing one with snake is a great study in contrasts... a visual poem... Thanks, for sharing & I wish you all many more liberating adventures such as this ♥️
What a wonderful and great place to camp! Wow! Your kid is so brave to hold a snake! Incredible! Amazing! Good, that is not a poisonus snake. I'm scared hehe...