Oregon Nature

I turned inland again about halfway up the Oregon coast. The scenery switched between farmland and wilderness.



This is a local swimming hole near Glide Oregon where two rivers meet. Immediately below where I was standing when I took this shot were teenagers throwing things at each other.

At unexpected moments a side street off the highway would be the entrance to a small State Park. I detoured into one a couple of hours out of Bend and walked up a trail to a waterfall. It was quiet, but oppressively hot and damp.



It was also a trail clearly designed only for quite skinny hikers. For several metres the path ran through a slim crack in the rock.


The waterfall itself was small but forceful and the air was cooler here than on the walk up. I sat on a log for a few minutes and dangled my toes in the water. Alas, I still had miles to go before I could sleep at Marc and Lisa's house in Bend, Oregon. I also hadn't had any reliable signal on my mobile (cell) phone for two days. It was time to push on and make contact with my hosts. So, reluctantly, I put my shoes back on, legged it back down the trail and refused to be tempted by any further attractions on my path.

I did almost have an involuntary meeting with some local wildlife on the way. I was rolling along the highway and a group of vultures were gnawing on the indistinct remains of a dead animal on the road. They sensed me coming and started flying away so I didn't worry too much about them. I just moved into the empty opposite lane to avoid the carcass. One of the vultures couldn't bring himself to give up on the meal without a few last bites and didn't start to take off until I was steaming towards him with my foot firmly planted on the brake. Naturally he took off right across my windshield and was perhaps a metre from bursting through and landing in my lap. For some reason the most disturbing aspect of this thought was that I might have had to touch a vulture. Urgh.