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Friday, May 17, 2013

A Walk in the Woods with SpartanBabe

On Sunday, Troubadour was teaching a Team Oregon class and I felt the need for some exercise so SpartanBabe (aka Meg) and I arranged to go for an early morning hike.  I drove East across the valley  and arrived at her house about 7:30 am.  She readied the dogs (Annie & Oakleigh) and off we went.

I am not very familiar with Linn County so I let her pick a hiking destination. She chose McDowell Creek Falls County Park - good choice.








There were over 50 of these stairs cut into the mountain close to the start of the trail.  I could feel my legs burning by the time we got to the top.  SpartanBabe even spotted a snail on the trail.


We were rewarded with beautiful views of the falls.  There are three waterfalls in the park.




According to the sign we were in a temperate rain forest.




We zig-zagged over the river. The county provided very nice wooden bridges.  One set of stairs had a step missing and SpartanBabe ended up carrying Annie (the black lab) down when she wouldn't hop over it.  Much to Meg's dismay, Annie was still wet from swimming in the river.  We laughed and carried on.

The thimbleberries and salmonberries were blooming. As were the bleeding hearts and other shrubbery.



Faded almost done blooming Bleeding Heart

Random yellow bloom with a little bug on its petal

Back to the trail, we saw the Royal Terrace waterfall.



Bridge where I took the picture of the falls

Panoramic upriver

Before long we were back at the parking area.  It was a short hike, but a good one.

I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the old mossy picnic tables and the dogs.





 Annie and Oakleigh

 Oakleigh

My Keen hiking shoes - sorry Bobskoot no bare feet for me this day.

Next up SpartanBabe and I are doing a 5k run at the 106th Annual Rhododendron Festival in Florence tomorrow while Troubadour is teaching another Team Oregon class. The Oregon Vintage Motorcycle Show is on Sunday so hopefully there will be a lot of cool bikes on display.

Have a great weekend everyone.

-Au Revoir

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet.  This is not done by jostling in the street." - William Blake
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34 comments:

  1. What a wonderful hike. Too bad it wasn't blue skies and fluffy clouds but at least it looked dry. Everything looks so green and lush. Does the existence of the boardwalk suggest that it's a pretty wet and marshy area?

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    1. It was dry that day. It was the first time I was out there. Meg was telling me there were some swampy areas and we had some mud to hop over. The skunk cabbage in the marshy areas were huge but not blooming yet, so they weren't smelly. I was going to take a picture but there wasn't anything around them for reference on size.

      Luckily there weren't too many bugs out but being up there at 8 am on a Sunday we were the first to clear the spider webs out from across the trail. Didn't see another person the whole hour we hiked.

      The boardwalks were just to get us down the cliffs to the river and across the river the rest was the forest floor as a trail.

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  2. omg these pics are sooooooooooo pretty! its sooooooooo green still! and pretty babies..are they both labs? :)

    kick ass on your 5K! you go girls! you rock, have a great time!

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    1. Yeah, things are pretty lush around here right now. Another month or so and lawns will be going dormant but it will still be green in the forests.

      As Meg said below - Annie is a black Lab and Oakleigh is a German Short Haired Pointer - aka lap dog.

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  3. Ah McDowell Creek. Have hiked it many times :)
    It's a lovely hike and close by. You captured the area nicely in photos.
    Good luck on your 5K!

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    1. I thought you guys might have been out there before. I bet you've thought about taking the mountain bikes, but who'd want to carry them up those stairs?

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  4. Thanks for coming over with us! I love that hike - it totally makes for a mellow Sunday. Annie Bug is a lab, but Oakleigh is an evil snuggler who steals the covers and farts under them, also known as a German Shorthaired Pointer. Dun dun dun...Saturday is here! See you at 7!!!

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    1. Thank you for planning it. I had fun, we need to do it again.

      See you in the morning - I'll be ready by 7.

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  5. Just sooo beautiful. What a great day and hike pick from SpartanBabe! Have a great 5K. I was never able to run so I live vicariously through those that do, so keep us on the up and up on that one!

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    1. She did a great job picking a spot, now she's in charge for all hiking planning, bwahahahaha

      I wish I could run all of the 5k but I get exercise induced asthma and I can only go until I can't breathe, then do a quick walk until I can breathe again, repeat. I could run longer if I used an inhaler but I hate drugs. Drugs are bad m'kay.

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  6. Trobairitz:

    that looked like a nice hike, even with shoes, at least you had shorts on. Looked damp which makes a good spot for snails to live. Here we have slugs, those slimy black ones. I liked those wooden walkways and waterfalls.

    Oh, 5K that sounds like exhausting work. I'd rather watch

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. We did have shorts on, but it isn't a very flattering picture of the legs, lol.

      There was a big banana slug on the trail but it looked like he was 'making out' with a stick and it would have been an awkward photo so I passed.

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  7. German Shorthair is a wonderful dog. My kind of dog.

    We have thimbleberries here- yum. I have never seen a salmonberry before, so thanks for that.

    A magical area, Oregon is. I now have to drive to hike... :^(

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    1. They are good pooches, even when Oakleigh tries to sit on my lap in the Pathfinder, lol.

      I'll see if I can find pictures of the salmonberries when ripe. I don't think I've ever eaten any. I like the wild blackberries tough, tasty, but seedy.

      We drove to the hike too. 23 miles to Meg's then another 10 I think.

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  8. Love the picture Brandy. Those waterfalls are beauties arn't they. I like those walkways and bridges. What a nice place, thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Steve. Hard to believe Oregon can be that tropical looking in places. When I saw one of the waterfall pictures with the pool of water under it I thought I was in Hawaii or something. Nope, too cold for that. Our water temperature is just above freezing right now because of the snow melt run off.

      Glad you liked the pictures.

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  9. I liked the waterfalls, but the mossy picnic table captured the sense of place for me. Very nice. I, too, have mild exercise induced asthma which went undiagnosed until I was older. Explained my difficulties with my endurance when I was a more competitive type. I went the inhaler route, but like you I can compensate and do.

    Have fun on the run/walk. Oh, and more hiking with pictures will be very welcome.
    ~k

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    1. I couldn't resist taking pictures of the picnic tables. There were a few of them and they were all in that condition. I don't think anyone would want to eat off them, but they made for good photo ops.

      When I was diagnosed with Crohns through surgery in 1991, then two years later had 8 cm of bowel removed I spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital - the last time I was on 21 pills a day for about a year. Since then I have had an aversion to drugs and medications and hate to even take Zyrtec for my seasonal allergies. Luckily it was 20 years ago and I am healthy now and just take my vitamins.

      I'll see what I can do about more hiking when the job doesn't get in the way.

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  10. Breath taking photos! Thanks for sharing. Good looking dogs too! Any chance Meg rides a motorcycle? You know me always looking for lady riders :-)

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    1. Yes, yes she does, but she is a little shy. Meg rides the pretty blue Triumph America that can be seen in some of our ride reports. One just a few weeks ago - look back a few posts for a Sunday ride report. She also has a blog linked on my sidebar but here is a link.

      Not only does she ride motorcycles but she is a crafty bugger and by that I mean awesome quilter.

      http://spartanbabe.blogspot.com

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  11. What a gorgeous gallery of photos! That one waterfall with multiple streams was particularly spectacular.

    Those dogs exude happiness and joy in the moment. What a wonderful place to hike for them. I miss my big doggie.

    I am now itching to get out on the trails around here and immerse myself in the woods again.

    Thank you for a wonderful post. I really enjoyed it.

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    1. Thank you Deb for such warm words. It was a great morning for a hike with a good friend and her pooches. We are lucky to have such lush surroundings in Western Oregon.

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  12. Love the waterfalls, miss the rainforest and the mossy trees. Thanks for reminding me how lovely the wetcoast is...

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    1. You may miss the wetcoast, but just think of all the glorious sights you have been seeing lately. I think we are all a little jelly.

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  13. Spectacular pictures and the dogs names, priceless.

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    1. Meg was creative when she named them, considering they were acquired years apart too, me thinks the names were premeditated.

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  14. I visited these falls back in summer of 2006 while riding along the Columbia River. Thanks for the memories!

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    1. We are fortunate to have so many great waterfalls in our State.

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  15. Beautiful pics! What an awesome day!

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    1. Thank you Dar - it was a great day. Had fun on our 5k on Saturday too. Didn't take any pictures, but we did take the dogs to the beach after for some play time.

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  16. A beautiful spot to hike ... all those runners, they're in too much of a hurry to catch the beauty (slow down a smell the waterfalls!)

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    1. Yeah that's it, slow down and smell the waterfalls.

      The white peony is blooming. I took pics for you yesterday and will post them up in a day or two.

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  17. Lovely pictures, especially the waterfalls! It has that feeling of walking in a secret garden. The adorable dogs look like they had their fair share of exercise with tongues hanging out :-)

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    1. With no one else about it was like our own secret garden alright. The dogs were happy with the hike but wanted to play fetch back at the car - didn't get enough running I guess.

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