Trestle Creek Falls

Saturday, Mark and I ditched The Child and The Dog, and took a Valentine's Hike to Trestle Creek Falls.  The falls are located in the foothills of the Cascades Mountain range about an hour's drive away.  

Although the parking lot, shadowed in a river valley, was shivery, the day was pleasant, but unseasonably warm and dry.   The trail wasn't thronged, but we did see lots of folks (and their dogs).  The heavy snow in December and January had battered the woods.  We met a four-year-old and seven-year-old and their (presumably) father on the trail twice; this was amazing, as I can think of a handful of adult friends and family who would have been challenged by scrabbly bits where one had to hop over winter-storm-downed trees, or navigate the edges of where root balls had pulled away.

We saw mostly firs, with some vine maple, big-leaf maple, cedar, and madrone trees mixed in.  Ferns and Oregon Grape formed the underbrush.  There were cliffs that looked like they were basalt; other placed I'm not sure what the geology was -- we saw some pale green rocks that I'm guessing had copper in them (or maybe they were greenschist; I don't know).

We overdressed slightly.  

The fall itself is two-tiered: about halfway the spill from the top of the ridge hits the basalt cliff and cascades the rest of the way into a narrow gorge.  We managed to visit when the sun was shining on the upper fall, which resulted in a rainbow in the cascade.  

On the return loop, something prompted me to touch some of the larger tree trunks along the path.  I usually don't do this, but I felt a connection -- being-to-being -- doing so.  Getting out into the forest rejuvenated both of us.

We descended from the warm sunlit ridge trail into the shaded valley and came to where Trestle Creek meets Brice Creek.  There's a rock in the confluence that looks like a person turned into a stone animal or troll and forced to drink Trestle Creek's overflow.  I think there's an obligatory love triangle story here.

Brice Creek was clear with a pale green color, sort of a mix between copper and jade.  Our cameras compensated for the low lighting by making everything much bluer than it was in reality... except for the moss.   The river valley was nice to visit, but I think the darkness during the winter months would make it a difficult place to visit.    

Mark went looking for interesting pebbles in Brice Creek and managed to freeze his hand, so I had to hold it for a minute or two to warm it.