Brent and Tyler suggested that we should spend Mother's Day together enjoying the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We made a few sandwiches and took off.
Along the way we had to stop at one of our favorite places. This is Cape Horn. In the distance on the left (north) bank is Beacon Rock. First described by Lewis and Clark, it marks the eastern edge of the tidal influence on the Columbia.
We arrived at a small parking area, and started up a neat, well maintained trail with Brent and Tyler.
The trail parallels beautiful Falls Creek. It's worth the journey just on its own merit.
There are lots of rapids, and places such as this one, where the creek has carved its way through the native basalt. The sound of the rushing water was at the same time soothing and exhilarating.
Tyler did most of the hike at least twice, running ahead then back, but even energetic ten-year olds have to rest every now and then.
Brent, Tyler, and Penny stand on a footbridge overlooking a steep rapids.
This is what the bridge traversed, spectacular, but not as spectacular as what lay in store.
From the rapids, the trail went mostly uphill. Here Penny takes an opportunity to catch her breath beside a big, beautiful Douglas Fir the roots of which made a nice set of steps.
A few feet further we could hear the thunder of the falls. We continued, and were rewarded with this view of the upper cascade of the falls, unimaginatively named the Falls Creek Falls.
A further quarter mile and we were at the edge of the pool at the base of the falls. Here you can see the two lower cascades, but cannot see the upper cascades shown above. We each picked out a rock and sat and enjoyed our sandwiches. This was one of those places where all you want to do is sit, take slow, deep breaths and let the beauty and majesty of the place wash over you.
After a while, we reluctantly began our hike back out noticing as we had not on the way in, the many smaller beauties offered by the area.
