Meandering the McKenzie River
/Today we thought we'd venture out and explore the area east of Eugene. Josh has a fun Central Oregon trail book and we thought we'd give a hike a try. Although Friday's weather was stormy, the weather today turned out chilly but otherwise sunny and nice (side note: I'm finding out that the weather changes day-to-day and hour-to-hour here in Oregon so layers is key).
After a quick breakfast we headed on the road taking the 126 east toward McKenzie River. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with all the fall colors. We kept saying "pretty" and "look pretty" - yes, that's as far as our vocabulary went, but what can I say, it really was pretty!
As we got closer, we started to lookout for a sign for our decided McKenzie River Trail #61. We stopped at the Ranger Station, but it was closed (you'd think they'd stay open for the weekend, silly). Oh well, onward ho with the tiny book map. Using the book map, we passed all the book's landmarks and then suddenly we were too far. We shrugged and decided trail #62, Sahalie and Koosah Falls, would work just fine.
The trail was took us along a roaring river and waterfalls. And it was not just water, we also went "through forests of 6-foot think Douglas fir and droopy-limbed red cedar." I have quite a few pictures posted on my Flickr site. The waterfalls were my favorite though, mostly because the pounding water created some beautiful rainbows!
On the road home, we made some random stops. Here's the stops:
And that completed our fun day outing! And Trail #61 some other day. Check out the "on the road" video:
[flickr video=4040713073]
After a quick breakfast we headed on the road taking the 126 east toward McKenzie River. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with all the fall colors. We kept saying "pretty" and "look pretty" - yes, that's as far as our vocabulary went, but what can I say, it really was pretty!
As we got closer, we started to lookout for a sign for our decided McKenzie River Trail #61. We stopped at the Ranger Station, but it was closed (you'd think they'd stay open for the weekend, silly). Oh well, onward ho with the tiny book map. Using the book map, we passed all the book's landmarks and then suddenly we were too far. We shrugged and decided trail #62, Sahalie and Koosah Falls, would work just fine.
The trail was took us along a roaring river and waterfalls. And it was not just water, we also went "through forests of 6-foot think Douglas fir and droopy-limbed red cedar." I have quite a few pictures posted on my Flickr site. The waterfalls were my favorite though, mostly because the pounding water created some beautiful rainbows!
On the road home, we made some random stops. Here's the stops:
- The first was the Christmas Treasures store. It did not disappoint with the number of Santas and reindeer ornaments. I saw some of my mom's favorite Salvation Army caroler figurines too. But one can only take so much of that store, so we make it a <5 minute stop.
- Our next stop was the Goodpasture Bridge, which is a beautiful covered bridge. We drove across it (scary, but cool), took some pictures, and then continued on again.
- Lunch was entirely necessary as it was late in the day already. Our lunch stop was at a cute BBQ place along the road. I thought their sign was funny, which said they were open 8 days a week (wowzers!). Josh got to have his Fritos pie - beans, BBQ meat, Frito chips, cheese, jalepanos, and probably some more I don't recall. I just smoked turkey sandwich.
- Our last stop was a fruit stand that was extended into a pumpkin patch. There was lots of produce, animals (pigs, ducks, donkeys), and other random things. It was like a miniature Bates Nut Farm for all you So Cali's.
And that completed our fun day outing! And Trail #61 some other day. Check out the "on the road" video:
[flickr video=4040713073]
