Bloggy Doggies & Freightliner Felines

Last stop: Gorton Creek

One more super pretty place for the day, and then we'll hang it up - till tomorrow, when we go to another incredibly beautiful place!

Had to drive even farther east for this spot, but it was worth it, and it was a short walk (which was good, because I was gettin' kinda tired, and still had the long drive home!).

Fern-filled forest.

Nobody does landscapes like nature...

Farther east along the 84, I found my second destination - an easy 2 mile hike in to a couple nice waterfalls. That was all I felt my old hip would be up to anyways, but it was just as well - the other, more spectacular, waterfalls farther up the trail were off-limits due to a bridge collapse.

The trailhead.

Even if there weren't ANY waterfalls, this would be a terrific trail!

Really pretty, and very doable - even for near-gimps like me!

Mossy.

Some kind of wild onion (allium).

Very safe section that might still give pause to those afraid of heights...

Even pretty in death.

One dead tree, but LOTS of live ones!!!

Metlako Falls (from kind of far away).

Entrance to Punchbowl Falls area.

Punchbowl Falls

(the falls are around the bend, out of sight unless you go to the far end of the rocky beach)

The way back...

and a super cute dog (named Foxy)!

Foxy's owner, and her friends - who, believe it or not, I recognized from my Oneonta outing!

I enjoyed walking and chatting with Foxy's folks for awhile, but they ended up needing to go faster than photo-speed, so I bid them farewell.

Remember the spittle bugs back in the old growth forests of CA? Well, here's some other, more over-active, models...!

Think this is a white brodiaea.

First stop: Oneonta

The sights I got to see in these two long-drive days were so incredibly beautiful, I took billions of photos (of course!). And I will be posting many of them so that hopefully you will feel like you did the little treks with me and got to see the wonderful scenery too!

So here we're going to do a gorge within a gorge!

The road now actually bypasses this bridge, but it is here that the 1/2 mile walk to Oneonta Falls begins.

Folks looking from the bridge. Unfortunately, you can't really see the gorge from here.

What you see is this! Trees you need to pass under first.

The "trail" starts with stairs, at the non-tunnel end of the bridge.

And yeah, here's the "trail!" While it's only 1/2 mile to the falls, you may be starting to understand why that 1/2 mile can take awhile, and why this hike is not for everyone...

The first big obstacle is a fairly impressive (if you're the one trying to get over it!) jumble of giant boulders and huge downed trees. This is a good place to seriously watch your step! And it's all hands on deck - this is scrambling, not hiking!

It's a little daunting to tackle this log jam and takes longer than it seems like it should!

OK, here we go! A couple ventures out in front of me. It's funny that the gal is balancing on the log to cross the little section of creek and keep her feet dry...

and here's why - there's almost nothing but creek left to walk in for the rest of the walk! There are some dry rocky sections, but for much of the remainder you must walk in the water.

Neat ferns on one wall and pretty ground cover plants on the other.

This couple made it all the way to the falls. Something I planned on NOT doing. Because in order to do so, at the last bit, you have to pass through water almost neck-high! And it is COLD water! Hopefully these folks had dry clothes to change into!