Time for another hike. Just 7 miles from our site at River Rim RV park was the Scout Camp Trail, a fairly new (2010) BLM creation. The trail provided beautiful views of the Deschutes River canyon. Our hike started approximately 750 feet above the river. It wound (clockwise) down almost to the water and then back up again in a 3-mile loop (but, it felt like it was a lot further.)
Oregon's geology was at its colorful best throughout the hike. The trail was steep and quite a strenuous workout, but the view was well worth the effort.
At one point the trail seemed to end, but Mike scrambled over the rocks to find our way again. We carefully followed over the rough volcanic rock - we did not want any skinned knees or twisted ankles!
There was no break in the sunshine, but we did have a nearly continuous breeze that made the hike much more tolerable. At times the wind blew hard enough and kicked up enough dust we just stopped, closed our eyes and waited for the wind to die down.
During the entire hike, we only saw one other hiker. He was on a different trail on the other side of the river, so we just waved and continued on.
In the panorama below the Deschutes River (canyon to the left) is joined with the Whychus Creek (in the canyon on the right).
I thought the variety of hues in the river was striking.
The many colors and textures in the layers show this area was home to a lot of different climates over the eons.
No comments:
Post a Comment