Leon Turnbull Photography

Seven straight days of plus 100 degree weather in California. That was the forecast. Indeed on the north end of the valley the 100 degree weather is even extending well into a second week. As it turned out, miraculously, my vacation plans precisely co-incided with the impending doom. But even Oregon would be experiencing the roast, particularly in the location where I was initially planning to go for a few days of family camping. I decided in the late moments to change plan, and instead head over to the northern Oregon coast, much to my wife’s delight. She loves the ocean and when her annual vacation with her mom over to the CA coast fell through, she was left without her coastal fix this year. She cried for days on end (kidding!). Needless to say, it did not take much convincing on my part to talk her into going camping on the OR coast instead of inland Oregon. About a quarter of a second is what I think it took. I timed it. The temperature forecast on the northern Oregon coast? High 70’s. The temperature back home? 110. Any second thoughts? Nope.

Before getting to the coast we decided to stop one night in Salem in a motel. I had wanted to take my family to Abiqua Falls, but after reading about it more, I realized the hike was a little more intense than I initially thought for a family hike. I do think our kids could have done that hike, but there were some very steep sections, and we would have had to be very careful. And I am sure there would have been many protests. Regardless, there was certainly no way our old dog would have been able to do that hike. Her mind is more than willing, but her body is now unable to co-operate. She can still do easy hikes though, so I decided to take them to Henline Falls instead, another waterfall I really wanted to go to, and this one is an easy 1 mile trek. I did end up going to Abiqua Falls by myself, and I will be sharing that photo next.

In the Salem area the temperature was about 85 degrees when we arrived at the trailhead, but the humidity was unreal. We were sweating raindrops after about 10 minutes into the hike. Big massive raindrops. I think the rains we had last week really increased the humidity exponentially. Normally, it is not like this at all in the summer. What is up with this craziness? If I liked humidity, I would live in Missouri.

It was wonderful and cool at the waterfall, however. Henline Falls is 98 ft. high, and the trail takes you right to the base of the falls. This makes it a very difficult waterfall to photograph. Even at lower flows, there is a lot of mist at the falls, and thus not very many compositions available for photographing it. We enjoyed the waterfall for quite a while, eating picnic dinner, checking out the cave beside the waterfall, and taking many photos.

Here is one more from the archives. Another view of Far Upper Canyon Creek Falls in the Trinity Alps. I just love that incredible green water color.

Don’t worry folks. It may be summer now. It may be hot. The snow may be all gone. But I have plenty of new waterfall images to post. Very soon. Lots and lots. Stay tuned.

This is the second weekend in a row I did not get out hiking. My excuse this week: sick in bed all weekend with a bad cold, monster stuffiness, killer sore throat, and a general overall feeling like my head has been put through a blender. Sigh.

Here is another shot of Upper Glen Alpine Falls from a couple weekends ago. Next weekend will be better for sure.

After watching that couple almost say goodbye to life at Lower Eagle Falls, I went up the trail to Upper Eagle Falls. It was getting late, past sunset, but I just had time to take a quick shot. I kinda wanted to spend more time here, see if I could get down closer to creek level, but it was getting late, the mosquitoes were coming out, and I needed to get back to the motel to see the family. Or else they might think it was me that went over the waterfall. Well, I did have quite a pleasant evening anyway.

I did not sleep well in the motel. Too hot and too uncomfortable. I crawled out of bed at 4AM and drove up to the Glen Alpine trailhead. It was dark when I started out. And warm. By golly it was already too warm for hiking.

Before I got too far up the trail and before it got light, the mosquitoes came out to play. I got out my bug spray quickly. That seemed to help … for the moment. However, by the time I got to Far Glen Alpine Falls, the mosquitoes were everywhere. Millions of them, swarming around me. Completely ignoring my bug spray. I could not breathe. If I fell down, they would be on me immediately, and I would be a goner. Have to keep moving. So this presents a dilemma. How am I going to stop and photograph this waterfall? I did the best I could, getting into the creek in front of the falls, but I could not handle it for long. I was suffocating from the swarm. I could only take a quick shot, then I had to get the heck out of there. The mosquitoes were not bad at all at Eagle Falls, the previous night. Why so awful here at Glen Alpine? I am not happy with my shot of Far Glen Alpine Falls, but I could not stick around to find a better composition. I had to move. Or die. I am going to have to come back next year. In MAY. Not JUNE.

And why did the buggers ignore my mosquito repellent? Epic fail. I am trying out some new deet free repellent. It has worked well up until now. But this was I suppose the first major test for it, and it bombed big time. But I wonder if any repellent could have worked today. The mosquitoes were very determined. To kill.

On the way back down the hill I was hoping to stop at Upper Glen Alpine Falls. I was not sure if I would be able to get there before the sun hit the falls. I calculated it would be in the sun at 6:15am and it would be 6:30am when I would arrive. Would I make it? I was also feeling very stressed and exasperated. My pleasant morning hike so far was completely awful because of the mosquitoes. This is not why I signed up for hiking. Hiking is supposed to be enjoyable. So I prayed: Please Lord, let there be no mosquitoes at the waterfall, and please let it still be in shade. I arrived at the waterfall. There was a bit of sun at top, but it was still mostly in the shade, and I still had time to photograph. I turned off the road and through the trees towards the waterfall. The mosquitoes were still hounding me at this point. Then I broke through the trees onto the big rock face that goes down to the creek. The mosquitoes were gone. Huh? I checked around again. No mosquitoes. Where did they go? There is no logical explanation for this. There was no breeze and no spray from the falls here. There is no reason how they could be all around me everywhere, but not here at this one spot in front of the waterfall. It was a miracle. The Lord answered my prayer. I took my photographs of the waterfall, then I just sat down on the rock face for about 20 minutes, loving the respite from the mosquitoes, relaxing, and enjoying the waterfall, and thanking the Lord. When I got back up and headed back down the trail to the car, the mosquitoes found me again, but I did not care.