silver falls

24 October 2008
Silver Falls, Oregon
2:00
For the first time today I went to Silver Falls with a group of my friends. A couple of them had been there before, but they were eager to go again to see the beautiful landscape. As soon as we got there we walked up to the map to find a good trail to hike, we decided on the maple trail. We walked through the park on a brick path to the first sight. We stopped by a brick wall to look at the falls and I was amazed to see that we were on the same level as the initial dropping point. The water cascaded down, plummeting to a small pool where leaves laid scattered, fallen from the trees that grow high above. When I looked out across the way, I could see pine trees standing as a backdrop, they seemed to grow in a curved shape. In the foreground were maples with bright yellow leaves growing within a few intermingled pines. We began our hike and at one point were directly behind the falls, where we could sit back in a little cave and just admire the wall of water falling, ever constantly down. We kept walking for a while and eventually we were down on the level with the pond and the reflections were so clear the water could have been a mirror. We came upon a tree and immediately my friend Laurel identified the tree in a singsong voice as redwood because of its “groooovey bark.” Every now and then we would walk of the trail and explore around and a one point Laurel came running out of the trees and kept running on down the path yelling and jumping around. We found out that while she had been investigating an enormous mushroom she had mistakenly stepped on a bee hive. About ten minutes later we heard the same cries of pain, but this time it was Austin who had been stung.
24 October 2008
Silver Falls, Oregon
6:30
As we drove home several hours later from Silver Falls we stopped a view point where we could watch the sun set. The colors were unbelievable and it was amazing to watch the cars in the distance creating little belts of flashing lights, making a pattern that criss-crossed the landscape. The mountains in the background created a jagged outline where the sun slid out of view. Once the sun had finally dropped out of sight the colors were still beautiful, I can only think to describe the scene as a painting. The colors faded from one to another so effortlessly, from deep rich blue, to a lighter velvety blue to fiery orange, and finally to a deep red. We tore our eyes away from the scene to get back in the car, and as we continued home the colors where still bright on the horizon and every seemed to sit, admiring the beauty. No words needed to be spoken, everyone just sat, watching the last few rays of light disappear.