The Mighty McKenzie

Sunday, June 24th

     Today was my day to meet Jane, a blog-follower and fellow Roadtrek solo at her home in McKenzie Bridge, OR.

Might those be rain drops on my lens
Jane at Sahallie Falls

     In Eugene, I took route 126 and now I followed the Mighty McKenzie River and I say don't say mighty loosely!  First it was full to it's banks and running sometimes placidly but often with fast - moving rapids.  I did notice again that since I've been in this part of OR, most everything is green - not only the beautiful trees but rocks and rocky mountainsides are covered in moss, tree branches are covered in moss, roofs of houses are covered in moss.  Hummmm -- wonder why -- could it be due to all the rain they get??  I wonder.

Oh, and I forgot, fences are covered in moss
If you can see it with all the raindrops:)

     Anyway, I met delightful Jane (what can I say, she reads my blog - hi Jane:).  No, really, she is delightful and was so welcoming and gave me her friend's driveway to park in with electricity to boot.  We chatted and toured her park and then she took me on an incredibly scenic tour of this beautiful area.

The beautiful trees
Excuse the windshield wiper - but OH
we needed it as it was raining:)

  We started out seeing a lava field that The Three Sisters spewed out long ago leaving behind not only these weird fields of molten lava but some hot springs that we also went to see.  Then we went to see Clear Lake which was aptly named as you can look down like a long way it's so pure and so cold - never gets above 42 degrees and water is pure enough to drink as it's percolated through the lava beds (I hope I have this info right).

     Then we went to 2 AMAZING falls in the McKenzie River.  Granted, they are full now due to the recent snow melt but the force was . . . well forceful!  and beautiful!  and wet!

Sue at Sahallie Falls

Koosah Falls

     

                         Just listen to the power of the water          

      So much beauty here even though, yes, it rained on our way to see everything but it did stop mostly in time for the sightseeing.

     We got back in time for "cocktail hour" around the fire pit with neighbors and then Jane cooked me a great, healthy salmon dinner.

     A nice day.

DATA:

mileage:  107                       gas:  $72  @$3.87 (pumped for me)                  camp:  gratis