Little North Santiam River 8/24

[pdxgene]

The lack of blue sky scrapped plans a-c as I reached back into the 'keep the sky out of the pictures' hike list. Although it could help, it really wasn't necessary being in a canyon. I started at the near end of the trail off Elkhorn Drive and came back via the roads to make a stop at Three Pools. I'll never bother going there again in summer. What a dump! A lot of people are just pigs. The fs has a sign up about a $650 minimum fine for littering. They could cover their budget in a weekend if they actually enforced that. Oh well, the rest of the day was great! There are so many pools that even with the shallow water you get some great colors. But first thru the forest where I walked around this beam of light and finally thought that the best angle was here..


The first of a number of footbridges along the little North Santiam Trail..


Reaching the Little North Santiam River...


Where the crystal clear pools are eye candy one after another..


Another footbridge..


Back to the river..




Back into the forest and what do you know...




The rippling water of the Little North Santiam River..


But mostly just calm...


And these are just the ez access ones. There's tons more you can't easily get down to or at all..




Nearing the end of the outward leg..


And leaving that bridge..


The road bridge at Shady Cove campground..


Shady Cove campground... pick your favorite oldie... Signs (5 Man Electrical Band) or Overkill (Men at Work). I won't post a link to the songs as they may occupy your mind for days and drive you nuts...


A couple of the old buildings at the Pearl Creek Guard Station..




The Little North Santiam at Three Pools..


So I got back out to the road and just as I was going to head back down to my car the sign for a 1/4 mile to the Henline Falls trailhead caught my eye. Now I would NEVER knowingly walk up a closed by signs and tape trail, but IF I had I could tell you it would have looked something like this..








And IF I had done that I COULD state that the fire damage doesn't start until the last right turn to those falls a couple hundred yards out. And that it did jump the trail and burn down to the water...
Album and slideshow here... http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/LittleNorthSantiam6

[mattisnotfrench]

Such a classic hike - nice to see it's still beautiful this time of year.

[miah66]

Drove by that trailhead on the way out to Opal Creek a couple weeks ago. I was wondering why there was red tape across a trailhead! So it was closed b/c of fire danger? Too bad about three pools. I went there once about 7 or 8 years ago and thought it really beautiful and not even crowded. "Those were the days!"

[pdxgene]

Drove by that trailhead on the way out to Opal Creek a couple weeks ago. I was wondering why there was red tape across a trailhead! So it was closed b/c of fire danger? Too bad about three pools. I went there once about 7 or 8 years ago and thought it really beautiful and not even crowded. "Those were the days!"

Three Pools is much nicer in the off season once the crowds and litter are mostly gone.
I think I'm colorblind to red on Mondays' so I didn't see any tape...
But it would be closed more for falling trees, etc. not actual burning type fire danger. And there wasn't even a whisper of wind that afternoon.