Rainbows and bluebirds, Clear Lake/Sahalie/Koosah Falls 2/5

[pdxgene]

For once the weather forecast was wrong in our favor. Seeing the 40% snow showers, mostly cloudy, zero windchill NOAA forecast for Clear Lake we decided to go anyway and hope for the best. Roadside snow was heavy from Detroit to Santiam Junction as we made our way on a combo of packed snow, ice and red ODOT gravel. I had been told there would only be an inch of snow as of yesterday at Clear Lake but was having a hard time believeing it. But sure enough as we turned from Santiam Junction most all the snow started to disappear. The sun was out, the sky was blue and though the breeze rippled the lake we could rarely even notice it on the trail. The weather just might have been nicer there than here. left town at 830, got back at 430. It's really not as far as it looks on the map. Photo descriptions will be here shortly.. http://picasaweb.google.com/pdxgene/ClearLake13 Kinda photo heavy today but the conditions seemed to warrant it..
No kayaking this round though...















































































































Oh yeah, nothing but animal tracks on the trail around Clear Lake. A few footprints heading down to Sahalie Falls but they stopped soon after so nothing but more untracked snow the rest of the way to Koosah. Almost like walking in powdered sugar
You can almost see a double rainbow on a couple of them.. What a day!

[romann]

Great photos, Gene! That rainbow looks like... one can stretch arm and touch it, almost anreal. And I like how bottom of the lake & the river shines through the water.

[pdxgene]

Thanx! Kinda like Burnt Lake last week, it looks like we snuck in there just in time before the next storm hit.

[kelkev]

Beauties as usual, Gene! You're torturing me with beautiful photos of one of my favorite places to stroll. Clear Lake and the Upper McKenzie River area are truly gorgeous places.

Kevin