Diamond Lake to Canyonville - Along the Rogue

On the way out of the RV park at Diamond Lake we stopped for some last pictures like this one of the lake and Mount Bailey.


There were several fishermen in the lake already at 8:00am


I really love that view across the lake.


To tone down the vast panorama I took this picture of a stump in the grass...


... and this dead tree with moss on a broken off branch like a mitten on a child's hand in winter.


There was one lone boat waiting for its owner.


We left Diamond Lake and headed south on Highway 230 and stopped at a roadside viewpoint. I thought it looked pretty tame and not very noteworthy until I read the information sign. We were looking at the remains of Mount Mazama. It's hard to grasp the enormity of what I was looking at. It was the rim of Crater Lake and, yes I've been there. What finally sunk in was that realization that Crater Lake is the shell of Mount Mazama.


Look at this picto-graph they showed on the sign...


Here it is overlaid on my picture. There is a huge chunk missing. The light went on!


My son Matthew majored in Geology originally and liked to talk about Mount Lassen in Northern California as being really, really huge. Oregon did California one better.


A little farther down the road we stopped at Muir Creek for a quick shot.


Next we arrived at the beginning of the Rouge River Gorge. There was a very narrow channel in the volcanic rock where the Rogue falls over and over and with great force.


As the channel narrows the water becomes frothy and very fast...


Creating many large...


...larger and ...

...smaller smooth falls.


You can see here how some spots narrow.


I thought this was a particularly pretty image of red and green leaves.


We walked a quarter of a mile watching the river churn,


We drove about a mile farther to the Natural Bridge. A spot where the river is diverted under the rock walls and re-emerges after about 20 feet. On the trail I spotted this oddly marked stump.


Then Sharyn wanted a picture of me so I sat on a bridge (Man made not the natural bridge) while she snapped away.


There were even more rapids here and the roar of the water just sounded like power. This was not a spot to fall in the river.


Looking downstream from the walking bridge the river was not as violent but still moving fast.


To understand the power of the river over time look at the cave that's been formed here...


... and here is a closer view. This cave was shaped in the rock by the force of the water and debris pushed against the rock.


I wonder how long it will take to wash this rock away.


This place is awesome and worth a visit.


Some spots looked placid but don't be deceived.


Looking down we saw where the water dives under the volcanic rock forming the Natural bridge.

We drove a little farther to a roadside park that said it was a viewpoint for the Mill Creek Falls but after a long walk on a steep downhill all we saw was these signs - Yikes!!


We finally gave up on the falls only to find out it was about a three mile hike I wasn't about to make on a very warm day. So back up we went with Sharyn far ahead of me and another hiker. All in all it was a wonderful day and we saw lots more but I was too worn out to even take a picture.

Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 345 ~ The Contender 302

Quote of the Day

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was one of the first modern preservationists.

John Muir helped form an environmental organization called the Sierra Club on May 28, 1892; he was elected its first president (a position he held until his death 22 years later).