Living in the Pacific Northwest is not easy. It rains. It rains a lot! And when it is not raining, it is usually cloudy and grey. If you are going to do something outside, you need to be prepared for rain. If you are waiting for the rain to stop to do something, you may never do it.
We live in an urban area that adds to the grey. Not only do we have grey clouds but we have the addition of grey streets, grey sidewalks, and grey buildings. With so much bleakness, we find a trip to the forest the perfect way to boost our spirits and to help us feel more grounded. Even in winter, the forest has amazing colors, smells, and sounds that make you feel glad to be alive. So feeling overwhelmed with grey we rented one of the state owned cabins at Silver Falls State Park this past weekend to recharge. The weather forecast; rain. Was the weatherman right? Absolutely!
Saturday morning we awoke to the sound of rain. No surprise there. We ate our breakfast and got dressed for a hike in the rain. Silver Falls State Park has over 25 miles of hiking trails. We had hiked the South Falls loop several times in the past and so decided to try a different section. We drove down the road a couple of miles from the cabins and stopped at the Winter Falls Trailhead. I had brought our tripod along to get some long exposures on the waterfalls, but, long exposures are not very good when the lens is getting rained on. So, the tripod stayed in the trunk.
We enjoyed hiking the northern loop of the canyon and were wowed by the amount of water flowing over the waterfalls. Rain makes for a wet hike, but it fuels the waterfalls for an impressive sight. Sydney did really well on the long hike and we all felt much happier to be out of the city and enjoying nature.
Saturday evening found us cooped up inside the cabin. So, Sydney and I decided to get a little creative and make a movie, Zombie Barbie vs. The Zhu Zhu Pets. We took several camera stills and turned it into this:
On Sunday we awoke to… can you guess? That’s right, rain! So, after breakfast we once again dressed for rain and checked out of the cabin. We headed out to hike the South Falls loop this time, an area that is overwhelmed with visitors during the summer. But due to the rain we only saw a few other hikers along the trail and once again enjoyed being outside surrounded by amazing scenery.
The rain has continued all week since returning from our weekend getaway, and the forecast for this coming weekend is more rain. We are all feeling a little stir crazy and could use some tropical weather. We normally take a trip someplace warm this time of year, but our next trip (Costa Rica and Nicaragua) is not until May. So, I think we will need to do a hike this weekend as well to help keep our sanity.
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