The flipside of spending so long at Multnomah Creek was that it threw my schedule right out the window. I ended up having to pare back my very ambitious list of places to visit and made my way to one of the shorter trips on my list…
Little Zigzag Falls
Full descripton of the area is here on the Portland Hikers website. The trailhead is interesting since it’s located at part of the original road up to Government Camp. There’s an interesting sign which shows an old photo taken from this location. The vegetation wasn’t as leafed out as along the Gorge so things were a bit barren..
Zigzag River
Right around Milepost 46, the Zigzag River crosses underneath US Highway 26. The stretch of river downstream of the bridge seemed interesting so I stopped to explore compositions. Unfortunately for me, there was a cabin located alongside one of the banks so I had to exclude it from my compositions. I really enjoyed working with the bright streaks of sunlight on the surface of the churning river..
Mount Hood sunset from White River – Take 2
With the day nearing its end, I returned once again to the White River Snowpark hoping for a nice sunset. Through the day, a nice array of clouds seemed to linger around the summit of Mount Hood but, as sunset drew close, they vaporized. The sunset turned out to be a carbon-copy of the previous night’s. Bummer…
Siouxon Creek
The following morning, I began my drive back to the Seattle area but included a sidetrip to Siouxon Creek, which I discovered through my reading of the Portland Hikers Trip Report forum. It’s located in the South Central portion of the Washington Cascades and has the distinction of having a paved road all the way to its remote trailhead. It turns out to be a relic of the former glory days of logging and one forest superintendent’s idea to promote more logging. The trail travels through maturing second growth forest alongside the creek and passes near a few waterfalls.
This was my first visit and so it was all new to me. The creek turned out to be much wider and more open that I had envisioned so photography in bright sunny conditions wasn’t going to be good. I ended up focusing my efforts on the forest itself since it was so magical. The understory is dominated by Oregon Oxalis (which was almost ready to bloom) and full of surprises. If you go, be prepared to encounter a variety of groups because the trail is open to hikers, mountain bikers, and horses..
Sometimes the results don’t meet the expectations placed beforehand, and this trip fell into that category. How one responds to these challenges can make or break the entire outing. I come away with more valuable experience shooting in extreme light conditions and I hope this will only help me out during my future outings. I know I’ll be back next year (if not sooner!)..
