Silver Falls Self Care

 I took off at 12 for an afternoon with one of my longest friends, Sarah.  This was a kid free day.  I realized I had been carrying a huge amount of stress from the health sagas of my youngest and work stress.  I had stopped taking care of myself and was feeling quite a bit of burnout and post crisis depression. I thought playing in the mud and hiking 9 miles past ten waterfalls would be just what the doctor ordered.

It was wonderful to catch up with Sarah while walking the trail.  The leaves were just starting to change color and fall.

We heard that just yesterday Winter Falls was dry but today's rain jump started it.

We spent time communing with the big trees.

South Falls was so beautiful.  Since it was mid week and a bit rainy, the park was quiet.

The tall trees make me feel at home.  Being with Sarah reminds me of home as well.  Though I embrace change and believe change means growth, it is nice to remember the stability of a foundation, a simpler time, and those deep roots that developed in childhood and adolescence.

South Falls was magnificent

We spent some time enjoying the view before heading behind it and down toward the bridge.

We continued around the long loop hike catching each other up on some of what was on our hearts and ways we have grown.

Sarah says she sees and notices hearts at times she needs comfort.  This puddle made us both smile.

We enjoyed all the waterfalls from different angles, walking behind two of them.

The fall colors were just starting to come out, and though it was a gray day, we enjoyed the contrasts.

We saw this little newt crossing the trail and spent some time enjoying his company!

Some of the waterfalls were smaller or more difficult to see, but we enjoyed all the different falls we passed.

This is double falls, just flowing a little.  Sarah did a little splashing but the cool day made me a bit reluctant.

We enjoyed going behind Middle North Falls.

Finally, we made our way back to north falls, a little stiff and sore but glad to have gotten to hike together.

I hoped to return when the leaves change more.  Fall is a great time to visit Silver Falls.  I was grateful to catch up with my friend and get a chance to enjoy the woods without focusing on the needs of my kids.  Though I love their perspective, I know I am a better mom when I get a little "me time" to recharge.

Big and Small Waterfalls

Amy-We went to Silver Falls and it was fall so the leaves were SO beautiful.  We also saw some waterfalls.  We even got to go behind some!  This was a REALLY FUN hike!

Mom- Silver Falls is a state park with a 10 waterfall loop hike.  I think we saw 8 of them today.  We parked at the North Falls Parking lot and hit the trail!  Analise wanted to do some stick fishing on the bridge.  She was not sure if she wanted to hike at first.

  Amy-This waterfall is small. Here is a rhyme about waterfalls: tall small waterfall.

 Mom- The leaves were bright and the sun was shining.  It was an amazing day to hike in this beautiful park.

 Amy-  I hugged a couple of trees on the hike.

 Mom- This is Winter Falls which only runs in winter.  It was really flowing and a good stop for a lunch break.

Amy-I also stood on some stumps on the hike.  I like hikes that have stumps on them.  I also like hikes that I can hug, stuff like trees, people that I love, and people that are my school friends (if I run in to them) or my church family (I might run into them also).  I also love going out for ice cream with Sarah. 

 

 Mom- The creek was so pretty surrounded by the fall color.

 Amy-This tree is really mossy and the leaves are colorful with all their colors red, yellow, and orange.  The river is so blue and the sky is too.

Mom- I really enjoyed seeing the sunlight through the forest shining on all the green moss.

 Amy-All of us loved the waterfall and its beauty.  Its real name is Middle North Falls, but I called it Broom Stick Falls because from behind the falls it looked like a broom stick.

Mom- Analise was really scared to walk behind Middle North Falls but the rest of us enjoyed being so close.

Mom-  We felt the mist from the falls and heard its thundering roar!

Mom- We enjoyed seeing it from a distance as well.

Amy- This picture makes me imagine myself jumping over the cliff over the water and just right in view of a waterfall.

Mom- Above is one of the smaller waterfalls along the way.  Below is Double Falls.

Amy-Mom said that this waterfall is called Double Falls.  At the bottom of the falls it separates apart into twos.

Mom- I enjoyed the contrast between the red and yellow leaves, green mossy trees, and blue of the water.

Amy-This is a really fast river so blue, and like I said flowing fast river.

Mom- I think this rock looks like a hairy monster.

Mom-  We started heading back around the loop toward North Falls.  We were all starting to get a little tired but enjoyed the river and waterfalls along the way.

Mom- Gil  & Sarah were with us on this hike.  Amy walked with Gil part of the way.

Mom-  We made it back to the powerful huge North Falls.

 Mom- We got to walk behind North Falls.  Analise was very cold from her earlier puddle stomping.

Mom-As we climbed up the other side we headed back to the parking lot, feeling those great tired endorphins and basking in the memory of waterfalls.

Mom- I like to picture waterfalls washing away all my problems and worries.  It is good to be near them and see their power and beauty.  We are lucky to live by so many amazing falls.

Horses, Bats, and Puddles

 Mom- Today Amy and I decided it would be a great idea for us to cowrite this blog post.  We went to McIver Park on the Clackamas River to enjoy the fall leaves, a fish hatchery, and a walk through the woods. 

 Amy- this is a picture of me my mom took it. see it .it is beautiful.  do I look like a bat or a bird?

 Amy- my sister Analise loves puddles. you can tell by the picture.

 Amy- Analise fished with sticks in puddles but didn't catch any fish.

 Amy-I walked with Sarah part of the way. we pretended I was a horse.

 Amy-we stopped at the Clackamas river for our first course of lunch.

 Amy-at the Clackamas river we saw the river it was beautiful.

 Amy-here is on the other side of the Clackamas river and here is part of the forest.

 Amy-Analise likes to throw rocks in the water.

 Amy-this is a big huge rock!

 Amy-pretty flowers!

 Amy-this I think is really creepy.

 Amy-this is also really creepy.

 Amy-this is cool and very cold.

 Amy-look how tall that is!

 Amy-I was really smiling in this picture but mom doesn't have a good camera.

Amy-these trees have beautiful leaves.

 Amy-this tree is very mossy.

 Amy-we visited the barn. it has bats.

 Amy-the windows are where the bats come out of the barn and when you are looking at the barn and talking your voice echoes it bounces to the barn and back to yourself.

 Amy-me and Analise played train on the way back to the car.

 Amy-we stopped at some of the horse trainings. this is learning how to climb up the ramp (a large ramp) and it has a place where you can jump off of the ramp.

 Amy-this is another horse training station  it is going across the bridge.

 Amy-this is a picture of me on the bridge.

 Amy-this is a picture of Analise and me on the bridge.

 Amy-what we know about bats.bats are mammals.bats can fly. bats use echolocation

 Mom- Wow!  Amy gave you a great story about our hike.  It was so much fun to hike the bat trail with the Equestrian Training.  We saw lots of fish at the hatchery.

 Mom- What a fun adventure to explore this park.  We may need to try camping here as another bat fact we learned is that bats eat mosquitoes.  (Amy says she also knew that from school).  The barn is a roosting spot for endangered bats. 

Mom- Good exercise, good company, fun exploring, and even some learning.  It was a good day.