Lower McCloud Falls
The McCloud River tumbles off rocks and into deep blue pools in three sort-of-near-each-other spots. Some creative brain trust named them Lower McCloud Falls, Middle McCloud Falls, and Upper McCloud Falls. Young (and occasionally not-so-young) men jump off the cliffs surrounding these falls. I passed on this opportunity to transform into an extreme athlete (read: fool) or an ice-pop.
Eric, who grew up swimming in the ocean just outside of Portland Oregon without a wetsuit, took the plunge into the Lower Falls pool. In truth, it’s a known deep pool and Falls just isn’t that tall.
Just for the record, the “1/2 mile” walk from Lower Falls to Middle Falls took about a year to traverse. Luckily for the Falls, they were photogenic. Unluckily for me, the shallow puddles at the edge of the pool contained zillions of wasps. I don’t like wasps. I left.
After the long trudge back to the truck, we drove off in search of the promised road to Upper Falls. This road…well, they’d tried to patch up a few of the potholes on one end. And I didn’t have to shift into 4wd.
Upper Falls were lovely–the river has carved out the beginnings of a gorge, and the Falls jet out of the cliff as though propelled through a tunnel.
Today, I remained a dustball. The suitcase shall be unpacked directly into the washing machine. Final thoughts on transformation tomorrow or Monday. Probably Monday.
