A Sudden Diversion
Warren Creek · Columbia River Gorge · Cascade Locks · Oregon · USA
When I'm pressed for time and in need of a quick thigh burn, one of my favorite jaunts is the Lower Starvation Loop Trail that visits four major waterfalls in a two-and-a-half-mile roundtrip. The trail swiftly switchbacks up several hundred feet in less than half a mile early on before taking you along an up-and-down course into and out of the waterfalls' creeks nestled in their canyons. In season, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, light-pink prairie star, pink sea blush, orange-red cliff paintbrush, showy magenta shooting star, delicate white saxifrage, purple larkspur, yellow monkeyflower, and the rare chocolate lily peppers the steep hillsides with refreshing sprays of color. There's an even opportunity to bushwhack up Warren Creek further upstream to more minor and major cascades.
I suddenly veered off the trail on the return leg of the trail for this impromptu shot of Warren Creek just downstream from the manmade abomination known as Hole-In-The-Falls (pardon the subtle commentary there...). From this vantage point, the footbridge crosses the creek just out of frame to the right with the trail doubling back up the hill in the background. I was attracted by the splay of water off the foreground rock as well as the dappled sunlight filtering through the Douglas-fir, red alder, and bigleaf maple canopy. While the grand vistas have largely eluded me the past year due to an unmerciful work schedule, it's still the more intimate scenes like this that I most enjoy exploring and photographing.
(Local folks familiar with the history of Warren Creek may appreciate the double-entendre with the title there. Or...maybe they won't.) :/
