Oneonta Gorge

Since we didn't go to Wyoming this summer, we have been vacationing more "locally".  Wednesday, we drove up the Columbia River Gorge and went on a hike up a smaller gorge, Oneonta Gorge, to a waterfall. 

The first obstacle we came to was a giant log jam.  It was a good test of my old gymnastics skills trying to balance on all those logs.  (I'd love to say that I've still got those skills - sadly not, but at least I didn't fall and break anything while climbing over the logs.)

Once over the logs, the narrow canyon becomes visible.  It also becomes obvious at this point that there is no neat, gravel-covered trail.  One might ask, "where do we walk?"  You would be correct to answer that you walk IN the river.

On a warm summer day, you might also think that the water would feel refreshing.....you would be wrong.  The water is so cold, that it's painful to walk through it.  I now understand how people drown in rivers (you become instantly numb, and walking through the stony river bed takes all the effort you can muster).

But, as you can see, the painful cold has a beautiful pay-off.  We are thinking about doing this hike again in a few weeks when Aunt Maile comes to town for a visit.  So, if you're reading this Maile, ignore everything about the cold and pain, and focus on the beautiful waterfall at the end of the little narrow gorge.

On the way back, I couldn't resist taking another picture of the narrow canyon.  If you focus just to the left of center in the picture (right by Julia's shoulder), you can see the key-hole type opening of the other end of the gorge.

We were all wet and cold, and happy to be out of the water at the end.  Julia, who had been on the lookout for "nature" all day, finally found a perfect specimen........

...she named this little frog "Fred"!  He almost hopped into the path of oncoming traffic...then he would have been named something else that rhymes with "Fred"!