Tumalo Creek Trail

I have been thinking about hiking from Tumalo Falls to Shevlin Park, or vice-versa, for some time. Currently, access to the section of the Deschutes River Trail that I normally walk is closed for fuels mitigation work. So, I decided to go to Shevlin Park and take a short jaunt up the creek towards the falls. I would turn around after two hours or five miles, whichever came first because I did not want to dedicate an entire day to walking.

The first part of the walk went quickly, 2.5 miles in just over 40 minutes. I left the park on the Mrazek Trail, which is primarily a mountain biking trail. Those trails I do not care to hike on because I have to be constantly alert for bikers (and vice-versa). Quickly I was off of that trail at the intersection of NF-4606, the old Brooks-Scanlon logging road, and then onto the Tumalo Creek Trail once again. Immediately it started climbing to just below the cap rock of the creek canyon.

Here my pace really slowed picking through in places what amounts to a rock scramble at the foot of the cliffs adorned with fixed climbing gear. As I walked, scores of Violet-green Swallows swooped after bugs and took them to feed their broods in crevices in the rocks. Several Canyon Wrens added their distinctive calls to their mix, standing out above the rush of the whitewater 100 or more feet below. I saw several but they would not hold still long enough to focus the camera.

I heard at one point a couple of Ravens bitching at something and hoping to find them harassing a raptor (or like two weeks ago, a bobcat), I went to investigate and saw behavior I had never witnessed before. They were trying to drive off a Turkey Vulture that was soaring on the thermals above the canyon. I always thought that there was an unspoken truce between those two species, but live and learn.

This trail is clearly the road less traveled and I met just one other person who passed me on the return as I stopped to take photographs. I will continue to explore along Tumalo Creek this summer, especially before the high country starts opening in July.

This Cobalt Color is My Favorite Shade of Flax
Lewis Flax, Linum lewisii

Cheerful Steppe Agoseris, Agoseris parviflora

As Deep Purple Rocky Mountain Iris as I Have Seen, Iris missouriensis

I Rarely See Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus
in Central Oregon Except Along Tumalo Creek

Heartleaf Arnica, Arnica cordifolia
Unusually, the Entire Patch Had 6-Petal Blossoms

Carey's Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza careyana
Silhouetted Against Rock, Trees, and Sky

Sprouting Top of a Tiny Grand Fir, Abies grandis

Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, Leaf Rising Like a Cobra

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel at Full Attention
Bitching at Something I Could Not See

Handsome Plumed False Solomon's Seal
Maianthemum racemosum  

"Mountain Driftwood," Bleached Greenleaf Manzanita
Arctostaphylos patula 

Mountain Cottontail Thinking if It Holds Still, I Cannot See It

Interplay of Carey's Balsamroot and Dead Greenleaf Manzanita

Masses of Penstemons All Along Trail
Bush Penstemon, Penstemon fruticosus

Huge Crop of Manzanita ("Little Apple") Fruit This Season

Beetle on a Wooly Groundsel, Packera cana

One of Dozens of Western Fence Lizards

Masses of Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium
All Along the Exposed and Very Dry South-Facing Hills

Nature's Own Sculpture

There's a Trail in Here Somewhere

Massed Penstemons Above a Rare Creek View Below

Female Western Tanager Gathering Nest Material

In a Land of Dark Basalt, Beautiful Juxtaposition of Unusually
Colored Rock and Roundleaf Alumroot, Heuchera cylindrica
Many of These Coral Bell Relatives Growing on Vertical Surfaces

More Douglas Firs, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Here Than Expected

Fuzzy Bloom of Booth's Willow, Salix boothii