Not only was the weather fine on Father's Day weekend, but both the girls were home with us. We took a drive south, through the Willamette Valley towards Stayton in search of Shelburg Falls. Oregon has great places to hike and this was a good one.
First, some refueling at the Java Stop on Hwy 22.
Daisies, and foxglove were lining the edges of the fields as we began the hike along the road toward the forest. The temperature was in the 70's all day, perfect as far as I'm concerned!
and Flores found a mud puddle within the first 5 minutes...
then had to suffer the indignity of being carried over several cattle guards.
The lower falls were not far into the forest
we then began to follow a trail toward the upper and larger falls
Taylor spots it in her trendy hiking gear...
The trail continues behind the falls, which is pretty cool and pretty muddy.
walking under a humongous ceiling of basalt...
lots of maiden hair fern growing in this area.
Slugs everywhere of course...
But there were also wild roses along the trail
and in the patches of sunlight, wild iris were popping out in various shades of purple.
The dog jumped into every body of water we came across. We kept him securely on the leash around the falls...
All in all, it was a great way to spend Father's Day
and it makes me wonder why we don't do this more often...
