A very leisurely morning. Now that we’re in a colder clime, we don’t need to get out and hike when it’s cool but rather wait until things have warmed up a bit. Devices don’t like to change users. I think we’ve changed most things over to me now on this little IPad. That was a big part of the leisurely morning activity. It is nice to do it with the sound of the crashing waves in the background.
Today, we plan to take some hikes in the woods along the coast rather than the coast itself. The local rag of 101 Things to Do in Southern Oregon gave us some good ideas of hikes. If we put 2 short ones together, we should have a nice day of hiking. They are both along the Rogue River. First one is Myrtle Tree Trail in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Not much traffic up here! We cross the Rogue River on a little one lane bridge. Reminds me of the old bridge across the Des Moines River that was the terror of all new drivers. A rite of passage to drive across that bridge.
The trail is mostly up but it’s short - 1/4 mile each way. The lower vegetation is mostly big, healthy ferns with the Myrtle trees above them and an occasional Redwood. Many of the trees are hollow in the middle from lightening strikes. We get to the largest known Myrtle tree in Oregon. It is 90 feet tall with a circumference of 47 feet! It is also known as a California Laurel. Certainly not the same as the crepe myrtles we see around Georgia! It is burned out in the center but new sprouts keep it going.
Our next destination is the Shrader Old Growth Trail. We turn off the main road, which really isn’t very main. The road goes almost straight up for almost 2 miles and turns into a narrow gravel road with the occasional places that are wide enough to pass another car. Luckily, this isn’t a big tourist destination and we don’t meet any cars in the next 1/2 mile to the trail head. There is one other car there. At the trail head, there is an informative pamphlet to go along with 13 numbered stops. It is a beautiful walk! Tall old Douglas-fir and Port-Oxford-cedar. They reach up to around 250 feet and 3 feet in diameter. Again, there are lots of ferns, with the occasional rhododendron blooming. My handy-dandy leaflet tells me that the rhododendron have been growing there since a fire about 100 years ago. At the toes of some of the towering trees are tiny, dainty flowers. Isn’t that what we are - tiny dainty flowers compared to the long history of life on this planet.
Tiny, dainty flowers....love it!
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