American Adventure

Oregon (Crescent Mt 2)

So here are the pictures from my hike up to the top of Crescent Mountain. I had made a hike up this trail many years ago with my father when I was fifteen years old. It was such a special treat for me that I always wanted to do again. After my dad passed away back in December of '98 I had an even more compelling urge to make the trip.

On my way through the trail I found lots of butterflies in the woods. So many that I often ran across clusters of them fluttering about in the clearings. It seemed like every clearing was filled with the Painted Ladies (the orange ones) and the Pine Whites (The, uhm, white ones).

The trail was not very far from Lava Lake which is not a real lake but was at one time. Many thousands of years ago this area had been scarred and refaced by local volcanic activity. Massive lava flows covered many parts of this country, including this area. The lava flows covered up a lake but the water still had to have a path to flow. So it carved fissures and caverns and underground streams all throughout this area. The lake bed remains there but appears to be covered by land. Upon closer inspection you can hike into and around hundreds of streams that come out of the ground and then go right back into it. There's lots of little places where people like to fish for trout and various other types of fish. I remember when my father and I was there I remember seeing a huge salamander in the water.

The trail actually takes you downhill through the woods and to a creek for about a mile before it heads back on up the hill to Crescent mountain.

An occasional big blob of fungus in the woods can really make you stop and take a "double-take". I thought I saw it move so I left it alone.

Some shots of a few Pine Whites here. This one actually allowing me to pet it.

Then some more fungi that really got my attention. I guess people actually pick these and eat them. I'm not sure how they taste but I have seen them in stores.

Then here's some images of some Indian Pipes that I found all over the place. These amazing botanical oddities are actually a fungus that appears to be a flower. I'm not sure of any practical purpose behind their appearance other than a theory that insects and bees might land on them, attracted by their appearance, thinking they are a flower, and carry their spores off to other places.