McKenzie River Valley

Paradise campground was a nice dose of lower-elevation rainforest after the dry pine forests of Bend, and the campsites were large and relatively private, so we decided to stay two nights in the area.  We even saw a very large, full-grown black bear dash across the road in front of us not 2 miles from the campsite - but even so the campsite took no special garbage precautions, and bears seemed not to be a concern. 

To decide what to do during the day, we consulted the forest rangers at the nearby McKenzie River Ranger Station - by far the nicest ranger station we've ever seen, complete with lava rock waterfall outside and a nice model of the nearby mountains and passes inside.

  

The rangers recommended hiking a portion of the McKenzie River trail, which follows the length of the river in the narrow valley, and is very good quality and nearly flat.  Many people backpack from campground to campground since the trail is easy; many others park at one end and mountain bike (downhill) to the other.

We hiked from Trail Bridge Campground up to the "blue pool," then beyond that nearly to the Ice Capp Campground and the adjacent waterfalls.  While there wasn't a huge amount of elevation change, we hiked about 18 km in half a day, which was by far Sarah's longest hike to date - and she was leading the charge most of the day!

The blue pool is pretty unique - it's unbelievably clear, but also extremely blue.  (Maybe chemical makeup, maybe very fine particulates in the water, I'm not sure.)  Not only is it clear and deep, but there is no obvious inlet to the pool, though the McKenzie River flows out of it quite quickly.  Water seeps into the pool through the abundant, porous lava beds in the area - only at the very highest runoff is there a visible waterfall that emerges midway up the pool wall.  You can scramble down the far side and onto a ledge at water level, where you can easily dive into the pool from shore.

Some dogs loved fetching, others were put off by the cold water

Chad braved the cold water, which was icy but not as bad as it could be [Sarah's note: Check out the kids in the background gawking at Chad's brave feat of climbing in that icy water!]

Perhaps a bit too proud of the cold-water performance?

A reservoir near the end of the hike.  Here, most of the McKenzie river is pumped under a small mountain to a reservoir, then pumped back to the McKenzie valley through a small generating station (drying up the riverbed for a few miles)

Sarah hoofs it to the falls

Roiling waters through dense forest

The overhanging lower falls

Everything is covered in lava rock here - it's even used for stairs and fenceposts

After the hike, we had a big Indian (for Chad) and Thai (for Sarah) curry dinner back at camp

The campsite provided cedar firewood that smelled SO GOOD it was a shame to burn it - it should have been made into a cedar chest or something!

But it did make for great firewood

Finally, relaxation after a long day of hiking