Grayback

Sucker Creek in southwestern Oregon.

I’m toward the beginning of a road tip through the northwest and the first days of the route have been similar to our trip last year about this time of year: tidepooling along the northern California coast and then a jaunt inland into southwestern Oregon near Oregon Caves NM.

Sunday night was spent at a lovely US Forest Service campground near Sucker Creek. The cool temperatures of the northern California coast were broken by a warm afternoon as we headed inland into Oregon. But in the early evening clouds grew to fill the forested sky and the low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. The thunder became more imminent and then rains came followed by a few minutes of hail. Rain (or hail), should realistically be expected at almost any time in Oregon. It is the elixir sustaining the evergreen brilliance of western Oregon.

Hail!

The storm was accompanied for a brief period of strong winds too, dislodging Douglas fir cones onto the campsite, swaying the trees above, and suspending sprays of conifer leaves in the air near the forest canopy. I was exhausted from a busy work week followed by two early mornings of intertidal work along the California coast and I fell asleep uncharacteristically early in the evening after the peak of the storm passed through. In the morning, the sky was blue and rays of the sun passed beams through the forest illuminating the humid summer air.

Five-fingered ferns (Adiantum aeluticum) grew on the far back of Sucker Creek across from the campsite. The water moved swiftly, apparently in greater volume than last year which was a drought year for the west. I saw no tiger lilies from afar as I had seen last year, but columbines grew near the base of a thin waterfall on the far bank. This location was impressed into my mind because of the fortunate circumstance of photographing a swallowtail butterfly feeding off the nectar of the lilies, two gorgeous organisms together! With the waterfall and attractive organisms, I recall that this little spot also had an outcropping of serpentine rock, a delightful occurrence of several of my favorites.