Back to the TH and the start of the hike, where even the picnic tables were wearing white clothes:
I always wonder what this sign next to Nick Eaton Falls originally said before it was destroyed:
Jojo is in the bottom right of this picture for scale:
Moving on toward Casey Creek and the sun began to reach the forest floor where it could, making for a magical day on the trail:
Occasionally the wind would come sweeping through woods, sending frozen bits of beauty from the boughs of trees:
Slide Creek Falls was no to be overlooked either:
Whiskey Creek was partially frozen near the edges with every mid-stream rock sporting a white hat for the coming winter:
And it was amazing:
Crossing the creek was just cold
Just past Whiskey Creek and things got a lot more interesting. A black bear had just walked across the trail past the crossing, heading straight for the east fork:
I was so intrigued I followed the tracks for a few hundred yards off the trail until reaching a point just above the creek. I couldn't spot the bear but it was interesting to note its track pattern and habits when traversing through the woods. Every time it encountered a downed log that was generally pointing in the bears direction of travel, it would walk the length of said log every time it had the option to do so:
Anything impeding its direct progress and it would just go over:
Now on full alert for a bear sighting
we kept on through more sunbathed and snow covered trail:
This was the first time I chose to go under the giant cedar log past the swamp. Here is Jo teasing me before I flopped to the ground and waddled my way under:
The east fork was a bit chilly to cross but beautiful nonetheless
About a mile past the crossing and we encountered another set of the bears tracks, once again traversing a log:
Not much past the tracks pictured above and we decided to turn around. We weren't that far away at that point but things were slow going and neither of us felt like slogging it out in the dark. Bummed that we didn't get the epic views that Tomlike was sure to offer we dropped back down toward the east fork. Just as we neared the creek luck would turn in our favor and we would get to witness something even more spectacular than the views we had been trying to reach all day. The Bear! It walked across the trail again just below us, seemingly unaware that we were even around. Once it reached the trail, it took a quick sniff of our tracks from earlier that day and then seemed to pick up its pace a little bit. The wind was blowing right at us so maybe it didn't smell us and it never seemed to look in our direction. But it was just an incredible thing to watch as it traversed across the snow covered landscape like it was nothing at all. After what feels like a lifetimes worth of good experiences on this trail we finally got to see a bear on Herman Creek! "My day was made, Christmas came early and life is good" I though as we descended down the trail. We made one last little stop at a huge Doug Fir below the swamp before shuffling back to the TH after another outstanding adventure in the Columbia River Gorge
Can you spot Santa?
