Eagle Creek, February 9, 2023
In the summer of 2017 Eagle Creek burned: a massive forest fire that spread both up and down the Columbia Gorge. The area was closed to hiking for 4 years then reopened after it had stabilized.
There are still many trees that had been burned, standing as charred remembrances of what happened due to human carelessness; and many downed and beginning to rot. Yet there are still areas of green trees and the plants have returned. I have been hiking this trail since the mid 1980s but in the early 2000s this trail, along with many others in the Columbia River Gorge began to be so popular it made it difficult to continue hiking there. And my treks began to be further and further from the Gorge. But on this clear chilly winter’s day, there were very few people around so I decided this would be the best day to hike this traill again. Being the middle of winter, there were many, many streams running down on both sides of the canyon, creating lots of incredible waterfalls flowing into the main stream of Eagle Creek. And I chanced upon a loveliness of ladybugs. There were patches of ladybugs for a ten yard stretch along the edge of the trail.
Columnar Basalt
High Bridge, 3.5 miles back
One of many waterfalls flowing into Eagle Creek
Sign of spring arriving soon, very young saxifrage
Loveliness of Ladybugs
