Poppa had read about a place called Proxy Falls, so we decided to visit there on the way back to Portland. The road to Proxy Falls is an older mountain pass called Old McKenzie Pass that is only open in the summer. It's full of twists and turns and beautiful vistas. On the way to Proxy Falls, we were surprised by the Observatory at the summit of the pass. The pass cuts through an old lava flow and we saw huge fields of lava rocks. The Observatory itself is made from these lava rocks. It has window holes cut into the Observatory. Each window hole provides a view of a nearby mountain. It was quite the experience.
We ate our lunches and loitered at the Observatory while we enjoyed the fanastic scenery. We probably could have spent a whole day exploring the area if we'd had time. We headed next to Proxy Falls.
Proxy Falls was another great adventure. There are two waterfalls on the hike. The hike is a great oval loop. At the top of the loop, two trails branch off like horns, taking us to each of the falls. Before we could get that far, however, we had to pass through a lava field. It was quite the hike, especially for the kids and the puppy. When we reached the first of the falls, we ran into a reporter from the Salem Register Guard. She interviewed Poppa for a story in the paper!
The trail leads to a vista of the first falls, which appeared to be the bigger of the two. But the trail to the second falls lead us to base of those falls. The water cascaded down the hill into a pool. There did not seem to be an outlet for the pool either, so we guessed that it must go directly into the ground. So in two days time, we saw a river emerge from the ground, and a large waterfall disapear into the ground. What a trip!
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