Jan 29th
Moulton Falls Park, spent the day walking taking photos with my friend Annie...this day will also go down in my mind as the "prelude to the flu" of 2007. Yep, Annie, I owe you!!
This spot is just a couple miles upriver from Lucia Falls on the East Fork of the Lewis River, it's one of the last undamned rivers on the Columbia Basin. In 1996 a flood went thru a gravel mine on the banks of the river and caused incredible damage to the Salmon spawning habitat that was one of the largest in the area. In spite of the waters retaining the beautiful emerald green colors in 2001 the river was listed in the top 10 most endangered rivers in the country.
One of the nice things about being out this time of year is you pretty much have the place to yourself. We quickly covered the 2 miles of trails that the county has worked hard this last year to put in. I was amazed that most of them went to picnic tables...next time I go up I'll get a photo as it really was wild. I can't imagine what they were thinking, I know I wouldn't want to lug picnic gear up the hill.....and in the summer you wouldn't even be able to see the river from most of the sites. Seriously the trails ended at like 5 or 6 tables in each spot....I've never seen anything like it.
Nothing like coming back to the car for a cup of hot Costa Rican Coffee after a day on the cold trails!! (good place as any to put in a plug for the Community Agroecology Network where you to can buy great fair trade DIRECT coffee....go
HERE now....order some and support some incredible Costa Rican farmers!!)
