We hike
d Hurricane Falls Loop trail, about 2 miles, plus another mile on a couple of side trails to overlooks. The trail from the interpretive center was made of recycled, mulched tire rubber. It has a wonderful, comfortable, slightly spongy feel underfoot. Very easy on the feet! But the didn't last very long although the rest of the trail was very well made as well and much of it was covered in mulch.What most of the trail was, actually, were stairs, 1099 on the main trail with more on the side trails - which had to be done in both directions - up and down.
It was 200 feet down to the suspension bridge, another 120 down to the river, than back up again and around to the start. I got a good workout today! The image at right is Hurricane Falls from down at the bottom of all the stairs. Luckily the going up stairs were on the shady side of the gorge - it had warmed up a bit by then.
All the different views of all the different falls were beautiful. The flow of water isn't what it used to be; some of the water
is being diverted for power generation and re-joins the river below the gorge. They do have releases a few times a year. The movie in the interpretive center showed kayakers in their colorful boats careening down the falls during a release. Some looked marginally in control but most looked like they were scrambling for their lives and scared silly!After all the walking, all the stairs, all the falls, we were treated to a mural depicting the 4 seasons for a pioneer family. I chose Summer to photograph because I though it would be of special interest to someone special. You know who you are!
Today's Miles - about 3, with a total of 1580 stairs
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