ROCKY CANYON.

Although I had to cut my weekend in Cascade short for work, Jessie and I still managed to fit in a quick adventure late Sunday afternoon.  I had read in the newspaper about this amazing flower, the Blazing Star, that blooms in the Foothills this time of year.  We set out up Rocky Canyon in search of this supposedly spectacular flower.  We found the Blazing Stars alright, but they were obviously past their prime!  We found plenty of plants but only a few flowers that hadn't faded into  complete ugliness!  OH DRAT!

  

  

blazing stars.

  

Although our Blazing Stars turned out to be a complete flop, it certainly didn't stop us from continuing to explore the canyon.  We stopped at one point to hike along a dry creek bed and found BLACKBERRIES!

 

  

  

Blackberry patches are notorious hangouts for RATTLESNAKES!  Fortunately we didn't run into one of those friendly fellows!  Although I am all about adventure, I certainly prefer my adventures to be of the snakeless variety!

We quickly discovered that the creek bed was an awfully thorny place!  It was nearly impossible to walk without being snagged from a dozen different directions.  But still, I'll take THORNS over SNAKES any day!

  

We explored this cave a bit but once discovering it was home to a PACKRAT, we decided we'd had enough of that prickly, rat-ridden creek bed and moved deeper into the Foothills.  Despite the onset of fall, we still managed to find plenty to occupy our attention!

  

      

  

    

We were driving along, stopping wherever and whenever we wanted without really worrying about a destination when suddenly I began to feel like I ALMOST knew where we were.  We came around a corner and instantly I KNEW where we were!  We had wound our way up and over the mountain and were suddenly at LUCKY PEAK!

    

It took us about three seconds to decide that we simply had to stop . . .

run to the end of that dock . . .

and JUMP IN!

(clothes and all!)

       

    

THE WATER FELT ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

   

cousin jessie.

       

she had a blast!

 

can you tell?

i got this delightful charley-horse in my foot.

it made my big toe kink over all crazy!

  

jessie adventuring cousin tess style!

~MIGHTY ADVENTURESSES~