Amazing Tree

 On Friday, we decided to put on our knee boots and pick our way up the river.  The river was very low, but heavy rain was predicted in a few hours. This was our last chance to work our way up through a practically inaccessible section of the river.

Walking up the river, I'm standing about where our property ends.  Due to the vertical basalt bank on the left, we normally can't access this area without getting wet.

Walking further upstream, we could see the cool tree bridge up ahead.

It's hard to capture in a photograph, but years ago this large cedar tree fell across the river, but had enough roots still in the ground to send up a row of cedar branches that look like small trees.  It is up high enough to avoid high water.

Large Big leaf maples tower over the river in places.  Can you imagine the force on the base of those trunks as they lean out at extreme angles?

This bobcat track was one of many various tracks we saw - mostly raccoon and deer.  

Someone lost his brakes years ago!

Gail enjoyed sitting on this elephant trunk.  

We later worked our way down the river below our house.  It was a fun morning of exploring.  The next day, after two inches of rain, the river came back to life.  We would have needed hip boots to repeat this!