Today was magnificent. B and I headed up to Deception Falls, which was the scene of a mystery last year. Forgot my Sharpie, more’s the pity, but I got the answers to some of the questions raised from that thread, so that was outstanding. I’ll get that up soon, after the chaos that is this weekend goes away.
But right now, I wanted to share some of the absolute best moments. Like this one:
Do you see it? I didn’t see it at first. B has sharper eyes for biology than I do, and he spotted it. Managed to catch just one fleeting photo before it flew off. Here, you can see it closer:
Damn things are hard to photograph! Crazy little birds, fish in waterfalls. I mean, in the waterfall. I’ve got a bunch of footage of one from Oregon last May, I’ll get it posted for you eventually, and you will love it because it is awesome. I’m especially jazzed to see one here at Deception Falls, because a sign there last year promised me ouzels but never delivered. So excited to see one today!
There there was the light.
Looks like someone buried a spotlight in the river, dunnit? And some of the shots I got were outstanding.
Some of them might be suitable for pairing up with inspirational Bible verses.
You know. The ones that many people become upset when you quote, and swear they’re not in there, because they haven’t bothered to read the icky bits. Dunno if I’ve mentioned it, but I’ve yet another project I’m working on, in which I will pair the kinds of photos you find with sappy motivational religious posters with the kinds of verses that make believers squirm. Heh.
Anyway, this wasn’t some weird person diving beneath a waterfall high in the Cascades and placing a spotlight in there for no reason. It also wasn’t supernatural. Just a wee stray sunbeam shining down into the shadowy canyon through the thick canopy of trees, and lighting up the water a treat.
So that’s the Tye River for ye: always up to something wonderful. We had a lovely wander through the woods and lingered around nice cool waterfalls after hiking switchbacks from hell further up the road. Silly us, wanting actual exercise before a relaxing ramble along the river. On a nearly ninety bloody degree day. Ah, well, we did exceed our target heart rates, so I suppose that’s something.
I am now going to go enjoy some well-earned unconsciousness, and then tomorrow we have an action-packed day of food, Doctor Who, and watching men beat each other up. Then Glacial Till and I will be having a mini-geoblogger meetup on Sunday. So I may be scarce for a bit, but never fear: I’ll be unleashing geology and social commentary by Monday morning. Got quite a bit of stuff that just needs a polish and some pictures all ready for ye.
Go have some well-earned happy fun times, my darlings!
Hey. Your link is borked – it’s doing that thing (which seems fairly common) where it tacks the address of the current blog post onto the front of the intended link.
I think this is the correct link? (just text, since I can’t preview properly…)
https://the-orbit.net/entequilaesverdad/2012/10/03/geopuzzle-one-of-these-three-postulations-is-right-out/
Fishing in waterfalls> I wonder if in some ways it might be easier, like maybe smaller area to watch, and less ability for the fish to dodge/flee, or a more predictable path or something?.
Looking forward to stuff about that other weirdness last year.
Dippers ( water ouzels) mostly “fish” for aquatic insects. Nevertheless, the idea of an aquatic thrush is pretty neat.
Cute little birds.
One scared me right off my rock when I was fishing. I was moving upstream, rock to rock along the banks and bent over to do something and the ouzel blasted past me out of its nest. I responded sensibly by leaping backward, off the rock into an icy creek, dropped my pole and had to flounder through the deeps.
My dad then fell off his rock because he was laughing so hard.
Score: bird 2, humans 0
I love dippers! I can remember watching as a kid from the bridge in the middle of Buffalo, WY, where my grandparents lived. How they can walk on the bottom of a rushing stream is beyond me.
Ooh, that’s how I like my light: Localized, and doing something cool. Fantastic shots, those.
Off topic, but Trebuchet you mention Buffalo WY. Being from the west, I know the town and remember being out one night in Denver, with a guy I worked with and a friend from back home. The guy I worked with mentioned he was from Buffalo. Oh, my friend says. Buffalo WY, Buffalo SD or Buffalo OK? Guy looks at him like he’s crazy. Buffalo New York he says.