The Narrative Image

Avalanche Lilly Maybe like a horse straining against the starting gate. Maybe like a frail prisoner too long in a too small cell. It slips the grasp of winter first, …blossoms like fireworks …vetoes the long darkness. McNeil Point Shelter (obligatory picture to show I actually made it this time) On the Ridge above McNeil Point strewn across a skewed field Tortured trees caught in a centuries long assault to climb the mountain …because it’s there. On the Ridge above McNeil Point Bent Crippled Stunted As tall as any tree can ever be The View West from McNeil Point Rock as Heat-sink – Unnamed Snowfield near McNeil Point Plant Zombie Aroused by the melt-water torrent reaches up from the grave with a three fingered hand Snowfield Transforming into Tarn Winter’s refugee seeks protection from the Sun’s persecution In the shadow of the mountain there is no asylum granted in July Metamorphosis (Detail) Nature Graphically Perpetuating the Concept of Resurrection I wasn’t paying attention an...

“So why do they call it ‘Burnt Lake’?” was one of the recurring questions I was asked after last week’s hike. To find an answer, I checked out Lewis McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names, but Burnt Lake didn’t make the cut. I searched a lot of hiking sites and perused the ‘regional’ shelves at local bookstores and generally, most references to the lake include a story about a forest fire that wiped out an old growth cedar forest sometime around 1904. Supposedly, you can still see the stumps of the ex-forest if you hike to Burnt Lake from the north. I thought a dead forest might be interesting to photograph, but I also suspected that the trailhead for the north end of the Burnt Lake trail was beyond the washed-out bridge that still doesn’t go to the Ramona Falls trailhead either. It seemed prudent to come up with an alternative hike and The Portland Hiker’s Field Guide, because it has hikes arranged by area, made it extremely easy to find a nearby option ( http://www.portlandhikers.com/ )....

In my April 30th entry ( http://thenarrativeimage.blogspot.com/2007/04/scouting-road-to-ramona-falls.html ), I previewed the road to the Ramona Falls Trailhead and chronicled the conditions that currently exist after flooding that occurred in November. Although the bridge that spans the Sandy River is intact, the southern bank of the Sandy River is not – that is, a substantial gap between the bridge and the land makes vehicular traffic to the Ramona Falls Trailhead impossible. This ultimately adds approximately three miles inbound to the existing seven mile loop. Add the extra three miles outbound, and overall, you can expect a new super-sized 13 mile hike. This is the alternate bridge I used to cross the river where the road is closed. The third trunk on the right provides a fairly steady platform for your feet and you can use the middle trunk for balance. It is kind of eerie to walk on Forest Road 1825 and never see a car (Saturday I didn’t see any other hikers either). I was remind...