The Narrative Image

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...

It seems that one of the consequences of staying alive for a long time is that you begin to gain a sense of appreciation for the cost of change. This is achieved through the accumulation of memories, through the death of more and more of your contemporaries, through cycles of human construction and demolition, and occasionally, demonstrations of environmental tinkering via Mother Nature’s big box ‘O’ tools. Evidently in November, Mother Nature determined that a portion of the Sandy River needed a make-over It used to be that you would drive to Zigzag and turn North at the Lolo Pass junction, drive a little over four miles to forest road 1825 and then…but then it doesn’t really matter because forest road 1825 has a gate across it now. So it’s get-out-of-the-car-and-walk-time. At first, as you walk along the trails that snake along the river, you marvel at the delicate ground cover and the tenacious tree-like things that struggle to grow out of the moss and lichen covered rocks. But then...