THE KAUTZ CREEK TRAIL TO INDIAN HENRY'S
By Park Ranger Charles Landes
There are some that like the little travelled trails, that find a
fascination in traversing the deep quiet woods or the more open
parklands of the high ridges. The Kautz creek trail leading from the
road at Kautz creek to Indian Henry's is such a trail. This trail has
not had any work done upon it for several years and in some places is in
a sad state of dilapidation and to the novice it is not recommended but
to the lover of woodcraft it offers particular inducements as it lures
him forward suddenly leaving him stranded in the midst of a grassy
meadow or with a quick turn aside challenges his ability to follow
it.
For the first few miles it is through dense forest and easily
followed, then it emerges out upon the ridge in open country a region
scarred by a great burn. The transition is so sudden it startles you to
note what a terrible thing the fire is. Here it has changed a great
forest into open barren lands covered only with huckleberry and many
lovely flowers, for the flowers love the open place. Here also the
marmot reigns supreme and his shrill whistle resounds on every hand.
Many butterflies of beautiful hue and the bluebirds also inhabit the
high country of the open flowerlands.
The trail leads on around the base of Mount Ararat and down to the
Ranger Station in Indian Henry's Hunting Ground.
NARADA FALLS
By F. W. Schmoe
To the casual observer a waterfall may be beautiful though not
particularly interesting. It is a mass of flying leaping water holding
the eye with its beauty of motion and color and impressing the mind with
its tremendous power.
Narada Falls, a drop of 168 feet in the Paradise River just below the
automobile road at Narada Falls station, for instance, has not always
been a waterfall although no doubt the Paradise river has made its mossy
way through its deep cut gorge for ages past. It was left to a caprice
of nature to create the falls as we have them now.
Since the time when the Paradise Glacier receded above the present
site of the falls the Paradise River has been adding to the work done by
the glaciers and consequently found itself after some thousands of years
deep down in a rocky walled canyon some hundred and fifty feet deep.
Suddenly one warm spring day the river was blocked by an avalanche of
snow and rock which slid down from Mazama ridge near the present second
crossing bridge about a half mile above the deep canyon. With the old
channel obstructed by thousands of tons of rock the waters naturally
piled up behind the barrier until they reached sufficient height to
break below the slide. For a distance then the stream flowed parallel
to the old channel until a point was reached where the former gorge
turned to the right allowing the new river to plunge over its wall and
into its old channel again but with the result that the waters fell
almost vertical rather than descending by a series of smaller cascades
as it formerly did. This is in brief the story of Narada Falls. Many
others of the numerous beautiful waterfalls have a similar history.
Note.
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