Fall Creek Trail – Part II

Not too much farther down the trail, the burned trees started to be less common, and the undergrowth started to revert back to flora consistent with shady conditions. There were some beautiful wildflowers, which I cannot identify:

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I also started to see Oregon Grape. Oregon grape is the state flower of Oregon. The flowers are a pretty yellow color when present, after which the plant produces a number of small purple-blue berries. They are edible, if a bit tart, but you can eat them with salal for better taste. You can also make wine, jelly, or juice with them. Some Native American tribes used Oregon-grape to treat indigestion and extracts can be used to treat inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis and eczema. It also produces a rash however, so it’s not a popular remedy. Recently it has been found to contain components which can be used to decrease bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Oregon Grape is that holly-looking plant in the center of this picture:

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These little yellow flowers were quite pretty, but they are not the Oregon Grape flowers:

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I saw a number of these, but I don’t know what they are at the moment:

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The trail was really quite scenic at this point. The trail climbed up the side of the valley:

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Sometimes it’s better not to cut a log in half to allow hiker through. In this case, the slope was great enough and the log large enough that it was better to just make it easier to climb over:

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At higher elevation the tree canopy thinned some, allowing grasses to grow. The difference between here and the burn area is that here the grass is more alive:

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After a while, the trail descended back down the hillside, closer to the creek. The midpoint of my day arrived, and I turned around to head back, having gone 8.25 miles:

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One Comment:

  1. Looks like a cool time Tim!! I enjoy living vicariously thru your adventures!

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