Sunset, Moulton, and Lucia Falls

Our original plan on Monday was to head to Silver Star Mountain in SW Washington for a hike - our first real hike in quite some time. However, our efforts were thwarted when the road leading up the mountain got progressively rockier and ruttier... too much for the little Honda Civic Hybrid Zipcar we were in to handle. Boo! Instead, we checked out some of the gorgeous waterfalls along the way on the Lewis River.

First stop was Sunset Falls. The falls are a little thinner than usual this time of year, but there was still plenty to look at.




Up above, just behind the falls, was a giant swimming hole. It was about .5 seconds before Buckley was in. He loves to swim!

The water was amazingly clear

Endless games of fetch

The rocks I'm standing on are a good five feet above where Buckley is...

...and in a single bound, he's up!

Posing pretty

"Daddy! Please throw the stick! Please? Pleeeaaase!!"

Shake!

Sunset Falls

Looking downriver

Waiting for lunch...

After Sunset we headed to Moulton Falls, just a short drive away. This park is home to two waterfalls, ancient Indian meeting grounds, and volcanic rock formations. The water level was a little low here as well. We plan to head back in the spring, when all the snow melt is on it's way down.

Just before the falls, the water is eerily still

Water rushes through the volcanic rock formations

There was plenty for Paul and Buckley to climb on

Smooth volcanic rock

Our last stop was Lucia Falls park, just about two miles from Moulton Falls. The rocks and water were beautiful here. Much to Buckley's chagrin, there is no swimming or water activity allowed here, as it is a sensitive spawning area for salmon. In the spring when the salmon run, you can see them all leaping up these falls to head upstream - another reason to check these falls out again in the spring. I didn't catch it on camera, but we did see one salmon trying to leap up the rocks!

Lucia Falls

Looking downstream

Lots more rocks for climbing - Buckley's second favorite thing after swimming

Looking back upstream - you can see on the rocks how the water level changes

Lucia Falls

At the end of the day, I had taken almost 500 pictures. What?! It's very easy with this camera to just keep shooting, in the hopes that one shot out of a series will come out well. Gonna need a faster computer to keep up...

Love,
Jenny