Rimshot!

What a wonderful barefoot hike yesterday at Cantwell Cliffs. There was still a bit of snow on the ground, but it was patchy, and the air temperature was about 45°. Just about the time my feet thought about getting cold, they warmed right back up again.

And the scenery . . .

I tend to get on these exploratory binges. I’ll get a bit familiar with a park, then extend out a bit, and next thing I know, I keep going back again and again until I’ve explored all the spots that look interesting on a map. So, I’ve been heavily re-doing Cantwell Cliffs lately.

This time I was intending to head into the State Forest portion and check out some interesting-looking topography on the other side of Hwy. 374. But the route I wanted to take took me along the top of the rim for some of the gorges (gorgeous gorges). When I’d been there lately, I’d followed a bit of a rim trail, but mainly I’d been bushwhacking. This time I thought I’d also map out that rim trail.

However, the rim trail had so much good stuff along it, I never made it to where I was intending to go. (That’s okay—I’ll do that next time.)

I started right at the top of the Cantwell Cliffs waterfall. (You can see it from below here.) Here’s the view from the top looking down.

The Top of the Cantwell Cliffs Waterfall, Looking Down

(I was in a safer position than that looks.)

Continuing along the rim trail, there is a portion with a lot of separated slump rocks. Slump rocks are portions of the cliff that water has gotten into and separated from the main chunk. They then slowly slide away downhill, leaving a gap.

The Slump Rock and Gap

[Click on most pictures for a larger version.]

The gap can also slowly fill with dirt, so we end up with what you see in that picture. The right side of that rock has a good 30 foot face, which tells you how much dirt is in the gap.

Here’s a view of the same slump rock and gap from the other direction.

The Gap from the Other Side

As you can see, we still have a bit of snow left over from last Monday(?). As I said, it was fine to walk on. A lot depended on where the sun had gotten to it (north-facing slopes had a lot more than south-facing slopes).

Further down was yet another slump rock. This picture is taken from below, looking up (less soil in this gap).

A Gap from Below

This was a very special and spectacular spot. Right next to that gap was this rock column.

Rock Column

I could have sat there all day.

There was also a deep (and not very tall) recess cave between the gap and the column.

Inside the Recess Cave

I’m afraid that while I was there I couldn’t resist clowning around around the column.

Framed

(Next time I’ll learn to use a flash to compensate for the backlighting.)

Here’s the topo map showing where the rim trail goes.

The Rim Trail (light blue)

Of course there were wonderful views across the gorges. Here I’m on the north side facing south. The snow there is therefore facing north and not getting much sun.

Across the Gorge

One thing I found interesting was that the trail was also used by animals who had left their tracks in the snowy patches.

Here’s a deer.

Deer Tracks

At one point I had to climb over a log. It looks like a raccoon had beaten me to it.

And finally, there was one more animal leaving its prints in the snow along the the trail.

Primate Tracks

It was a great hike and I got to explore exactly where the rim trail went. And next time I still have the other side of the road to work on.