Eugenious

Chris’s summary of camping last weekend with Sylvan: “Camping was great. Sylvan loved the tent, and the water, and the trees, and the trucks, and the squirrels, and the birds, and the hollow tree trunks, and the watermelon, and the big fish, and the dirt, and the snuggling in sleeping bags. He was quite pleased.”

Due to commitments at 5 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Sunday, along with the reality of travel with a one-year-old, we needed to camp and hike somewhere nearby; but we wanted to visit someplace new. Chandra recommended Clear Lake, which is considered to be the headwaters of the McKenzie River, although Ikenick Creek, Fish Lake Creek, and the Great Springs all flow into it. The lake, which owes its clarity to 38 degree water that supports little life, was created when a lava flow dammed a river 3000 years ago. Some trunks of the trees submerged when the river backed up still stand upright in the lake, preserved by the cold, lifeless water. The water appears turquoise in some places because the bottom is covered with the silicate bodies of diatoms, a type of algae. The pale sediment reflects sunlight back through the water, giving the lake its Caribbean color. As Chandra had promised, the vine maples were also losing their summer chlorophyll, turning red and orange and yellow, depending on how deeply they were buried in the shady forest.

Sylvan has been a super camper since he was eight weeks old and snuggled in the tent on the way to Monterey, but he truly enjoyed this camping trip. He toddled into the tent as soon as it was up, recognizing that he’d found a soft, forgiving playroom; he tumbled around, flopping to the ground and burying himself in sleeping bags. Sylvan and Chris read a bedtime story by headlamp. Sylvan’s riveted expression is typical of storytime; if we offer to read Sylvan a book, he says “book” and sits down, patting his legs with his hands in anticipation.

And the big fish Chris referred to were spawning chinook salmon. Chandra told us about an artificial channel created for salmon habitat just downstream of the Trail Bridge Reservoir. The quarter-mile section of gravel stream (effectively a cul-de-sac, although fed by McKenzie water) held 40-50 salmon, holding position in the cold water and occasionally swimming splashily up over the artificial log steps. Chris says the fish weren’t over two feet, but I’m convinced they were closer to three. I just kept imagining them next to my 27-inch-tall son; they were bigger.

This entry was posted in the categories Sylvan by julie on Monday, 2 October 2006, 23:37. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.