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I had a lovely hike with my family on Friday in the burn zone up Fall Creek. The Clark Fire burned the upper swimming holes and campgrounds in 2003, leaving behind skeletal black fingers instead of trees.

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This area is a haven for wildflowers, particularly at this time of year.

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I was carrying Hive account@thingtwo in a frame backback carrier along with a gallon of water and 4 beers, plus our food, so it was a good workout for me. Hive account@thingone raced ahead on the (often steep and precipitous) trail much too fast for Hive account@dillemma's comfort, alternating these madcap dashes with sudden stops to exclaim over flowers or proclaim a particularly provocative stick to be a snake.

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Oregon Swallowtail Butterflies (the state insect!) greeted us at our favorite swimming hole, but not before I picked up the agate featured in the post cover image above. It was sparkling in the sun and caught my eye the second we got down to the beach :)

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We found some Rough Skinned Newts, AKA Fire-Bellied Newts, in a shallow muddy pool left behind by the lowering water levels in the creek as summer approaches. We had a great conversation about newt sex with Hive account@thingone, he seemed to have a pretty solid understanding that they were having sex so they could make babies. And then he started throwing rocks at them :(

After the terror known as Thing Numero Uno vacated the area, I took this awesome little clip of newt sex for ya.

Rough Skinned Newt Sex

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Yup, Fall Creek Rocks

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<3

I left this heart shaped piece of jasper just like this to greet the next hikers to arrive at this magical place.

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my (long out of payout) "Mount Pisgah Rocks!" post, it is in a similar nature- and rock-loving vein. Much love - Carl