A Hike at Smith Rock on a Spring Like Day in Winter

Hi all! Follow along as we take a hike at Smith Rock State Park near Terrebonne in Central Oregon. A day that started with some high clouds and ended with beautiful blue skies. After paying the $5.00 parking fee we start our decent into the canyon to the Crooked River below.

Click images for larger view

This is the first of many rock formations throughout the park. I like the way the mid-morning light was playing off the rocks. Mt Bachelor can be seen on the far left of the image.

This shot shows Mt Washington to the west.

A couple shots of raptors flying overhead. Drone flying here was suspended February 1 for raptor nesting season. I will show a couple nests a little further into the hike.

Continuing down into the canyon this image shows an oddly balanced rock between two other formations.

Juniper berries.

A small cave on the opposite side of the river as we approach the bottom. The trail we will take today starts at the gap in the fence on the right side. It is called The Homestead Trail.

A panoramic shot as we start our approximately 3/4 mile trip along the trail.

Another view as we round a bend in the trail. In the upper middle of the shot you can see some white with brown in the middle. This is a raptor nest that I will show more of later.

A couple more of the bird species that abound in the park.

More rock formations as we near the end of the trail.

Here are a couple shots of the raptor nest I showed earlier. Sorry for the blurriness these are extreme zoom shots taken by an unsteady hand. :)

Some more possible nesting sights.

Our little picnic spot by the Crooked River.

The Hike Back

The following shots were taken looking back at where we had just been. I really enjoyed the lighting and the blue sky so I may have gone a little crazy with the panoramas. :)