Snow at Salt Creek



A clear, crisp, sunny day and an expedition snowshoeing into see Salt Creek Falls is called for. The snow base here is about four feet and our snowshoes sink in about a foot. The water flow over the 286-foot drop is spectacular. Ice is hiding the columnar basalt producing the drop. The spray has colored the ice with a green-yellow tinge and there are strong blue shadows.   The coloration is possibly due to many fragments of moss or lichens of that color that are abundant here. The salt content of the tributary streams is high and may also contribute to the color.


Upstream of the falls, the creek is running fast with the occasional still pools. Here the stillness of the forest is near absolute with only the smallest rare disturbance from a clump of snow falling from the high branches and being returned to its original powder crystals as it falls. Colors are stark. A black and white palette would almost be adequate to paint the scene with the water black, the trees black and the snow white, with the only color from a strand of pale yellow-green moss or a blue tinge in the depths of the holes in the snow made by walking poles.




Coming out with a short detour brings us to Diamond Creek. The stark winter palette is relieved in the view up the creek as the gap in the forest allows us to see the sun reflecting from the distant treetops. The pale green is a welcome contrast.

Returning home alongside the river that alternately rushes over shallow rocks and then slows to regions of deeper pools, we see cormorants taking advantage of these fish rest stops. We pass a colony perched individually on rocks waiting for the next dinner bell. A particularly large individual occupies one rock, bigger than the rest, with its flat top decorated in a random white pattern. This is clearly the favored viewing point. A little farther on, a small herd of elk were lolloping through the birch trees completing our winter scenic and wildlife fixes.

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