Myers Creek - Grants Pass, Oregon
Finding
an old growth forest in the land of logging is a pleasant surprise.
It's just off the Briggs Valley Road outside of Merlin, Oregon. This
beautiful area is just a few miles north of Grants Pass and lies about
12 miles off the over-the-mountain road that goes from Merlin to Gold
Beach on the Oregon coast.
Stopping
at Big Pine campground and following the well maintained trail leads
you through a magnificent old growth forest. In the midst of all these
beautiful trees is the most majestic Ponderosa pine.
It stands 250 feet tall and at its' upper stories, it branches into two huge trees! It is almost 18 feet in circumference.
This
beautiful creation is around three hundred years old. It was a full
grown tree when America earned her independence from Great Britain.
Here
is a Ponderosa that has fallen recently quite near our celebrity tree.
Who knows why this monster gave up the ghost. It seems around 200 feet
long, but it's hard to tell because when it fell, it broke into several
pieces. Walking along the top, it seems to go on forever. You know the
old saying "that if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to
hear it, does it make a noise?" I guarantee this baby did!
Here I
sight both ways and the top is so far into the brush I lost interest
when I hit the first major break as it's a lot more fun walking on the
huge log highway than fighting my way through the brush.
The hole left by its' roots would make a shelter for a few hibernating bears if it weren't so close to a campground.
Another beautiful Ponderosa reaches toward the sky.
And
the next tree is another monster with a right-angle branch which I have
found quite often in the forests of Oregon, but it is always a
curiosity because it is not a normal growth pattern.
Do
you suppose that some human being bent this branch a couple of hundred
years ago when this tree was a sapling, causing a right-angle arm on
this great pine?
Myers Creek is
tame in late fall, but the Steelhead salmon lay their eggs in these
mellow waters and the young fish will grow strong here for their future
journey to the Pacific.
Southern Oregon has so much beauty to
offer, I don't know how it is where you live, but can you imagine being
able to go into the beautiful mountains in the the middle of November
and enjoy leisure hikes amidst the colorful flora and fauna? On this
trip, as we pulled into the area, a huge buck deer casually loped across
our trail and up a hill. They seem to have a sense of where they're
safe from hunters.
