On Sunday we tied two kayaks to the top of the jeep and took off for the Willamette Wilderness. Along the way we stopped for quick look at some hot springs (Belknap Springs) where people have been enjoying the hot waters since the early 1900s (and probably before). We also stopped to see Sahalie Falls, a beautiful waterfall that plunges down the mountain.
We ended up kayaking on Clear Lake, a natural lake among the forests and lava fields. The lava fields were fantastically jumbled slopes of dark rocks and you could only imagine what explosions took place to leave such a legacy. Even now the fields are still fairly barren. Clear Lake was aptly named. In the parking lot we were next to two divers who told us where to look for a sunken rowboat and a thermal spring. The water ranged from bright blue-green to dark blue depending on the depth, but only where it was dark blue was it too deep to see the bottom. The warm sun brought thoughts of swimming, but trailing your hand in the icy water for a minute dispelled those thoughts. The water above the thermal spring was still ice cold, but you could see its presence by the brown and bright green algae that swirled in the water above it.
Wallace and many other fishermen had their lines out, but not a fish was to be seen or caught. We did see occassional swirls, but never an actual fish. There were three kinds of ducks on the lake, none of which were particularly phased by humans. Wallace took the photo of the mergansers. The other two ducks were mallards (with the ducklings) and buffleheads. A few osprey also lived along the lake, so there must be fish in there!
For plant life, there were pretty pink Spiraeas along the shoreline and sedums among the lava rocks.
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