Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
THANKSGIVING:
Event will be mostly
on a to-go basis
Proxy Falls is an excellent fall hike
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Correspondent
Continued from page 3
Seher said the volunteers
are looking into the possibil-
ity of offering some limited,
appropriately distanced seat-
ing in the large church fel-
lowship room. That seating
would likely be in <pods=
and provided for groups with
particular needs.
She said that everyone
will miss the hours of cama-
raderie provided by past
gatherings.
<That is going to put a
dent in it, because that was a
big portion of it 4 the abil-
ity to get people together, the
fellowship,= she said.
Regardless, providing a
Thanksgiving meal to people
who otherwise would go
without remains an impor-
tant mission for Sisters.
Seher said that the one
food donation item that
remains is pumpkin pies.
Those interested in donat-
ing may do so through the
day before Thanksgiving.
Contact
Seher
at
541-390-4597.
That is going to put a
dent in it, because that
[the camaraderie] was
a big portion of it — the
ability to get people
together, the fellowship.
— Jennifer Seher
As we wait to see if the
predicted La Niña actually
comes to pass, I feel like
the mountains are crying
<Last Call= for hiking. So,
we decided to take one last
(maybe) trip over McKenzie
Pass this year while we still
had a favorable weather win-
dow. We selected Proxy Falls
but then thought maybe we9d
make more of a trip out of it
and do the whole Santiam-
McKenzie loop, so we added
a couple of other stops along
the way.
So, even though it9s only
about a 27-mile trip to Proxy
Falls, we managed to make
it into about a 90-mile cir-
cuit, stopping at Fish Lake
and Sahalie Falls along the
way. Fish Lake, of course,
is empty this time of year,
so we got out and explored
some of the lake bottom.
I can remember kayaking
here in the spring and look-
ing down through the clear
water as I glided above the
submerged, but well-defined,
trail tracing its way along the
bottom of the shallow lake.
This time, we walked it.
At Sahalie Falls, there
are plenty of trails to choose
from, but we just made a
brief stop to admire the falls.
It seemed to take longer than
I remembered to get to the
McKenzie Highway turnoff.
The junction, after all, is on
the other side of Belknap
Springs. When we arrived at
the Proxy Falls Trailhead, it
was obvious that we weren9t
the only ones to have that idea
for a Saturday hike. There
were 15 cars already there,
and parking was limited.
Signs told us that this is a
fee area; but, after I deployed
my Golden Access Pass, we
saw that there was a notice
exempting passes this year.
Kiosk directions suggest a
counterclockwise pattern of
travel on this loop trail in
order to minimize contact
with other hikers 3 an excel-
lent idea in this COVID year,
but not one that was univer-
sally adhered to. Probably
fewer than half the hikers
were using masks, but we
were occasionally thanked by
other hikers for using ours.
The entire loop trail is
only about a mile, exclusive
of the additional spur trails
to the two falls themselves.
However, as short hikes go,
this one could be consid-
ered a little more difficult
than some. The first part of
the hike passes through and
over one of the McKenzie9s
trademark lava flows, neces-
sitating some scrambling and
awkward footing along the
way.
Fall colors are past their
peak, now, but were still in
F or all your fall
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PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
Lower Proxy Falls tumbles into a glacial valley off a short loop trail west
of McKenzie Pass.
evidence during our visit this
past weekend. When the trail
plunges into the dense forest,
huge old-growth Douglas firs
dominate the forest but also
shelter hemlock, Pacific yew,
and western red cedar. Salal,
sword ferns, rhododendrons,
lichens, and thick green moss
that completely covers much
See PROXY FALLS on page 17
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