When I moved to Central Oregon 30+ years ago, I had big dreams… I wanted to be a photographer like Ray Atkinson or Erskine Wood. Both Oregon photographers I have admired. I even worked for Erskine and Nancy; in the early 80’s. I had participated in the County fair photo competitions and never won better than honorable mention…. but still I had the drive to do better. I had this high standard that I wanted to achieve, and I knew I could do it with work…. But time, finances, different interests, and different technology in photography, got in the way. Maybe the most important was my own fear of what the unknown would be and that I didn’t have friends to guide me into that unknown. In the past I have always had a big dog to go with me on these hikes that I wanted to do, but the rules have changed on that… I also fell victim to the thought ” Oh that hike is close to home so I will do it later…” Later never gets here.
I joined the Bend Parks and Rec after COVID because I felt I needed to be more active. I have met a lot of fantastic people there and made friends with some ladies who all have different lifestyles, experiences, and interests than I do. Three of the ladies also wanted to get out and hike and a few of those hikes have been featured in this blog.
This hike is another one that was thrown together when a stray comment resulted in plans that had to be changed at the last minute. It was organically thrown together on a Facebook post and the two of us went out to the upper Deschutes River. Close to home but I had never taken the time to do it. what better time than when the fall colors are just popping,
We started at Lava Island Falls and because I took over 180 photos that I whittled down to about 75 to process, I am breaking this into several posts….
Thank You Robin for Saying Let’s Go
Friendship is Team work
and it all works when we engage and support those who can’t make it,
and to be willing to be flexible when things change.
Because the Power of Friendship is the strongest when we all engage and are willing to work through the fear of what is unknown…. and are willing to support those people who want to be there but can’t just yet.
Thank You, Robin for making suggestions….
