Waterfalls and dragonflies

Yesterday we drove out to the Columbia Gorge and saw Multnomah Falls, which is the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States. But when I read up on it I skipped the next sentence on the website, "Nearly two million visitors a year come to see this ancient waterfall." We saw Multnomah Falls but we did not walk all the way to the top. It was pretty crowded and this for some reason really took me by surprise. I guess because I skipped that sentence. I was sort of envisioning a nice quiet hike around the spectacular falls and this is actually what I billed to Samuel and Eva and they had their adventurer gear to study with as we walked and Jack was all decked out in this dogpack, carrying our water and some snacks. Jack turned out to be the hit of the whole Falls, I think. We had many interested dog lovers approach us about his pack and how it works and chuckled with us about our dog carrying water and feeling good about it, etc. One couple with a elderly dachshund thought it was a particularly fun idea!

So after a little frustration and after we checked out doughnuts at the espresso and pastry stand! near the Falls, we got back into the car with the intent to drive over to Rooster Rock State Park for another adventure. But then we passed another Falls, this one was Wahkeena Falls and it was much less crowded, just 1/4 mile from Multnomah Falls. We walked up up up to the top of the Falls and stood in front of it. It was spectacular to stand in front of the water. We could feel the cool water splashing on our faces, Eva called it water sparks. Then we walked down and had a sort of picnic in a shady picnic area. Well worth the drive. I wish I had pictures but you will have to look at the photos in the link. I must get more memory for my camera.

I noticed some little guys living out in the water of our kiddie pool and hoped and hoped that they were dragonfly larvae. I really love the dragonflies who live out in our yard. They seem friendly and curious and come right up to my finger to check it out when I hold it out for them. They also seem to be able to get themselves out of the screened porch area without much difficulty. After some research, though, I discovered they were not dragonfly larvae or dragonfly nymphs. They were, in fact, red midge larvae and mosquito larvae. Midges can be biting or non-biting insects and I was ok with them. According to one article, they could even have been crane fly larvae, who are harmless, albeit frustrating because they seem to be forever having a hard time flying or getting caught in spider webs and when I try to help them they seem much worse off than before, which is not saying much. But I don't think they were crane fly larvae because I think I have found them in the garden. Anyway, the mosquito larvae kind of sealed the deal and I thought about it and then dumped the pool because there were sooooo many of them. And more and more kept showing up. At the time that I dumped the pool there were several different sizes of the larvae. It was fun watching them for a couple of days. They hang upside down because their breathing apparatus is on their tail and they kind of swirl around in the water to move. The midges were neat too because they ate the strange plant life that had grown up in the water. With both larvae you could see their jaws and what seemed to be teeth. They took large lunging bites out of the algae. Fascinating.

One thing that I learned was that mosquitoes can smell the carbon dioxide and they won't lay their eggs in moving water, only stagnant water with a high carbon dioxide content. Good to know. And did you know that male mosquitoes are pollinators? And (in case you don't read the above link!) "For the most part, mosquitoes feed on nectar or rotting fruit. The females drink blood only when they're ready to lay eggs." So it's nothing personal, she's just making her way in the world, trying to do the best for her babies just like the rest of us.



And if all of that weren't enough, Eva decided to cut her hair today! Here she is with her new hair cut and her adventure gear.