Smith Rock State Park

About 20 miles from our house in Terrebonne, Oregon is Smith Rock State Park.  Dave and I were looking for a hike and this one fit the bill. We loaded up the pups, packed water and some snacks and jumped in the car.  Now Smith Rock doesn't reveal itself when you drive up.  Sure some of the rock formations are peaking out of the canyon, like this.

Once you arrive at the Chute ( the trail that takes you down into the canyon) you begin to see the real beauty of Smith Rock.

Dave and Crowe are at the trailhead, behind them a glimpse of the Crooked River meandering through the canyon. The pic on the right shows the view from the Chute Trail.

**A little history lesson: Smith Rock is one of the most popular Rock Climbing spots in the world. The rocks rise some 3000' from the canyon. The park covers 651 acres.  The movie "Rooster Cogbum" starring John Wayne and Kathryn Hepburn was filmed here.  Here - really!

We decided to follow the 3.6 mi. River Trail.  It is a dirt trail at relatively low elevation that follows the banks of the river.  We snapped a few pics to share with you.  In some of the pictures (if you look very closely) you can see climbers - hanging from ropes - up high on the rocks. They look like ants.  Brave ants.

Look closely - people are swimming!! Not a bad way to cool off.  Our dogs went in every chance they got to cool off.  Look at that scenery.

At the bottom of this picture (above) you can see the dirt trail we followed.  I snapped this pic on the way around the canyon. I am pretty proud of this one.

Here is the back side of the canyon and the trail gets a little more difficult.  Look at the scale of the rocks. Those are people standing on the top of the rocks behind me. Oregon people are fearless.  A few more minutes and Monkey Face comes into view.

From the side this 350' spire looks like a Monkey. And people climb it.  We saw them. Not this gal, no thanks!

As we made our way around to the front of the canyon, the rocks rose like skyscrapers.  We took a few last looks and headed up the trail to the parking lot. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.  The park fee is $5./carload.  Dogs were exhausted.  We had logged 3.6 miles and earned a yummy dinner. Great Day!