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MOUNT RAINIER NATURE NEWS NOTES
Vol. II Augut 13, 1924 No. 8


THE KAUTZ CREEK TRAIL TO INDIAN HENRY'S
By Park Ranger Charles Landes

There are some that like the little travelled trails, that find a fascination in traversing the deep quiet woods or the more open parklands of the high ridges. The Kautz creek trail leading from the road at Kautz creek to Indian Henry's is such a trail. This trail has not had any work done upon it for several years and in some places is in a sad state of dilapidation and to the novice it is not recommended but to the lover of woodcraft it offers particular inducements as it lures him forward suddenly leaving him stranded in the midst of a grassy meadow or with a quick turn aside challenges his ability to follow it.

For the first few miles it is through dense forest and easily followed, then it emerges out upon the ridge in open country a region scarred by a great burn. The transition is so sudden it startles you to note what a terrible thing the fire is. Here it has changed a great forest into open barren lands covered only with huckleberry and many lovely flowers, for the flowers love the open place. Here also the marmot reigns supreme and his shrill whistle resounds on every hand. Many butterflies of beautiful hue and the bluebirds also inhabit the high country of the open flowerlands.

The trail leads on around the base of Mount Ararat and down to the Ranger Station in Indian Henry's Hunting Ground.


NARADA FALLS
By F. W. Schmoe

To the casual observer a waterfall may be beautiful though not particularly interesting. It is a mass of flying leaping water holding the eye with its beauty of motion and color and impressing the mind with its tremendous power.

Narada Falls, a drop of 168 feet in the Paradise River just below the automobile road at Narada Falls station, for instance, has not always been a waterfall although no doubt the Paradise river has made its mossy way through its deep cut gorge for ages past. It was left to a caprice of nature to create the falls as we have them now.

Since the time when the Paradise Glacier receded above the present site of the falls the Paradise River has been adding to the work done by the glaciers and consequently found itself after some thousands of years deep down in a rocky walled canyon some hundred and fifty feet deep. Suddenly one warm spring day the river was blocked by an avalanche of snow and rock which slid down from Mazama ridge near the present second crossing bridge about a half mile above the deep canyon. With the old channel obstructed by thousands of tons of rock the waters naturally piled up behind the barrier until they reached sufficient height to break below the slide. For a distance then the stream flowed parallel to the old channel until a point was reached where the former gorge turned to the right allowing the new river to plunge over its wall and into its old channel again but with the result that the waters fell almost vertical rather than descending by a series of smaller cascades as it formerly did. This is in brief the story of Narada Falls. Many others of the numerous beautiful waterfalls have a similar history.

Note.

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19-Feb-2001