I Had a Hunch

I could see the dark clouds moving in as I left the college around 2:00, but I had a hunch that if I beat the rain to Keddie Cascades, I'd get in some good photography.  I was hoping a few new flowers were making their season's debut.  At a certain bend in the road - the road named Old Highway - where I photograph Shooting Star, Death Camas, Rattlesnake Plantain, among many others, I thought just maybe the springtime action has begun.  And sure enough, as I approached that bend, my son spotted a few Shooting Stars.  After taking a few photos, we continued on to the trailhead of the Keddie Cascades Trail, parked the car, and hiked in approximately a mile.  I wanted to get at least as far as a certain spring that comes out of the rocky wall on the right hand side of the trail and see if the Hellgrammite I've seen under the same rock for the past two summers was possibly still there.  We ended up seeing lots of interesting plants and animals along the trail, and I'll give a full report tomorrow.  The Shooting Star was a good omen.