Northwest Waterfall Survey
- McCoy Creek Falls (waterfallsnorthwest.com)
While I’d long known of a tall cascading waterfall near the headwaters of McCoy Creek, I hadn’t really given second thought to the small ravine near the mouth of the creek as it breaks into the Skykomish Valley. However, after receiving word from some fellow local hikers that a sizable waterfall was just ¼ mile upstream, I was sold. The results were surprisingly unexpected. While the falls weren’t quite as large as I was originally led to believe, the formation was much different than I had pictured. McCoy Creek plunges through an old mill dam of some sort and then fans out over a chunky bedrock face before contracting back to a narrow stream at the base of the 45 foot falls. Unfortunately several trees block clear views from the side of the road, but with a little hazardous scrambling I was able to attain a good viewpoint. With a rope and a revisit, I hope to eventually get all the way to the base for better photos.
- Star Tales - Cygnus (ianridpath.com)
A popular name for Cygnus is the Northern Cross, and indeed its shape is far larger and more distinctive than the famous Southern Cross. In its cruciform shape the Greeks visualized the long neck, outstretched wings, and stubby tail of a swan flying along the Milky Way, in which it is embedded. Aratus’s description of it as being hazy or misty in parts is no doubt a reference to the Milky Way running through it. The mythographers tell us that the swan is Zeus in disguise, on his way to one of his innumerable love affairs, but his exact quarry is a subject of some disagreement.