Used to be wild, now... not so much

Some folks might know I went out and injured myself a couple of weeks ago falling down an embankment.  The wife was a bit miffed at me.  I wanted to take some pictures of a couple of my old haunts, starting with Game Farm Park.

 

 A nice little waterfall along the White (Stuk) River trail.

 

 The White (Stuk) River.  In the Spring it looks like milk--I'm told it's the glacier runoff.  I'll try to get another pic in the Spring to show you all.

 

 The trailhead to climb the hill from the back of the park.  This is quite a climb, especially for a middle-aged dude like me.  I wasn't happy when I got to the top, but I did it.

A view of the river from the top of the hill.

A view of the park from our old hangout, a place at the edge of the hill we used to call "The Grove."  It used to be really nice but now it's littered with garbage and the trees marred with graffiti. Who the fuck writes on trees?  Oh, yeah... This jerk who calls himself "Mimic."  What a fuckhead.

I fell down coming off the hill and injured my right arm/shoulder.  It's been a couple of weeks and now I've finally got about 75% of its mobility back, though I still can't put too much pressure on it.

I swallowed the pain so I could visit and photograph one other location in Auburn.  This is what I presume to be Auburn's newest park--or prospective park.  Back in the day it was our favorite camping/party spot.  While all the other kids were out at Beer Bottle Beach or 3 Bridges, we were at Big Bend.  It was a swimming hole and a great place to host a small party because it never got busted.  For my 19th birthday we carried a keg through the woods in a blanket--one of us on each corner--and drank for 3 days on it.

Good times.

 

 

This is the entrance now.  Some 24 years later.  I feel slightly violated.

And here's the crook in the Green River known as Big Bend.  In Winter.  I took my boys here last Summer and noticed it's easily a more popular swimming spot now than it was back then.  More of the local teens know about it, at least.  It was a well-regarded secret back in the day.  Local legend has it that THIS was the spot CCR sang about in their song "Green River."  It looks a LOT different in the Summer.