I had an opportunity to recently speak at a national conference. The criteria was to speak for five minutes with a 20 slide presentation on a topic that we are passionate about. So I shared a presentation on why I live where I live – Eugene, Oregon and entitled it “Hiking Boots not Required.” Within an hour or less of leaving my driveway I can be at a waterfall, actually there are more than 20 of them. I wanted them to know that accessing these points of beauty is not difficult, thus the title. And, for the presentation I wanted them to just sit back, relax and enjoy the slide show.
Eugene is very green – in many ways. Besides being sustainable our climate is mild and the vegetation shows it, as do our majestic waterfalls. In fact, if you Google Eugene, Oregon you will find waterfalls as one of our top to do's.
But even in the midst of this beauty we often get busy with daily life and don’t stop to see what is right before us. So with the goal of getting out, I grabbed a water bottle and my tennis shoes (no hiking boots required for almost all of the falls) and headed west. Half way to the beach is a sweet waterfall – aptly named Sweet Creek Falls – just a 10-mile drive off of the main road. With a one mile walk in, there we were. And less than 60 minutes from my home. Since we were already out we continued west and spent the afternoon at the beach, browsing shops in Old Town Florence and had a delicious seafood lunch. All of this and it was done in less than 8 hours.
One of my favorite waterfalls is Proxy Falls – it looks like it belongs in the tropics with all of the lush greenery and ferns surrounding it. Someone asked me recently where in Hawaii this waterfall was located.
Proxy is one stream that cascades into two separate shimmering veils dropping 226 feet. And the water pooling at the foot of the falls appears to disappear – it sinks through the porous lava into the ground to appear elsewhere. It is a short 1.5-mile loop in and out to the waterfalls and my 5-year-old great niece is able to easily walk this trail.
You can visit photos of this waterfall online, in a large mural at the Bellagio in Las Vegas or in person. So grab your shoes and let’s get out of the office. In less than half a work day, we can remember why we live where we live.
If you don’t live here – book an event with us. We’ll take you out to see some amazing waterfalls and you will still have time to attend your function.