Cookies And Stream

Day 11: Cookies and stream has always been a dessert I enjoy immensely. No, not "cookies and cream." I meant what I said, said what I meant. When I was very young, my mom would tell me that food tasted best when you ate it outdoors, "particularly soda crackers," she'd add, and give me a handful prior to ushering me outside. I truly believe she was right. Maybe it's because your senses are heightened when you're out in good, clean air, but trail snacks just don't taste the same eaten at the kitchen table.

Today I went for a 5.5 mile stroll (round trip) along the Paradise River between Cougar Rock and Narada Falls. I ran into fresh snow a few hundred feet below the falls, snow which had come down overnight. You can drive and park within a five-minute walk of the Falls' viewpoint, but it was ever so much more rewarding to come up to it on foot. However, with the ease of access from the Road to Paradise, there were a few people at the overlook. I snapped a couple of quick pictures and beat a hasty retreat to privacy a mile back down the way I'd come. I spread my jacket on the wet puncheon bridge which crosses a tributary of Paradise River and sat there, delighted with my dessert of chocolate-chip cookies and stream.