Proxy Falls and Linton Lake

It was a sort of drizzly summer day in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon, but we were determined to get the kids out for a hike. So we set out up the road to head up toward McKenzie Pass. There were numerous trail heads that we had not been hiking on that were short enough and pretty enough to make it worth the struggle that it took to keep the kiddos moving.
 I had Conrad in the backpack, but Zyla was now old enough that she could do a lot of the walking herself. The first trail that we chose was Proxy Falls. There were two waterfalls, but we did not know that. We pulled into the trailhead, parked, and paid for our group of four. Then we headed down the trail. Zyla was really excited about the huckleberries and it was hard to keep her moving as she always wanted to stop to eat some more. We got her to the first fall and it was a little hard to see. There seemed to be a lot of trees growing around it and it was a bit rainy. We debated about whether to go the other way, but finally decided for it.
I was glad that we did for their was another much more prominent waterfall and this one was way better than the other one. There seemed to be a perfect cut in the forest to see the water pouring down. It was a nice spot and I knew we would have to take our friends and family back to see this again in the future. We finished the loop, but we still had not had enough. So we packed the family up and went up the road to the trailhead to Linton Lake. For some reason this trail was a little bit busier.
It seemed to be a popular spot for young people to go backpacking into as it was close enough to the trailhead that they could actually bring in their beers and flotation devices. Not really my style, but it was a good hike and though it was an effort, Zyla was really putting those 4 year old legs to use. She was a bit slower than other hikers on the trail, but she was able to keep going. The trail was fairly level, which helped, but slowly went downhill to the lake. When we got to the lake the kids were excited.
 Having lived in Southern Utah all of their lives it was nice for them to see the alpine lake and be able to throw rocks in it. We enjoyed hanging out at the lake, but it wasn't really necessarily a typical August day. We were in our rain jackets for most of the day. As we fled the multitudes of unprepared and sort of gloomy looking backpackers that seemed to set up camp haphazardly near the lake, we went back up the trail running into more silly 20 somethings coming up the trail. Zyla and Conrad for that matter did great and it was awesome to be able to take the two of them hiking in Oregon. I think we were really going to enjoy the awesome scenery and excellent trail system that was out here.