Smith Rock State Park

The Rocks

The most striking features of Smith Rock are the large rock formations that rise out of the ground. The park is a famous destination for rock climbers who can be seen scaling the cliff faces around the park.

The rock formation Monkey Face at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon

Ground Zero

From this angle, it’s pretty clear where the rock formation Monkey Face gets its name — from other vantage points the rock loses its simian appearance. The picture is taken from the River Trail, which loops up onto the rocks to the right of Monkey Face. It’s a nice way to get to the top if, like me, you’re scared of heights and wouldn’t scale the cliff face if your life depended on it.

Caution is advised in this area because, although I have no definitive proof, when it all goes down I’m pretty sure this will be ground zero when the earth becomes the planet of the apes.

A turkey vulture soars high above the rock formation Monkey Face at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon

From this vantage point, the rock formation Monkey Face at Smith Rock State Park doesn't look like a monkey face

Monkey and No Monkey

A turkey vulture soars high above the rock formation Monkey Face. If you're hiking the loop trail clockwise, you'll come by Monkey Face shortly before the uphill hike to Misery Ridge. I don't know where the ridge gets its name but after hiking the loop twice in one day, my calves thought it appropriate enough.

Viewed from behind, the monkey disappears but is still interesting in its own right. You can see the loop trail that runs at the base of the rock wall, as the trail continues you will hike up up up to the top.

The Crooked River runs below a rock wall at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon

Looking Back

A look back from the trail at the Crooked River as it flows past a large rock wall. The loop trail leads hikers on flat ground while it parallels the river for half the loop, then gets more challenging as it winds up to the top of the cliff walls.

A rock wall among the trees at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon

Rocks and Trees

When we were kids, the family took turns saying grace before the evening meal. Sometimes my youngest sister would pray in "Rocks and Trees" mode, where she'd start off thanking God for the food that was prepared for us, mom for preparing it for us, all of the other things in her daily life she was thankful for, leading on and on until she eventually thanked God for the rocks and trees. At that point we knew the prayer would finally be wrapping up and we could start on our dinner.

Places like Smith Rock remind me she was on to something. I liked the way the evening light left some of the trees in dark shadow, the shape of the rock wall stone mimicry of the living trees below.

Mule Deer

A Mule’s Ears

Between the heat and the elevation changes and hiking all day, I was feeling pretty beat as I walked the River Trail for the second time. As the sun got low in the sky, I came across this gentle doe grazing on the hillside and the sight provided a little lift to my tired legs, at least until I got to the steep hike up to the top of the rock wall and my calves started remembering the first hike up.

Mule deer can be seen pretty easily in the early and late hours at the park, they tend to stay down by the Crooked River between the rock walls. A characteristic mule deer share with mules themselves are their large, twitchy ears. The ears can be moved independently as seen here.

Western Fence Lizard

Climber

I’m not a rock climber but I enjoy watching both the two- and four-legged varieties at Smith Rock. This climber was on an old log high in the park. The little guys live everywhere from the valley floor to the rocks along the cliff faces to the top of the rock formations. A telephoto lens was helpful, as they didn’t like a close approach and scamper along the rocks a lot faster than I.

A male western fence lizard sunbathes on a rock at Smith Rock State Park

A Rock, Just Not Smith Rock

A male western fence lizard sunbathes on the top of a rock (one of the many, many rocks) at Smith Rock. While both males and females have blue patches in their midsection, the male has another blue patch under the chin.

In addition to being able to scamper quickly along horizontal and vertical rock formations, fence lizards excel at rapidly rotating around trees and wooden fences. As you can see from this picture, the five toes of every foot have little claws at the end, just the thing for holding onto the far side of a tree when predators (or photographers) come calling.

A western fence lizard sunbathes on a rock at Smith Rock State Park

Blend Modes

Fence lizards come in a variety of shades from light to dark, but most of the lizards I saw at Smith Rock had this light coloring. I don't know if it is genetically more common or if it leads to higher survival rates by enabling the lizards to better blend in with the lightly colored rocks.