With my daughter Lilly home from college for the winter break, we took advantage of last week’s break in winter weather to check out Benham Falls.

I don’t know about you, but way too often I find myself rushing through one thing in order to get to the next thing, even if the next thing is not a pressing matter; even if the next thing is doomscrolling through social media until the algorithm mercifully lands me in one of my safe spaces, vertical skateboarding or hilarious cat videos.

Column: When life gives you lemons, watch cat videos

I do this rushing thing even when I hike. I don’t know why I would head out to spend time in nature only to hurry through it. I think it’s because it’s hard to downshift once you get away from civilization.

But I’ll tell you what, a hike on a snowy, trampled trail that has been subjected to freeze-thaw for who knows how many days is just the thing to stop that frantic pace in its tracks. An uneven surface composed of half-frozen footprints from previous passersby will leave you no choice but to penguin walk in these kinder, gentler places and moments whether you want to or not — unless maybe you’re wearing traction. Lilly and I had opted for plain old unadorned hiking boots last Friday when we took a hike on the Deschutes River Trail from the Benham Falls East Day Use to, yes, Benham Falls. Just a ½-mile each way, but it seemed farther at our glacial pace.

Slick and lumpy

I exaggerate slightly: There were stretches of bare earth. But where there was snow on the trail, it was slick and lumpy, so we took our sweet time.

I may not have anticipated the need for spikes, but I had correctly guessed that Benham Falls would still be accessible whether we took Forest Road 41 from Cascade Lakes Highway or Highway 97 south toward Lava Butte. We opted for the latter, and while it was navigable, I was glad we’d driven our highest-clearance vehicle, the Toyota RAV4. After we exited 97 at Forest Road 9702, where it’s another 4 miles to Benham East, we very quickly encountered the standard Central Oregon phenomenon on unplowed two-lane roads: two ruts right in the center. Good times!

Fortunately, we encountered just one car heading in the opposite direction, and the snow was low enough it was not a problem as we both got over and kept our left tires in the right-most lanes. We gave each other the wave, the wordless language of citizens who have just cooperated with each other toward a common good.

The 4 miles of driving in ruts brought to my mind the downhill stretches of classic Nordic ski tracks, where I’m trying to keep my tips in the groomed part, but it’s snow and ice, so it’s scary. Fortunately, my car has brakes and studded tires, whereas skis don’t.

We emerged from our ruts and parked beneath the ponderosas at Benham Falls East and sat a few quiet minutes finishing our coffees. I could feel my blood pressure dropping, just gazing at the still and quiet forest. For a moment, I wish I could stay.

Once it was clear we weren’t getting to the falls fast, you might catch a sight of Lava Butte looming in the distance when a gap opens between manzanitas.

Worthwhile walk

It was worth the walk. After we crossed the footbridge to the opposite side of the water, we paused here and there to admire the blue waters of the Deschutes, just absolutely gorgeous even under cloud cover. It can get annoying how often people remind you you’re lucky to live among such beauty, but you are, you lucky devils.

As we neared Benham Falls, we opted to take the slick series of steps to the up-top viewpoint, where we saw a group of four, two photographers taking staged photos of a couple’s, I don’t know, maybe engagement photos or something. It was not the first time I’ve seen photographers, who know what’s up with beauty, using Benham as a backdrop.

Once we got to the small parking area, where we saw that four vehicles had made the drive on 41, we made our way down the incline to the lower viewpoint, which enables one to look back upstream at the series of class IV-plus cascades. We looked at the whitewater for a spell, took a selfie together, then began retracing our steps up the switchbacks and back to the flat former railbed that makes up this section of trail, sticking to the edges of the path, which were more snowy than icy.

I don’t know if we were getting more confident in our strides after some practice or hungry for lunch, but I noticed we picked up our pace as we walked back to the car, back to cell reception, back to modern life, back to a keyboard to write about what it was like being there.

It was awesome being there. I wish I could have stayed or had at least lingered longer.