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A Blue Basin

We visited a beautiful, overlooked wonder at the John Day Fossil Beds … Blue Basin.

Oregon has an abundance of natural wonders and otherworldly places. Most of these destinations are an easy drive from our house. Thus we are making it a point to visiting as many as possible.

This week we headed back to the John Day Fossil Beds. We drove past Mitchell about 30 miles to the Sheep Rock Unit. The “Thomas Condon Paleontology Center” is located here. A recently constructed visitor building (open Fri, Sat, & Sun.) has the mandatory gift shop but also some excellent interpretive displays that detail the site’s history and fossils.

However, today we are headed to the north edge of the Sheep Rock Unit and the Blue Basin.

Sage brush dots the hills as we hiked our way into the heart of the basin.

There is a 4 mile loop trail that takes you to an overlook or a shorter 2 mile walk “trail through time” that follows the lower edge of the basin’s sculpted walls.

The shorter trail takes you into the canyon. Interpretive panels and fossil replicas are spaced throughout the trail.

A total of 13 metal grated surface bridges make it difficult on dog’s paws. Jack managed to carry Tip over several before they both called it quits.

Dogs are allowed (leashed) on the trail. However, there are a series of bridges crossing the ravine bottom decked with a paw-poking metal grates.

Tip wanted nothing to do with these and the alternate routes were just too precarious. He and I did make it to the entrance of the basin, found a  shaded bench to wait while JQ, camera in hand, documented the blue-green canyon for our blog.

A mere 44 million years ago this place was a tropical forest filled with lush vegetation (172 species) abundant wildlife including three toed horses and saber tooth tigers. Then 7 million years ago a volcano spewed hot ash and gas over a 13,000 square mile area. The event brought devastation to the plant and animal life but encased a treasure trove for 20th century geology and paleontology.

These fossil beds, exposed by erosion, contain saber-toothed nimravids, three-toed horses, tortoises and dogs.

Vegetation from that landscape turned into a unique blue-green soil that eventually eroded into what is now the Blue Basin. The Painted Hills site, it’s red and green layered hills seems to garner the most attention and is definitely a must see. However, Blue Basin is equally as fascinating and well worth the additional 30 minute drive.

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River Fishers

Osprey with freshly caught Redband Trout

We make regular trips to the Crooked River, so as a reader of this blog you get to hear about this spot frequently. There’s repetition to these visits, but we attempt to post about the parts that are different.

This week we shared our picnic spot with an Osprey. Well to be clear, he was on the opposite side of the stream but that is still very close. The  old juniper snag he perched in stood on the river’s bank maybe 60 or 70 feet away … close.

On a couple of occasions he would swoop off down river and eventually return with a fish tucked up to his breast, land neatly on an exposed branch and calmly tear flesh from the carcass.  On this day he was having much better luck finding fish than I was.

 

And then there were two …
They are very capable fishers, being successful in 4 of 5 attempts. The Osprey is particularly well adapted for catching fish. They have reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on the underside of the toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, and backwards-facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch.

 

Basically the odds are against the fish. William Shakespeare, in Croriolanus refers to a medieval belief that fish were mesmerized by the bird and turn their bellies up.

I think he’ll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature.

Eagles, a larger bird, are known to attack Osprey hoping to get them to drop the catch.

We witnessed an eagle osprey encounter but it didn’t seem to  result in the eagle getting anything more than the run around. Osprey are very agile fliers.

Canada Geese with goslings still covered in down
Bufflehead ducks

Stream banks, the riparian, host a wide variety of creatures and it just takes quiet moments of observation to open a trove of plant, animal and insect life.

The water feeds more than hay fields miles down river or the aquatic life contained in the flow. Every trip to the river is a unique experience … and we love it.

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Revisiting Painted Hills Area

Painted Hills is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon and features banded clays from a series of volcanic ash eruptions.

We make regular trips to the John Day Fossil Beds Painted Hills Unit. It’s interesting to see the seasonal changes to this otherworldly landscape.

But this week we decided to drive past the entrance to the unit and head north on Burnt Ranch Road.

We have a general idea where this road leads and have been eager to scout it out. Eight miles later we stopped for lunch on the bank of the John Day River.

Thankfully, this gravel road is well maintained. It winds through grazing land,  hay fields and around the bottom of sage covered hills following Bridge Creek.



The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) has been working to re-introduce beaver to Bridge Creek. ONDA volunteers help construct temporary dams, plant native vegetation and deciduous trees to improve the habitat.

Bridge Creek restoration includes installation of in-stream structures to provide support for beaver dam construction.

Bridge Creek passes the Painted Hills Unit before joining the John Day River and is a major spawning area for Mid-Columbia River steelhead. The John Day lies on the eastern edge of Burnt Ranch property at roughly the mid-point in the John Day River’s un-dammed course through central Oregon.

 

With head waters in the Blue Mountains, the John Day river flows 284 miles. If you include the South and North Forks, there are about 450 miles of water that empties into the Columbia River 16 miles east of the Highway 97 Bridge. The John Day is the fourth longest free flowing river in the contiguous United States.

Most of the river is located in sparsely populated areas through beautiful canyons, skirting numerous paleontological sites.

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Lots of Water

Wild and scenic Lower Deschutes River

Another seasonal based trip we make is to the Lower Deschutes River. This final stretch of the river running from Maupin north to the Columbia is a big river. Unlike most of the streams we fish you can’t wade across this one. However, March Brown (Mayflies) and Golden Stonefly hatches make bank fishing much more productive and the two hour drive worth the effort.

 

Spring weather brings a deep shade of green and paths of wild flowers to canyon walls, plus the white water rafters haven’t started to fill the river. You’ll often see Blue Herons perched in trees along the banks and Common Merganser pairs feeding in slower side channels.

Lunch includes Tip’s favorite … pastrami.

Sunny weather is perfect for shirtsleeves and a leisurely picnic lunch. We had the BLM Oak Springs site to ourselves and enjoyed the day.

 

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Finding Feathers

Clean up of the Holiday Farm Fire includes felling thousands of trees and stabilizing hillsides. Some areas are little more than ash and rubble.

This week we drove through a wildfire, or rather the aftermath of one of the many forest fires that burned Oregon last summer. 2020 was the most destructive fire season on record in the state.

Highway 126 winds along the McKenzie River

On this day we followed Highway 126 along the Mckenzie River and drove through the middle of the Holiday Farm Fire.

This blaze started on the sixth of September and when it was finally contained. 65 days later, it had burned 175 thousand acres, destroyed 760 structures and killed one person.

The magnitude of this, or any wildfire, is not completely captured by news accounts. Even video reports don’t give you a prospective on how much 175,000 acres burned is really, nor how arbitrary the destruction.

There were plots of ground leveled to bare foundation sitting next to houses untouched by fire. This went on for miles as we drove past the ongoing clean up efforts.

Eight months later they are still clearing debris and felling damaged trees as they attempt a return to regular life. However, there are also a lot of people getting out and lots of properties are ‘on the market’.

We were on this road heading west to Eugene to locate flytying supplies. I’ll admit that tying the flies used in fishing may not be a money saving prospect. Hobbies are rarely a path to frugal endeavors. This house is engaged in a number of hobbies that require regular re-supply and flyfishing is just one of them.

A mix of Hen necks dry fly hackles

The pandemic has moved the acquisition of materials to online sources but there are also some issues with that. The major issue for a flytyer is some of the bits attached to hooks need a color match.

While there is no shortage of online sources for these materials this isn’t the best method for choosing the “proper” item. I find it necessary, particularly with feathers, to make these choices in person.

The pandemic also exacerbated the supply chain. It’s kind of important to support local fly shops but this supply chain issue has greatly reduced materials at our local shops. In the case of hackle feathers the choice is none. So the answer to this dilemma is a road trip to one of Oregon’s great supply centers The Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene. This place had a wall of hackle choices and of course a number of other essential items. then back on the road and home but this time via Willamette pass Highway 58.