Category: Nature

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Ancient Lake

Crystallized minerals encrust rocks along the lakeshore. This is Lake Abert, a remote saltwater lake in Oregon’s high desert … and it is disappearing.

A recent Oregon Natural Desert Assoc. (ONDA) Zoom lecture made us aware of a spot we’d been near but never by and offered the perfect day trip. This week we headed to Lake Abert.

At the end of the last ice age the melting glaciers created the 460 square mile fresh water Lake Chewaucan. Then over a 2 million year span, the Pleistocene epoch, the water slowly receded and as it dried up alkali and salt deposits were left. Summer lake and Lake Abert, some 20 miles apart are the remnants of that lake. Abert is a relatively shallow endorheic (no outlet) basin that holds a saltwater lake.

We drove the indirect route via the Christmas Valley Highway (County 5-14). Cutting north off OR 31 at Fort Rock and then east to the town of Christmas Valley.

Fort Rock in the distance

The Christmas Valley Highway takes us across a high desert plain of scrub and sage. There are patches of land with hay crops and cattle herds but without irrigation the land is sage brush on high desert sand.

OR 395 skirts the edge of Lake Abert and the Abert Rim. Numerous pull-outs provide a chance to view wildlife. There is no food, gas or lodging nearby.
We didn’t see bighorn sheep, but did spot several bald eagles.

At OR 395 we turn south and head toward Paisley OR. We are on the western edge of a fault scarp that raises to 2500 feet, topped with 800 feet of basalt.

This is the Abert Rim, home to Big Horn sheep (transplants from Hart Mountain) and a national hang gliding competition.

On the other side of OR 395 is the rocky shore of Lake Abert – Oregon’s only saltwater lake.

We hiked down to take a closer look. Lake Abert is the largest saline lake in the Pacific Northwest and one of the most important shorebird habitats in the intermountain west.

Humans have been living here for at least 11,000 years. Archeological surveys have identified more than thirty prehistoric sites some with round stone house pits, domestic artifacts, petroglyphs, and pictographs. there are no signs or markers to identify the historic district.

While some of the house pits and petroglyphs are close to the highway, there are no signs or markers to identify them as a way to protect the fragile sites.

We saw very few shore birds. By the end of this summer Lake Abert will likely be dry.

Abert was once a major stop on the migration of 3.5 million shore birds.

It’s saline waters offered a perfect ecology for brine shrimp and alkali flys, but no fish.

The high concentrations of sodium and alkali can be seen in the mineral crusts coating rocks and boulders on the lake’s shore line. Climate change, extended droughts and battles over Klamath Basin water rights play equal roles in the draining of Oregon’s only salt water lake.

 

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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.