Nature – Page 32

March 7, 2021March 6, 2021

The Off Season

Trails edge the Crooked on both sides of the river.

Fly fishing makes up a major portion of our weekly excursions and winter weather can add some difficulty to our plans.

Late fall typically marks the end of the regular fishing season. Fortunately Oregon has waters that remain open year round. Fish don’t stop feeding when the snows come and the lakes freeze. Bug hatches still occur regularly, you just use smaller patterns or fish imitations of insects found subsurface.

The biggest adjustment to off season fishing is you need to layer up before going to the stream. A near freezing morning on a typical cloudless Central Oregon day can warm to shirtsleeve temperatures by afternoon. Fingerless gloves are also an essential addition to the ensemble.

Three streams with access all year are the Fall River, Deschutes River (middle and lower stretches) and the Crooked River.

When the temperature drops we might have to hike though a blanket of snow to get to the water.

The Fall River is a beautiful spring-fed stream flowing through rolling pine forest. It is open to fly fishing only and features brook, brown, and rainbow trout.

As for the snow Central Oregon is blessed with more clear than cloudy days. While Bend and La Pine can get accumulations of two or more feet, our roads are well maintained and in just a couple of clear days any snow pack is reduced at lower elevations.

The Deschutes and Crooked Rivers run through basalt column canyons that are sparsely timbered. This exposure to the sun seems to keep river banks clear of snow.

Closer to home, the Fall River wanders through a forested landscape and it’s banks hold snow much longer.

The river is a few hundred steps off a well traveled road with numerous pullouts and a clearly marked walking path runs along both banks.

Adding a splash of whiskey to hot coffee or cocoa is a regular winter treat.

The winter weather hasn’t been a deterrent in getting out. January cold spells mean we bundle up and add a shot of whiskey to the cocoa for extra oomph. We still like to enjoy the days outside.

February 28, 2021February 27, 2021

Time-Sculpted Landscapes

Rabbit Bush on plateau of Cove Palisades with storm clouds to the northeast.

While these posts get a lot of fishing stories, another major draw for our excursions involves geology.

Rimrock basalt lines the top of canyon walls.

Evidence of caldera and volcanic activity pokes up through the Central Oregon landscape everywhere. This week’s post highlights one of these areas.

Gusting winds made hiking the trail overlooking the rocks a bit hazardous.

The Metolius Balancing Rocks are the remnants of activity a millennia ago. They remained in near obscurity until a wildfire burned through the western edge of Cove Palisades State Park.

A volcanic eruption created spires, then another added a top layer of denser material.

Over the centuries the lower portions of these spires eroded out from under the harder sedimentary top layer, leaving a unique geographical structure.

You can still see evidence of wildfire that tore through the area in 2002.

The threat of rain followed us most of the day.

Once the wildfire exposed the area long protected by the park service, a short loop trail was added, as well as some informational signage. My guess it was in hopes that vandals would be dissuaded from wreaking havoc on the site.

Another draw for a stop at this overlook is the magnificent view of the Metolius River and Mt Washington offered from a small parking area at the trail head.

February 14, 2021February 13, 2021

Painted Hills Pictures

Painted Hills Overlook features a panoramic view of the hills. The trail is accessible year-round, but can be icy in the winter.

The otherworldly nature of the Painted Hills is why we keep coming back to this unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. The guidebooks suggest spring or fall as good times to visit. This just means that those are the seasons with the most visitors at the monument.

Mitchell, the closest town, is a two hour drive through the Ochoco National Forest. There are three units that make up the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

Painted Hills is at the southwest corner of the complex. An hour and a half north is the Clarno Unit or 45 minutes East is the Sheep Rock Unit. These three sites offer a great look at the paleontological riches of Oregon and as you can imagine the drive between sites is rich in geological marvels.

The Clarno Unit offers the oldest exposed layers and fossil encrusted rocks while at the Sheep Rock unit you can tour the Thomas Condon Center and view fragments of ancient animals under glass.

However, the Painted Hills Unit presents a much larger canvas where stratified layers of soil show off eons of earth history in a very colorful manner.

We make seasonal trips to Painted Hills and find that the colored layers are more pronounced in the winter and spring.

In the spring we plan to try hiking the Blue Basin Loop, at the northern edge of the Sheep Rock Unit, and take in a somewhat different ancient landscape.

January 31, 2021January 31, 2021

Morning at Smith Rock

We arrived before dawn and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Despite the low light conditions, we easily navigated the trails.

Central Oregon winters can deliver deep snow and sub-freezing temps … but there are also periods of nearly spring-like conditions. On one of those snowless days we headed off for Terrabonne and a hike at Smith Rock State Park.

The park and it’s web of trails center around a canyon with shear rock faces lining the north bank of the Crooked River. Most people come here to climb those rocks and on weekends the parking lot is literally filled to capacity.

Arrive on a weekday morning, especially in the winter, and you might have the park to yourself. We’re here because the gnarled juniper trees and rock outcroppings make for interesting landscape photos.

There was no dramatic sunrise. That said, we scouted the area for future shoots. This is a destination (much like Painted Hills) that we will definitely visit again.

However, we chose a more moderate route. By following the south rim of the Crooked River Canyon we were treated to great views, excellent photo ops and an easy hike.

December 13, 2020December 13, 2020

Glad It’s over … nearly

This is the 60th time this year we’ve shared our week.

The blog serves as a reference point in our lives. What we did last week gets translated into words, images, and an occasional video.

Smoke from Oregon’s forest fires inundated the area making it impossible to do anything outside.

As the year comes to a close it would be easy to focus on the dumpster fire that was 2020 … maybe naively think 2021 is going to be any better.

But a blog allows us a look back at directions we took and points we hit.

Last January started with a typical Central Oregon mid-winter thaw. This presented an opportunity to explore where just a few weeks before the roads were snowed in and would be again the following week.

By April we were in the clutches of “first wave” quarantine and social distancing. We discovered that fewer people working meant crowds in the forests and on river banks. Thus we had to look for alternatives.

Time was blocked out visiting via Zoom, experimenting with recipes and creating new rituals. Cocktail hour became a new favorite. We spent time sipping and testing different whiskeys.

As Spring shifted into summer we discovered new spots to spend a day. Explorations of different roads around Summer Lake, Fort Rock and the high desert forested edges occupied our day trips.