Travel – Page 4

June 16, 2024June 16, 2024

A Mountain Loop

Davis Lake with Mt. Washington in the background

We spent this week under a heat dome. Not as bad as the southwest, but still a snow-melting stretch of weather. So we toured the Cascade Lakes Highway.

The edge of a lava flow, Jack & Tip for scale

We do this loop a couple of times a year, that is, the whole route around Bachelor. Sunriver to Crescent.

In this case, the opposite direction is a great early summer drive with lots of places to stop, walk around, and take photos.

Davis, Wickiup, and Crane Prairie are full from runoff, which is better than it’s been the last few years.

Most of the snow has receded to the highest points. We’ve made this trip in late May and snow banks frequently line the highway . . . but not this time.

Near the head waters of the Deschutes River

The meadows and marshes are a vibrant green, but not yet filled with wildflowers. That will have to be another trip.

Typically one of the stops is just below Lava Lake, at the head waters of the Deschutes River. However, the stop was brief as the mosquitoes were thick and hungry.

The closer you get to Bachelor, the more cars are encountered, so we rarely venture past Lava Lake.

The summer fishing is good and the shade is cool along the Upper Deschutes, as summers heat comes on full roar.

June 2, 2024June 5, 2024

A Different Road Taken

Looking south from refuge toward Summer Lake

The Fremont Highway will take you right by Summer Lake, so we drive that route frequently. Usually only as far as the refuge, but this week we kept on going.

Past the southern end of Summer Lake sits the tiny town of Paisley. If you stay on Highway 31 for another 30 miles you’ll run into 395 and that eventually gets you to Reno, Nevada.

Instead, we took a hard right in the middle of Paisley, heading up into the Fremont Forest along the Chewaucan River.

The initial plan was to run up the back side of Winter Ridge and come out at Silver Lake.

The Chewaucan is a beautiful little stream, we’ll definitely be back to fish. We’d explored the northern portion out to Fremont Point and got a spectacular view of Summer Lake Valley

The Chewaucan River cuts through a meadow

The canyon cut by the Chewaucan winds south through pine forests, past numerous camp sites and side creeks, eventually running into USFS 28. This road traverses the top of Winter Ridge and would, in theory, lead to Silver Lake.

I say in theory because we didn’t calculate snow pack and got turned back by blocked roadways.

Plans changed and we headed south to Dairy Creek and around Quartz Mountain intent on meeting up with State 140, Klamath Falls Highway. Foiled again by snow covered roadways, we retraced our route.

Undaunted, we’ll return to this area and complete the loop once the snowy grip of winter has been removed.

May 5, 2024May 4, 2024

Face to the Sky

Weather has taken a toll on this fence post.

It seems that weather, or the discussion of weather takes up disproportionate space on this blog. Perhaps not on par with fishing, but close.

This can be attributed to a couple of things, really. When you’re going outside the weather is part of the process. However, when that outside is on the high desert, the weather becomes the view.

Layers of storm clouds fill our view east

Since moving to Central Oregon, we’ve noticed that you can literally watch the weather. Not just the weather you’re in, but all those storm cells moving about you.

Winter still has a hold on the high country, but winter wheat has turned fields green

Get up on a butte and it’s 360 degrees of weather. We were used to small openings through groves of Doug Fir. Doesn’t really matter because that weather was typically hitting against your hat.

Drove ’97 North this week. As you finish the grade to the Cow Canyon Rest Area, just past South Junction Road, the horizon line drops to a constant lower third. The other two thirds is sky and this trip we got lucky with the weather filling all that space.

John Day River Canyon walls are covered with fresh spring growth

Half a dozen storm systems were scattered about. Directly above us white streaks of Cirrus filtered the sunshine. Blackish thunder heads trailing gray curtains of rain bumped against the Cascades.

To the East, less ominous but more abundant fronts hung behind projections of windmills and grain elevators.

After the sun sets there are additional perks to being on this side of the Cascades. It’s our impression that Central Oregon experiences more cloudless days than the place we moved from.

Regardless, the vista is wider, even at the bottom of a river canyon.

This particular April evening offered excellent star gazing. You just had to scoot chairs off the cabin porch. Constellations I’m familiar with got lost in a night sky filled with the stars not visible in an urban settling.

Constellations I’m familiar with got lost in a night sky filled with the stars not visible in an urban settling.

Looking east . . . the constellation Hercules might be there on the left.

Much like birding, identification isn’t critical to enjoying the moment. We regularly cast an eye to the night, or early morning sky. On this trip JQ braved the early morning cold and got some excellent images.

If the weather is right you can turn your face to the sky and see all kinds of wondrous views.

February 18, 2024March 15, 2024

Time Flies but Still It’s Winter

As I’m writing this post the snows have returned.

Not as deep as before, but there is still some shovel work required. We understand it’s winter and yet days under gray sky seem more numerous this year than any in the past.

We don’t lament the inevitable and in fact look forward to a seasonal shift. It has been common in Central Oregon for snowy winter days to be followed by sun and blue sky. Usually in equal amounts.

Not this year.

The week didn’t start with snow on the ground. Mid-February started with a spring-like feel.

It’s referred to as false spring, but regardless, we took advantage and headed to Maupin to spend the day on the Deschutes.

Rivers remain swollen from January’s melted snows so the fishing wasn’t great.

However, the day was sunny and temperatures pushed into the fifties. We sat up chairs on river’s edge, enjoyed the day and waited for winter to return.

We didn’t have long to wait.

December 3, 2023December 2, 2023

Layers of Color

It has been some time since we visited Painted Hills, so this week we spent a day walking trails and taking pictures, very touristy of us.

The Painted Hills Unit gets a lot of hype on the internet . . . heck, it’s listed as one of the 7 Wonders of Oregon.

We are regular visitors to all the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument ‘units’. But this is perhaps our most photographed.

The stratification that gives the “hills’ distinct layers presents differently depending on the season, as well as time of day.

Our afternoon visit was on a clear day, but there had been a week of rain.

These elements combined to offer some very photogenic views.

Even a quick swing into the Painted Hills is worth the time. As such, it gets worked into many different road trips. Frequent readers of the blog will recognize that.

Usually these excursions are short photo sorties to an overlook about a mile in from the junction of Burnt Ranch and Bear Creek roads.

We expanded that typical visit this week with some trail walks past other exibit areas.