seasons

Any reader of this blog will have figured out we venture to the same places with regularity. This is by design.

Our explorations are, to some degree, dictated by the change in seasons. Like the adage ‘you never step in the same river twice’.

We go to canyons to explore rivers, the high desert to find wildlife and mountains to uncover minerals.

There’s interest in the place, but of equal importance is the journey there.

A spot in the winter offers something different than it will in the summer. This is less a measure of temperature and more a matter of a shift in flora and fauna.

There are times when roads are impassable or the sun’s heat becomes unbearable. We time an excursion, when possible, to variants of weather. One can fish the year around. The only obstacle . . . road conditions.

Rivers in warm months are a pleasant picnic. As the season turns cold, there are fewer fishers but just as many fish.

Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge at start of fall migration.

Migratory patterns help predict when Summer Lake will have its greatest number of species.

But there are always birds and Winter Ridge makes a very photogenic backdrop capped with snow. Each season offers it’s own photo op.

Rock hounding is great adventure to unique locations. We’ve uncovered interesting stones while being treated to beautiful views.

Summer’s heat is not the best time to be chiseling away at a rock face or scraping a hole in the desert floor. But from winter to late spring the road in is a mud trap. Again . . . it’s a matter of timing.

It’s nice to discover a new place, turn down a different road, or frame a special photo. However, often the change isn’t a location but time of year.

To those places we enjoy, we’ll always return again.

Summer seems to be rushing away. We’ve been heading out early and seeking shade by late morning. Now, the cool of the morning lasts longer and we linger along the river until past noon. Very soon it will be fall.

One of the harbingers of fall is stone fruit.

When the produce aisle peaches actually give off their sweet heady aroma, the skin of a plum gives to the touch, and apple varieties triple, then summer is near its end.

A late summer storm starts to engulf Mt. Hood.

We’ll make several trips to the hillsides above Hood River before the end of October. Each visit is rewarded with a new variety of tree ripened fruit.

Stone fruits mark summer’s close. Apple and pear varieties will reach a peak toward the end of September, trailing off by Halloween, and at that point winter looms.