Tag: Smoke

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Closer to Home

Sunriver pond  .  .  .  smoke haze in the background

As the week started our good fortune ended and a smoke plume took it’s place.

Up to that point, we’d been one of the few good air quality spaces in central Oregon. The wind pattern shifted and then most of the state, heck the Pacific Northwest, got covered with smoke. 

On a clear day you’d be able to see the Cascade Range from this point

With the air quality so bad and no place to catch a breath, we’re pretty much homebound for the foreseeable future.

“smokeWX” map

There’s an app  .  .  . ” smokeWX ” which lets you see an animated  prediction of future smoke cover. It has been a big help in planning our outings.

At the same time we’re dealing with the smoke, our daytime temps cooled  .  .  .  so some good news.

A supply of baked goodies stacked in the freezer

There were a bunch of baking projects that needed to be done, so those jobs moved to the top of the list. Restocking our freezer and pantry was how we spent the week. 

Isn’t variety the spice of life? We think so, and to that end have a set of cake pan sized metal bins in the freezer to hold baked goods.

Have you discovered Alton Brown Cooks Food on YouTube? Check it out and look for the chocolate chip cookie episode / recipe  .  .  .  these chewy cookies are very nice.

Looking north it’s not bad here, but you can see what’s around us

As the week winds down some of the fires are getting contained, which should lessen the smoke plumes. Now we just have to get through October.

That’s the end of fire season and it seems a long way off doesn’t it? 

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Escaping the Smoke

Just outside Terrebonne it’s hard to make out Smith Rock from the road

It has been an odd week. A large portion of Oregon remains on fire and choked in smoke. Over a million and a half acres have burned and thousands of people have evacuated, with more just waiting for that Level 3 – GO Evacuation Order.

While that was going on, our small corner of the world has been nearly smoke free.

A clear day on the Upper Deschutes

There were a few bad air quality days the end of last week. Then this week our skies cleared. Our small section of central Oregon lay isolated from smoke. 

We’re not complaining. It’s been nice to open a door and not start coughing. But there is a downside. All our regular haunts are still sitting in the smoke.

And that’s not even the worst of it

There are a couple of project fires just North of Prineville and southwest of Maupin. The John Day fossil beds Painted Hills Unit is scorched. And the plume from all these fires pretty much covers the rest of central Oregon.

We did find a spot close by to escape the smoke.

The Upper Deschutes is relatively smoke free, at least the section we stopped at.  So for now we stick close to home and watch the fire apps waiting for the winds to shift and the fires to burn out

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Eye of a Storm

Sunrise through the smoke plume

The week started with a wildfire burning east of Redmond and headed for Sisters, with another one burning north near Oakridge.

Both of these conflagrations managed to spread plumes of smoke over the area  .  .  .  well, actually it was fickle wind patterns.

Dry fly presentation over a morning hatch on the Crooked River

In the middle of these smoke-filled days, there was a trip to the Crooked River.  Opportunity pushed Prineville outside an “unhealthy” AQI (Air Quality Index) shading on the weather map.

Apple Weather and Watch Duty get regular scans on our phones  .  .  .  tracking wildfire activity and air quality.

The Crooked is a welcome respite from thick smoke-filled air and fishing was good too. It is the height of summer season and the lush vegetation, juniper trees and snags are busy with bird activity.

A young Osprey is getting better at hunting, eating, and keeping the gang of Magpies at bay. The Magpies really are a marauding gang. At any point a dozen of them swarm over the trees.

Off to grab another of his 3 to 5 fish per day diet

With just a skreech from one, a few more come flying. They menace the Osprey but don’t really do much damage  .  .  .  if you don’t count making meal time stressful.

Nice little Redband Trout

Our day begins before the sun hits the water. All morning I’ll fish over the caddis or mayfly hatch.

By noon activity on the river’s surface has tapered off. By now it’s getting hot, even in the shade, so we pack up and head home.

Tip napping in the shade of an old juniper tree

The Apps suggest that smoke will wane in the next couple of weeks, so that’s good news.

We’ll wait till the Labor Day crowds thin before venturing back out.

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More Heat and Smoke of Summer

This week we were, again, dealing with smoke from an increasing number of wildfires, as well as record high temperatures.

The week started out with an air quality level at a breathable ‘moderate’.

Crooked River at Cobble Rock Campground

We headed up to the Crooked River and with a little searching found a quiet, shady spot to set up our chairs, break out cold drinks, and open the lunch boxes. Mid-day temps pushed  90º but a light breeze through the shade of ancient junipers made for a pleasant day.

Grasses thrive at river’s edge

Fishing wasn’t great but Tip and I covered a lot of stream to to be sure.  We spent most of that time wading. The reparian is still pretty lush as the river level remains high. A few more weeks of this and the resevoir will be all but dried up and we’ll see a dramatic shift in stream levels.

The wildfire smoke settled onto us for the remainder of the week and we’ve been living with “unhealthy and hazardous” air quality conditions. Hoping for some relief next week.