Coyotes yap and howl across the valley, while doves stir along Fort Rock’s face.
With winter subsiding, at least briefly, we venture further from home. This week we headed east, early enough to catch the sunrise at Fort Rock.
The Fremont Highway is a strip of two lane asphalt cutting across the northern corner of the Great Basin.
Rock face catches the first rays of sun
On the western side is a rock structure jutting out of the sage steppe. Fort Rock is an excellent backdrop for sunrise or sunset images, as well as a raptor nesting site.
Summer Lake, one of our favorite birding sites
An hour after sunrise we’ve captured images and drone footage and are back on OR 31 heading further east. Over Picture Rock Pass and down into Summer Lake valley. It’s the latter part of hunting season and there’s not a lot of birding at the wildlife refuge.
Common sight along Fremont Highway
We press on eastward through Paisley to Valley Falls, where we turn north skirting the edge of Abert Lake. Oregon’s only saltwater lake, and one of two in the great basin, its eastern shore is shadowed by a 2500 foot exposed fault scarp. Abert Rim is one of the highest fault scarps in the US.
Abert Rim looking south from the lake’s edge
All this comes together for excellent landscape photo ops. There is renewed awareness of the damage drought and irrigation has brought to this important stop over for migrating birds. Recent legislation will focus research on ways to restore alkaline lakes. Hopefully, it’s not too late.
Receding water lines mark issues with scarce water resources
Starting in April and running into the fall, there are a series of different bird species using Abert as a nesting site, or for just a short stop over. Our trip was a chance to scout potential birding spots. To that end, the calendar has been updated with future excursions, which of course will get documented on these pages.
Summer and Abert lakes are remnants of an ancient sea bed
For now we swing farther north along the western edge of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. We hit Highway 20 outside Burns and then take that road back to Bend and complete the circle.
Halloween candy wasn’t even gone from the pantry and our social media feeds began to fill with gift suggestions tucked among the posts. It’s difficult to be in a holiday spirit when you’ve been bombarded with ads for two months. Amplifying the sales spiels is a din of corporate media messages passing off their price gouging as a recession.
Travel companion
With a lingering pandemic, threats to global peace and what appears to be half of the country ready to embrace a fascist coup, it’s not been a great year. Yeah . . . it’s hard to find any spirit of the season in our hearts.
But then we took a look back at the forty-plus entries on this blog and realized there were plenty of bright spots.
Fort Rock in the distance A year of laughing, living, and most importantly, having fun
In spite of the chaos that surrounds us, we’ve managed to get out in the woods, tramp across the high desert and stand in a stream or two.
Snow is fun … mostly.
Basically . . . enjoy the moment … we hope you have done the same.
There won’t be any blog entries for the next few weeks, but look for a new post toward the end of January. For now, take a moment and reflect on this year’s high points . . .
We wish all our readers Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!
. . . more roads to travel, trails to explore, more adventures to come
Our screens are filled with Fall and Halloween, content but summer’s not giving in that easy. The PNW swelters under a heat dome and it does not feel even a little bit like Fall.
Wading rivers is a great way to beat the heat. Usually we can time our trips to take advantage of the cooler morning hours. Neither of these strategies worked this week. The day’s heat never gave way to a typical morning chill. We needed to find a different escape.
The Upper Deschutes is a perfect spot. Tip can enjoy a game of fetch and a swim. A dense lodgepole forest gives plenty of shade along the stream bank so it is a good choice for these last days of summer. The weatherman predicts a shift to more ‘Fall’ like weather in the days to come. For now we make do.
Surrounded by cliffs almost 2000 feet high, Crater Lake is one of the 7 wonders of Oregon and is the cleanest and clearest large body of water in the world.
Did you know there are 63 National Parks in the US? All but 14 of them are west of the Mississippi River. We’ve only visited a handful, but one is just an hour’s drive south.
Alaska and California each have eight national parks, Utah has five, and Oregon has one … Crater Lake. It’s only 180,000 acres, and while it is a spectacular sight, the lake is the park’s biggest draw.
This volcanic crater lake is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity
In Montana, I grew up minutes from Glacier National Park. That park is just over a million acres in size. Nearly every Sunday in the summer, we fished a river that defines Glacier’s western border, but only on rare occasions did we actually drive into the park. National Parks attract lots of people, so you really need to be strategic about when and how you go.
For us, Crater Lake is a perfect day trip. A road follows along the crater’s rim, with numerous pullouts, photo ops and picnic areas.
No rivers flow into or out of the lake …water is replaced mainly through rain and snowfall.
The park is snowbound and closed to vehicles through May. We usually wait for the north entrance to open and this year it happened to be late June.
An early start puts us in the park by 8:00 a.m., usually ahead of the crowds. The East Rim Road is our preferred route, though a section was still closed for repairs. A windless day put a mirror like surface on the lake, perfect photo weather.
