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October 30, 2022October 29, 2022

Haunted Byways

Living in Central Oregon there are plenty of remote spaces to offer solitude and we prefer these roads less traveled.

The numerous state routes that take you across the high desert are broken up with small towns, often just a grain elevator and an abandoned storefront. These are ghost towns of sorts, places with more history than residents.

Oregon has the distinction of containing the most ghost towns of any state in the union, more than 200 at last tally. Maybe not so surprising is that many of them are only semi-abandoned … with greatly depleted populations.

This week as we continue to explore the John Day River, we pulled over into some wide spots in the road.

Shaniko, Oregon

Shaniko is a historic city located in north-central Oregon on a high plateau. In 1900 it was known as the “Wool Capital of the World” and features the largest wool warehouse in the state.

What is left?

Shaniko has a historic district featuring a hotel, jailhouse, schoolhouse and collection of over 40 properties. It boasts a population of 30 (2020).

Antelope, Oregon

Antelope was first settled in 1872 as a connection between Columbia River gold mines and Canyon City. Its namesake was a herd of pronghorn antelope that lived in the area.

In the 1980s members of the Rajneesh cult moved to the area planning to turn the town into their own settlement. Cult members took over the city by outnumbering the original residents. Due to criminal behavior, the cult leader fled the country and the commune collapsed.

What is left?

Antelope has a population of 37 (2020) and has a historic preservation society that details these events.

Kent, Oregon

Kent is a small community located amid rolling grainfields. This town was primarily a railroad town. Residents literally picked names out of a hat to come up with the name Kent. The name was suggested because it was short and simple to write.

What is left?

Today there are numerous buildings from Kent’s past, including a cafe, gas station and cemetery. The town has kept its post office, but has lost most of its population, which in 2018 sat at 67.

July 24, 2022August 6, 2022

Pick a spot, any spot

Columbia Gorge, from an overlook near Mosier, Oregon

This week’s travels were more of a route than destination. Typically, we pick a location, then plan a route. Occasionally, we pick a direction and stop whenever and wherever we feel like it. This was one of those trips.

We begin our trek heading north. We have a vague idea of “cherries are in season now” and realize … “it’s been awhile since we saw the Columbia River Gorge.”

As mentioned in previous posts (see “Fossils, Rocks and Turkeys”), there are rules we apply to every road trip. In this case, “don’t repeat route wherever possible.”

With cherries in mind, we head to Hood River’s Fruit Loop. We wind our way past orchards, then stop at Pearl’s Place Fruit Stand, one of our favorites. The owners are nice, the fruit, in this case cherries and fresh peaches, are delicious.

We notice traffic is really picking up on the Loop. We shift to a new route away from the tourists and toward the little town of Mosier in the gorge.

A few years ago, we picked end-of-season apricots from trees on Annie’s Orchard, which is located here. After all, cherries are in season and we are in prime orchard country.

We are ahead of the hottest part of the day as we exit I-84 into Mosier.

A fruit stand, manned by community volunteers and stocked from nearby Roots Farm, has several varieties to choose from.

We pick up a few pounds of Rainers, setting aside a small bag for front-seat snacking. And we are back on our way.

Instead of the freeway, we go east on Second Street, out of town, which is a stretch of the old Columbia River Highway, US-30.

This section is still in service, featuring lots of driveways, wineries, orchards, and scenic overlooks. We follow the narrow, twisty road, watching out for groups of bikers, and enjoy stellar views of the gorge.

Then, we are back on the freeway. This time we turn south towards home, taking an alternate route through landscape that morphs from grain fields into ranch country. Visible from the car are rolling hills with an abundance of sage. After a full day on the road, it is good to be home.

May 23, 2021May 21, 2021

A Fishing Story

Casting a dry fly near Trout Creek Campground

The Deschutes River collects runoff from the cascade range and carries it through high desert plains, irrigated farm lands, and basalt canyons. Fifty miles from its mouth at the Columbia River, the city of Maupin sits on its bank. Just downriver from there are numerous BLM campsites that offer a fisher wade access, though it is prime driftboat water. Since moving to Central Oregon we spend less time fishing this section of the river, or more to the point, we’re more selective in the times we go there.

In the spring we make a trip to catch the Stonefly hatch. This aquatic insect spends most of it’s life as a nymph burrowed in the river rock, but as water temperatures warm these exceptionally large bugs (three inches) start moving. They are headed toward the river’s edge and masses of the nymphs tumble along the streams bottom.

At this stage weighted stonefly imitations are very effective at attracting large rainbow trout.

It’s the transformation of nymph to insect that also changes the fishing from a wet fly swing to dry fly presentations. The stonefly crawls out of the water and up a stalk of grass and shucks the exoskeleton. It will go through a dozen or more of these ‘instars’ but it’s the last metamorphosis, on dry land, that produces a double winged insect with a distinctive orange body.

The stonefly lives only a couple of days and in that short period it mates, flies over the river, and deposits eggs back into the river. It is at this point where the cycle is reset and fish gorge themselves on spent stoneflies.

A dry fly presentation rarely misses and often nets big fish.

The presence of stoneflies in a river is usually an indicator of good water quality.

The stonefly hatch lasts just weeks but makes for memorable days on the river. While there are always a lot of anglers along the Deschutes, especially now, we’ve found that Trout Creek and South Junction are excellent places to gain access to the stream.

We’re a few miles upstream from Maupin, river levels are lower and wading is easier. By next week the hatch will have slowed or stopped and we’ll be looking for some other bug to imitate as we mark calendars for next year’s outing.

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020

Are you ready?

Not sorry to see this year end.

We are looking forward to all new adventures in the year to come … new destinations and experiences.

We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and offer best wishes for the new year.

We don’t plan on new posts during the next few weeks. We will be busy mastering a new software package (Affinity Suite in place of Adobe Creative Cloud) and practicing in wide open spaces with our new drone (DJI Mavic Mini). Thanks Santa!

By the end of January 2021 we will begin with season three of the BDH blog … no great changes to the web site (maybe a few style shifts) just more of ‘what we did this week’ with pictures and video.

Have a good new year and hope to hear from you in 2021!

November 29, 2020November 26, 2020

Give thanks … for deep-fried goodness

bei-gnet

|ben' yá| 

a square of fried dough eaten hot, sprinkled with 
confectioners' sugar

These powdered pillows of deliciousness are essentially donuts.

A restaurant in New Orleans that made beignets famous, has boxed a mix that is really pretty good. However, we tried our hand at making them from scratch. We selected a New Orleans-style Beignet recipe featuring yeasted dough. It makes a difference.

The yeasted dough can sit in a refrigerator from 2 to 24 hours.

Once the dough is rested, you roll it out to a quarter inch thickness, then cut into two inch squares.

The cubes are dropped into a few inches of very hot peanut oil. They are fried to a crispy-chewy golden brown, then dusted with powdered sugar and served warm.

It takes a bit of time but these simple treats are easy to make and wonderful to eat.

Print Recipe

New Orleans-style Beignets

Ingredients

¾ cup warm water 110 to 115 degrees
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 ⅙ tsps active dry yeast
1 large egg room temperature
½ cup evaporated milk
1 ¼ tsps vanilla extract
3 ½ cups bread flour
¾ tsps salt
2 ½ Tbps unsalted butter room temperature
2 cups peanut oil
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions

In a medium-size bowl, add the warm water, sugar, and yeast and whisk well to combine. Set aside for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture has bubbled up and become foamy.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and evaporated milk. Beat in 1 ¾ cup of flour until smooth. Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly pour in the yeast mixture being careful of splashing. Beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat until incorporated. Finally, beat in the remaining flour (1 ¾ cup) and salt. Beat until the dough is smooth and cohesive; about 2 minutes. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
Set a cookie cooling rack in a baking sheet and set to the side.
Put oil in a cast iron pan, about 4-inches, and heat to 360º F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out into a ¼ inch thick rectangle and cut into 2 ½ inch squares.
In batches, fry the dough until they puff up and are golden brown in color, about ½ minute a side. With a slotted spoon, transfer the beignets to the cooling rack and repeat.
While still warm (but not hot from the oil) roll batches of the beignets in a bowl of confectioners’ sugar to coat and return to the rack to continue cooling or to a plate and serve ... this is the best way.