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October 22, 2023October 21, 2023

Edge of the Great Basin

Lake Abert, a large, shallow, alkali lake in Lane County, Oregon

The South Central portion of Oregon holds the northern part of the Great Basin. The Great Basin is North America’s largest area of contiguous endorheic (internally drained) basins.

Two hundred thousand square miles dotted with lakes and streams that don’t flow to any ocean . . . it’s a hydrological land formation.

Summer Lake, another Oregon alkali lake and wildlife refuge

The Wasatch mountain range defines the eastern edge while the Cascade and Sierra Nevada range define it’s western side.

Death Valley and the Mojave Desert mark the southern point and a few hundred miles into Oregon from Nevada is the basin’s northern portion.

Lake Abert, a Pacific flyway stop, and one of Oregon’s few inland nesting sites for snowy plovers.

The off-shoot of being basically a closed system is these basin lakes are typically shallow, alkaline and circled by marsh lands.

At least historically . . . currently these lakes are disappearing, drying up, which is not good news for anyone, and particularly for migratory birds.

Oregon’s portion of the basin includes a chain of lakes at the foot of Hart Mountain and west over Abert Rim sits a long valley holding Abert and Summer Lakes.

The refuge on Summer Lake was our destination this week.

We’re trying to get one more birding journey in before it turns into a duck hunter’s trailer park. This week we got to watch Egrets come and go.

There was a small squadron of American White Pelicans, along with thousands of water foul; ducks, geese and swans.

What we try to accomplish in the fall is a final trip across the northern dike road before it’s closed for the season.

This narrow track of gravel cuts between two large ponds with a view unobstructed by reeds and with Fremont Ridge as a background.

Most likely we won’t be back until the spring migration starts.

Though if we see a string of warm winter days, it is worth a trip to catch a photo of a resident heron, local raptor, or even one of the many cold season song birds.

October 15, 2023October 13, 2023

A Fall Day

We never seem to get used to how quickly fall overtakes summer. In what seems like a couple of days, the hillside shifts from shades of green to ochre.

Morning walks now require a warm coat and hat. However, by noon we are back in shirt sleeves. Fall is without a doubt our favorite season.

I’ve renewed the pursuit of Steelhead in the Deschutes River. To that end, this week we made our third, but not final, trip to Maupin.

Seasonal runs of these ocean dwelling rainbow trout aren’t always open to anglers, so one needs to take advantage when opportunity knocks.

The Deschutes Canyon still holds summer green along river’s edge. Higher up the slope underbrush has started to take on the reddish hues of fall.

The real sign of seasonal change is the presence of mule deer moving through the canyon on their winter migration . . . their gray fur a perfect camouflage on the hillside.

We watched as a pair of does with two yearlings work their way along the slope. Cartoon-sized ears keeping track of our presence as they search out another river access point.

Numerous casts to deep pools came up empty, but then Steelhead are often described as the pursuit of a thousand casts.

Clouds moved in around mid-day and the rains came as we headed back upstream and out of the canyon.

We’ll return in a few weeks to increase that cast count and hopefully meet with success. Regardless, time on the Lower Deschutes is well spent.

October 8, 2023October 12, 2023

There are seventy-five hundred varieties of apples in the world, a third of these get grown in the United States. If you are still picking up Red Delicious at the grocery you’re missing . . . a lot . . . of great apples.

Now most of these varieties come from crosses of heirloom trees and their differences lay mostly in minute fluctuations in sweetness. It is also worth noting, how very difficult it would be to find samples of all apple varieties in any one place.

Fruit trees are regionally specific, but the Pacific Northwest is a major player in apple production.

There aren’t many types of fruit that offer this level of variety. Nor, perhaps, share the apples level of popularity.

In recent years the types of apples you’d find at a local grocer has expanded. To some degree this is being pushed by a more global market.

However, family orchards, like you find on the hills above Hood River, have done their part in the propagation of old and introduction of new apple types, as well as other fruit varieties.

Hillsides filled with orchards and exposure to so many different types of fruit is the reason we drive to the Hood River a few times every Fall.

The Kiyokawa Family Orchard grows around a hundred varieties of apples, from Akane to Zestar, most of which won’t show-up in the produce aisle at your local grocer.

There’s also a couple dozen different types of pears . . . Anjou to Warren, and again lots of unique names. At any given point in the season there will be thirty different boxes and bins of tree ripened fruit to choose from.

Still room for some more fruit in that bag

What is ready for sale sits in a ring of wooden racks supporting boxes loaded with fruit and wearing placards noting sweetness level and some tasting notes. You buy a container (bag or box) sized to meet your needs and then fill that bag from any of the available boxes.

We chose the standard bag which held a couple dozen apples and half a dozen pears. This translated into six different apple varieties and two different kinds of pears. We also picked up a couple of small bins of plums, most of which were devoured on the trip back over the mountain to home.

Is it really fall before you fill a bag with fresh apples grown on the hills overlooking the Columbia River?

. . . I don’t think so.

October 1, 2023September 30, 2023

Covered Bridges

On a recent trip we passed an intriguing landmark.

We frequently use OR 58 and Willamette Pass to get over the mountains. A route that takes us right by an educational covered bridge.

The Lowell Covered Bridge, over Dexter Reservoir, doesn’t carry traffic, but houses an interpretive center.

Timber structure that is the bridge under the ‘covered’ part.

The building or cover over a bridge was to prolong the life of its rough sawn timber structure. As bridge building moved to weather resistant materials, the covers were left off.

A shell over rough sawn timber is evident from inside the bridge

Oregon has fifty-four covered bridges, the most of any state west of the Mississippi. But this is less a testimony to a cover’s protection, and more a matter of sentiment.

Most of these historical landmarks are located on the west side of the Cascades. Lane County having the most.

It would be easy to visit nearly all in a single trip. Maybe next year.

Lowell bridge was orginally built in 1907, replaced in 1945, added to the national register in 1979, closed to traffic in 1981, and refurbished in 2006.

The cover portion of the bridge is where you’ll find the interpretive center with backlit panels explaining covered bridge history, a model of the Lowell Bridge and information on the early settlement in the Willamette River Valley.

Pedestrian traffic is all that is allowed on the bridge these days.

This day was a bit rainy, but there is a great picnic spot which we’ll take advantage of on a better day.

September 24, 2023September 24, 2023

Summer’s End

By week’s end clouds moved into Central Oregon, daytime temperatures stayed in the seventies, and there was a chill to the morning’s air. Summer has come to an end.

There are still wildfires raging to the north and plumes of smoke continue to move over us. However, spurts of rain and cooler weather will aid in their demise.

Amid shifting forecasts we’ve managed to find spaces with smoke-free air and blue skies. This week one of those excursions was to the Crooked River Canyon.

Regardless of location, fishing gets better as summer turns to fall. There are fewer people along the river and it is no struggle to locate shade and stave off the scorching summer sun.

What’s not to like about the Fall?

As mentioned here before, the winter migration has started bringing with it more birds to the canyon.

River’s edge may still hold the last of summer’s green and buzz with insect life but just a few paces up the bank a season’s heat has taken its toll.

It won’t be long now for frosts to push the green out of the willow’s leaves and spread warm tones of brown down to river’s edge.

We start the day with puffy vests and hoodies braced against the brisk morning air.

Waders have again become required kit for fishing. But there’s still enough energy in the mid-day sun to warm you out of those top layers.

It’s inevitable that September will shift into October and our lunches will be accompanied by hot cocoa and a splash of whiskey. All too soon this pleasant Fall weather will get pushed out by winter’s chill.

Until snow blankets the roads, we’re getting in as much outdoor time as possible. We favor this time of year.

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Edge of the Great Basin

A Fall Day

Apple Season

Covered Bridges

Summer’s End