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April 30, 2023April 29, 2023

Birding

White-fronted geese trail behind two Sandhill Cranes

This week Central Oregon skipped spring and went straight to summer. Not complaining, but it was an abrupt shift in weather and attitude.

We’re long overdue for a Summer Lake trip, so we loaded up the bird books and headed east.

It might be a bit cliche . . . turn seventy and post a piece on birding. Is that too much, old guy? In between trips to the river, which by the way are great places to bird, we do regular bird-centric excursions.

Over the years we’ve sat, eyes pinned to lenses, along a lot of different marshes. Living on the northern edge of the Great Basin puts us close to a few stopovers on the Pacific Flyway. One of the best, in our opinion, is Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.

Unlike wildlife areas with better ‘press,’ Summer Lake never disappoints. Here we squint across a hundreds of yards of field. The loop road, often just a couple of tire ruts along the top of a dike, allows for great birding opportunities.

It was an unseasonably warm spring day, perfect time to catch the first round of migratory birds moving across the country. Some will spend weeks, others will move on in a few days.

The great thing is they never cease to amuse; like an acrobatic yellow-headed black bird bouncing from stalk to stalk, or Clark’s Grebes hunting a secluded section of the pond.

There is another visit scheduled for later this spring, well before the summer heat.

April 23, 2023April 23, 2023

Still Waiting on Spring

Every morning this week we woke up to snow on the ground.

Yeah, it didn’t stay around but it took the joy out of any adventure we might have planned. So, we stayed home and caught up on stuff.

We’ll be back next week with some pix and info on an Earth Day jaunt . . .

until then, here’s hoping this is the last snowfall we see until next winter.

April 16, 2023April 15, 2023

Weather Watchers

We put in a lot of miles over the course of a year. Most are spent on two lane roads crossing the sage steppes on the east side of Oregon.

A feature of driving through the high desert is you’re able to see the weather. Not just the stuff over our heads, but what’s happening on a distant horizon.

You witness weather fronts sliding across remote locations. We frequently pull onto a wide spot in a remote stretch of highway, camera lens pointed out at a distant butte or swale. Cloud patterns, rain curtains, and sunlight all casting shadows for our photos.

The play of light, clouds and landscape make for very interesting images. It connects us to the environment in a way similar to standing in a stream or hiking a rocky trail.

All if this is part of the experience we are trying to share in these posts. At the same time, making the journey as much fun as the destination.

April 9, 2023April 8, 2023

Cabin Camping

I don’t think it would qualify for an Instagram post as ‘glamping‘, but this week we spent a couple of nights in a cabin on the John Day River.

Winter snowstorms still pester the Bend area, but at the park we enjoyed sunny days and mild spring-like temperatures.

Oregon State Parks offers overnight stays in cabins, teepees and yurts at parks all over the state. Most of these exist at coastal parks, however a dozen parks east of the Cascades have structured camping options.

Most importantly for us, there is always at least one cabin that allows pets.

Cottonwood Canyon SP has four “rustic” cabins available by reservation year-round. These two room units can sleep 8 people, have electricity to provide lighting, wall mounted heaters and an AC unit.

Cooking isn’t allowed inside, but there’s a gas grill, picnic table and fire pit next to each cabin.

A covered porch offers un-obstructed views east across a grassy flat, willow-lined river and the canyon walls.

Big Horned sheep in the canyon’s rocky hills

Our first morning was spent watching Big Horn Sheep graze on the rocky north face just above the campground.

Later in the day, we hiked up to the foot of that slope and the Pinnacles Trail Head. This trail and one on the opposite side of the river (Lost Corral Trail) follow the John Day for 4.3 miles around a couple of bends in the river.