This week we chased storms to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge and spent the day watching birds as well as weather. The time-lapse footage is shot with iPhone’s app as well as FilmicPro and edited on an iPad using Lumafusion. This is the first movie we’ve done using Moment’s anamorphic lens .. really kind of like the wide screen look for these landscape shots.
One of Three Forks
In the mid-seventies I spent a few years in Bozeman, MT attending college and attempting to be a filmmaker. Eventually, I turned to television, moved north and really never went back. Until this summer.
Some of my more memorable fishing experiences involved the Gallatin River, but that was nearly 50 years ago. When you put it like that, I feel quite old.
A lot has changed in the Gallatin Valley, but the river is a constant. Headwaters in Yellowstone Park, the Gallatin flows north first meandering through alpine meadows and then rushing through a rocky canyon. It spills out onto the farmlands west of Bozeman, eventually joining the Jefferson and Madison to become the Missouri river.
This road trip was a shakedown of camper van and kit. We didn’t even have fly rods. Two days were spent camped mere feet from the river’s edge. A vantage point that offered many restful hours watching the stream flow by.
River Dog games
There’s a spot on the Upper Deschutes river that has become a favorite of Tip’s for swimming / fetching. On exiting the car he will locate a stick and lead the way down the trail. Then it’s game on!
South Ice Cave
It was chance that led us to South Ice Cave.
We were exploring unmarked forest service roads in the Cabin Lake area, when we came upon a controlled burn. Instead of driving through, we took a turn leading away from the fire and choking smoke.
That was when we saw the Ice Cave sign. Jack and I agree on a great number of things:
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- IPAs are highly overrated
- Border collies are the smartest dogs in the world
- and you never go into a cave.
Before I go any further … I want to make it really clear … neither Jack nor I are interested in going into the cave.
We pull into a small dirt parking area dotted with picnic tables. A path leads to a fenced area which surrounds a pit. This must be the place.
We peer down and see several dark, yawning openings in the side of the rock face. Sure enough its a cave.
During the course of our first and dare I say last cave adventure, we notice a scurry of chipmunks leaping and perching just inside the entrance. Yellow-rumped Warblers buzz from trees to cave. Cool! I imagine the bat colony that makes this cave home is located somewhere further inside.
Glad we checked it out. Time for lunch and on to another adventure.
Fire Season
Compared to the rest of Oregon, we live in an area that has higher than average wildfire danger. I’m talking, evacuate your neighborhood type of fire danger.
Just a few years ago, a 168-acre wildfire, ignited by a downed power line, threatened homes in our neighborhood. High wind helped spread it quickly. The fire forced an evacuation neighbors still talk about to this day. Evidence of charred ground and trees show how close the fire came to wiping out our area.
So … we take our wildfire abatement seriously in these parts.
Primarily in the spring and fall, prescribed fires are planned and implemented. These fires are supposed to reduce the severity and intensity of future wildfire. Targeted areas are usually forests surrounding communities and homes.
There is even a map illustrating planned fires. Just this spring a fire took off just miles from where we live. We assumed it was a controlled burn but found out later it wasn’t. Several homes were destroyed … so now we regularly check the controlled burn map.
Luckily for us our HOA (Home Owners Association) has scheduled a wildfire abatement crew to remove excess combustible materials in and around our neighborhood. And the local fire folks regularly send out information on how best to manage hazardous conditions on private property.
Recently we drove through a controlled burn south of Bend on Highway 97. As you can see there’s plenty of combustibles right next to the road. Kinda of scary.
Of course one of the effects of these controlled burns and wildfires is smoke. Depending on prevailing winds, the stuff moves into the area, sometimes lingering, other times moving on. We quickly realized we needed a plan to deal with the stuff.
Number one defense strategy is to control the air quality inside our home. We decided on the Molekule Air Purifier. It does a great job cleaning smoke, pollen and mold in our air.
We’ve made small adjustments to how we do things. If we can’t walk outside due to smoke, we drive someplace we can. We open windows by using the sniff test … we walk outside and test the air quality. For the most part this is a seasonal inconvenience we have learned to work around.