Category: Nature

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Shoveling

Winter in Central Oregon requires you to shovel. The average snowfall in our area is two feet. Although, we got a fraction of that in 2017, the year before saw a roof-bowing four feet of the white stuff.

The previous owners of our house left us a snow shovel, which was nice of them, as it has come in handy.

So far this year, we’ve had a half dozen winter storms. One dropped nearly six inches in one day.  Currently, there is about four inches on the ground, and this morning we had a couple of new inches added. The forecast fluctuates between rain/snow mix up to a foot of accumulation.  It’s been a strange week for weather forecasters in Oregon.

Predictions for this week’s weather… looks like I’ll be using the snow shovel. It’s not as bad as I remember from the Montana winters of my youth.

That said, it is the most shoveling I’ve done in many years.  All in all, we are enjoying the snowy winter weather of Central Oregon.

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Chimney Rock

Usually when we are on the Crooked River, we’re on the other side of the road, rod in tow and knee deep in the stream. However, today it was a scramble up one of the many dry gullies to the east for a look out over the Crooked River canyon south of Prineville.

Chimney Rock is a distant cousin to the more famous Crooked River basalt formation Smith Rock.

But here again, we are talking about a much lower attendance on trail and of course much less technical hiking.

There is a short climb up the side of the river canyon to a juniper and sage ridge. The trail then meanders along crossing and re-crossing a dry creek bed. Ancient juniper trees are  literally poking out of rock outcroppings. The surrounding canyon walls are home to a conspiracy of vocal ravens.

The day offered an interesting prospective on a stream we often camp along, and provided a delightful hike on a sunny winter afternoon.

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Roadside geology


 
It’s a bit of an understatement to say Central Oregon has a unique geological history. Nearly every hillside and canyon in the region tells a story, exposing a variety of volcanic eras. According to “Roadside Geology of Oregon,” we live on the volcanic plateau. Walking ancient lava flows is so cool!

Northwest of Bend, a man-made lake occupies a space made up of igneous rock, once cut into by three rivers. This is where the Metolius  and Crooked join the Deschutes river. The waters of Billy Chinook draw hundreds of power boaters from May to November, however in the winter months, the canyon walls are quieter and we can indulge our geological interests in relative peace.


 
Mountain View Drive, a few miles off Highway 97 and northwest of Culver is a good starting point.  From it’s many overlook pullouts, you get a “whole picture view” of the plateau and canyon walls.

Next it’s down to the floor and the Crooked River Day Use area.  The deserted boat ramp is a nice place to stop for some lunch by the lake. The sun has made it to this level by noon and is warming huge boulders that serve as picnic site buffers.

Drive up the Crooked river branch and you are able to see textbook examples of columnar basalt that lava flows laid down millennia ago. Cross over the lake and stop to see one of the more recent rock formations in the area, a Petroglyph Rock.

We are now on the Metolius River branch and climb out of one canyon, across a flat, and drop into Fly Creek, where at USFS road 1170, the pavement ends.   A short distance farther and you pull into a turnout on the right. Down the gravel path is the Balanced Rocks, another geological oddity with Lake Billy Chinook and the snow covered peak of Mt Jefferson in the background.

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Walking the Badlands

There are lots of options for hikes around us, but none of them transport you back in time like the Oregon Badlands Wilderness. High desert and Central Oregon landscape really don’t begin to explain the terrain you walk through on this complex of trails just 20 minutes east of Bend.

Weekends from May to September, the parking lots are packed from sunrise to sunset. The place is just that popular.  However, if you come out on a winter’s morning you’ll often find no one around.  Like we did on this day. For us the cold, today it was 17 degrees at 8am, is preferred to the heat of a summer day.

Gnarled ancient junipers, desert sand paths, and jutting igneous rock make for a very different view from our typical walks along streams and rivers. The place is very dog friendly and the trails are wide and not technically challenging.  We went out on the Flat Iron Loop looking for a good sunrise and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet morning.

 

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In search of a sunrise

Since moving to Central Oregon we’ve noticed there is an abundance of sky. The Cascade range is now to the west and the high desert’s sage brushed plains stretch out to the east. The weather moves from the southwest to the northeast. Unlike the rainy Willamette valley, fronts break free of the peaks and sprint out across the sage and juniper dotted landscape.

 

As winter takes over, trail and hiking options narrow. The camper is winterized and while there is winter fishing, most of our excursions are planned around photo ops. This week JQ was determined to find a good spot to shoot a sunrise. What does that mean?  We are going location scouting. The actual shoot will need careful weather related planning.

Scouting still requires early morning drives. But we are pushing out to the east for an obstruction free, or relatively obstruction free point to capture that Quinacridone Red moment. That moment just before the sun pushes over the eastern edge of the earth. The key here is obstruction free because as it turns out the barren landscapes of Oregon’s high desert are dotted with ugly transmission lines, polebarns, and assorted manmade intrusions to the perfect sunrise.

The first scouting was on Highway 20 about 18 miles east of Bend at the Badlands Wilderness area. Ancient juniper trees, jutting rock formations, and sandy trails are a great hiking spot and while there are some interesting image capture possibilities, it’s not perfect.

Next day and again a pre-dawn drive…this time on Highway 31 toward Silver Lake and the Christmas Valley. Where Badlands’ obstructions were trees and lack of elevation, this area proved difficult to find a space without gigantic hay barns or ugly transmission lines.  But there was a much more diverse cloud cover to offer interesting textures to the skyline.

In the end, we’ve got a couple of possibilities and now have to start watching the weather report for ideal conditions. As usual, we’ll share those travels here as well.