Tag: OR places

Posted on

Geological structures

In Central Oregon you are at the mercy of winter’s weather whims.

Sun-filled days are broken up with snowfall which makes road trips unpleasant. Right now we are in the middle of a February snow-dump and have spent the last week close to home. When the roads, as well as the sky cleared, we were ready for an excursion.

East of La Pine, about 40 miles on the Fremont Highway (State Route 31), is according to our trusty Oregon Roadside Geology book,  a “garden of volcanic oddities.” Big Hole, Hole-in-the-Ground, The Devils Garden and Fort Rock were all formed about 13 thousand years ago in and along an ice-age lake that became Silver and Summer lakes. Basically, at the same time Mt Mazama was making Crater Lake.

Geological spectacles are usually enough to pique our interest, but just a few weeks ago we discovered that Fort Rock State Park was also a destination for birders.  In particular, you’ll find falcons and eagles using the unique structures of Fort Rock to launch hunting missions across the prairie and farm fields to the east.

 

The state park at it’s northwestern edge is the starting point for a series of trails that take you into the ring of volcanic ash and around it’s outer perimeter.

This scouting mission didn’t align with optimal birding times, but we saw a couple of bald eagles and a few falcons soaring in and around the rock faces.

Posted on

A record snow fall

In a five day period, La Pine, Oregon received 48 inches of snowfall. 12.5 of those inches fell in one 12 hour period.. This closed schools, shut down airports, blocked roads and generally inconvenienced everyone in Central Oregon for the past five days.

Being retired made a huge difference in how we felt about the current blanket of white.

It’s beautiful.

It did mean shoveling out walks and driveways about three times a day, for three days. However, even that was done at our own pace.

Growing up in Montana shoveling, driving and living with chest high banks of snow was normal. It was also 30 years ago and we’d not seen this much snow since.

 

But this is not to curse the winter weather, quite the opposite. This winter dressing is great. Like most of the other things we enjoy about living in Central Oregon, the snow is on that list.

Shoveling isn’t my favorite thing, but it’s done in bursts. It presents time to chat with neighbors, and as stated, is done on our time with a hot cup of tea waiting on the other end.

The other and perhaps bigger issue with this MUCH snow is that poor Tip can’t really get into the woods to do his duty. But even he seems to love racing through the powdery cover, that is until it comes up to his chest.

Posted on

Summer Lake on a winter’s day

In 1843, John Freemont discovered a valley with an alkali lake. On a December day, Freemont’s survey team clammered down a snow-covered cliff they would name Winter Ridge, into a temperate green valley.

Fed by a small spring, Summer Lake has been as long as 15 miles and 5 miles wide.  However, demands from irrigators and dry Oregon winters have left a much smaller lake and large stretches of muddy shoreline.

Like the Klamath basin 80 miles west, Summer Lake valley is home to a wide variety of migratory birds. This was one of the reasons we drove down Highway 31 past Fort Rock, Silver Lake, Summer Lake and finally to Paisley, Oregon. That day there wasn’t an abundance of birds but we were treated to awesome views of the valley. It was a gorgeous day, kind of summer-like.