Wildfire

August 4, 2024August 3, 2024

A Day Trip

At times these past few weeks, it seemed that all of Oregon was burning. So this week we attempted to see if that was true.

It’s not. At least not the entire state.

However, here in the high desert we are regularly covered in a plume of smoke.

We began our trip before dawn . . . an early start to a long loop route.

First stop, Cottonwood Canyon Day Use with enough time for some small mouth bass fishing.

This is one of our favorite spots,. Set in a canyon on the last few miles of the John Day, the river meanders across the northern third of the state.

Upstream, the John Day River, at Cottonwood Canyon SP

The morning was mostly smoke-free with cool morning temperatures.

Sharing lunch with local wildlife

The day use space at Cottonwood was empty and offered plenty of shade. We set up chairs and took in the quiet.

The next leg was east toward Service Creek, another point along the river.

This brought us to the western edge of a group of active wildfires, Lone Rock (137k acres), Monkey Creek (176k acres), and Courtrock (20k acres).

The turn south at Service Creek was literally the last piece of Highway 19 east still open.

There are always interesting bits of geology along Oregon highways

It was as far as we intended to go, but we did cross our fingers that we’d be able to get on State 207 and find a route to Mitchell.

By the time we’d pass Waldron Schoolhouse , the smoke had cleared and the traffic was light. We enjoyed the drive down to the Twickenham Road and the eastern border of Sutton Mountain.

At Mitchell we connected with Highway 26, and then took a short detour to visit the Painted Hills Unit.

We’ve been there numerous times, but this is a stop that is always worth the effort.

From there it’s back onto 26 over Ochoco Pass and dinner at the Tastee Treet.

A burger dinner on the Crooked River seemed a good way to end our day.

June 30, 2024July 26, 2024

Where There’s Smoke . . .

View of the Darlene 3 fire from outside our front door.

Wildfire has always been a threat to western forest dwellers. Over the last few years there has been an increase in the number of major . . . as in thousands of acres . . . wildland fires.

To us, the off-shoot of most of these conflagrations has been smoke plumes that randomly blanket the spaces we inhabit. We have not had to deal with a direct threat

. . . until this week when we looked out our front door.

Dubbed Darlene 3; because there were two previous fires in the same area, La Pine’s first wildfire of 2024 was reported around noon on Tuesday the 25th.

By dinnertime it had grown to 500 acres and level 3 evacuation orders (“GO NOW”) had been issued to a large number of La Pine residents.

The fire kicked up several times due to wind gusts. Here you can see several new plumes.

Many of the fire fighting resources concentrated efforts on reinforcing containment away from neighborhoods, and in our case we were grateful they prevented the fire from jumping Hwy 97 (located just past the small forest in front of our home).

For the past couple of days the fire has been sitting at nearly four thousand acres burned, with 40% contained. Thankfully it continues to receive a lot of attention from a wide range of state and local agencies.

All it would take is a shift in wind direction and this wildfire would rise to disastrous levels.

Topping off our gas tank at Wickiup Station off of Hwy 97 before heading home.

Some area neighborhoods remain at level 3. Luckily, other areas have been downgraded to level 2 BE SET to evacuate.

Winds continue to push east-southeast away from La Pine and our neighborhood. But vigilance and constant monitoring is our best course.

Watch Duty, a free app for computers or smart phones, has been a great help tracking the fire’s progress. The app allows you to identify and track wildfire even really small local burns that other online sources ignore until they are at disaster level.

September 3, 2023October 11, 2023

Up close . . . another Wildfire

An unexpected hazard on our way to Cottonwood Canyon. Wind gusts of 47 mph tossed mounds of tumbleweeds across the road, making one lane impassable

fireweatheravalanche.org maps fires of all sizes

Let me bring you up to date in case you haven’t been reading the blog these past few weeks.

Large sections of the west are on fire. Smoke chokes the air of an even larger region. And, there’s not been much relief from Ma Nature.

This week, hoping to find a space with clean air, we drove up to Cottonwood Canyon.

Months ago we put a reservation on a cabin at that state park. Looking forward to lazy time on the veranda and smallmouth bass fishing, the car was loaded and headed north.

Upon arrival a flustered Park Ranger informed us that we had to leave. Cottonwood was under a Stage 3 Evacuation.

We did not even get unpacked. After a two-plus hour drive, this was not welcome news.

View of fire from Cottonwood Canyon State Park

But this news was not completely unexpected. There was a massive plume of smoke roiling over the crest of a hill on the eastside of the John Day River.

To the north, upstream, a hillside was completely blackened and smoldering.

View looking south from the park to scorched hillside.

Cottonwood Canyon State Park was firefighter’s base camp

As we looked on, fire swept across face of mountain within minutes

We had been looking forward to this two-day stay, now we were driving back down Highway 97.

By mid-week, past our reservation window, the park had reopened with little or no fire damage.

We have two days reserved in October which should be outside wildfire season.

Until then it seems smoke-filled skies will continue to disrupt our summer plans.

August 27, 2023August 26, 2023

Summer’s new Villain

Lowell Covered Bridge on Dexter Lake along Highway 58 . . . smoke from the Bedrock Fire near Fall Creek

A few more acres got added to the wildfire tally and the week was mostly about staying out of the heat and away from the plume. Eventually the heat subsided, but the opposite happened to the smoke cover.

Usually you can see the Cascade Range on the horizon

Every week it’s a game of guessing where the weather patterns are going to move the veil. The Crooked River might be sitting at 20 AQI (Air Quality Index) on Saturday and by mid-week have shifted to three times that number.

We’ve managed to re-direct travel plans, but with a tropical storm messing with the weather and 3 more major fires it’s not lookin’ good for outdoor activity.

There was a short trip over the Cascades to a favorite German Deli and some Willamette Valley fruit stands. But the rest of the week was spent avoiding smoke-ladened air.

This has become the new normal for Central Oregon . . . we’ll make it work.

September 12, 2021September 11, 2021

Smoke Clogged Days

Endless days of ‘unhealthy’ and ‘very unhealthy’ air pushed us to a point where we drove into the belly of the beast, Summer Lake. It’s a few miles north of what was at one point this summer, the nation’s largest wildfire.

Air quality doesn’t seem to matter to the snow geese, sand pipers, American avocet, and stilts who feed across the shallows.

California fires are the major contributor to the choking particulate count but Oregon has added to the plume. Which at last view stretches from left coast across the nation. In all it’s been a bad summer for outside activities.

The one thing poor air quality offers is unique sunrises. So the first stop was Fort Rock to catch the orange globe.