27 Sunday Sep 2020
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I’m off on a fall camping trip after too much thinking, analyzing, and twisting in circles about the pros and cons of going on a fall trip with covid19, wild fire smoke, leaving late in the year with shorter days and colder nights, and an old dog. My final approach was: “just go,” if it doesn’t work out I can just drive home.
Fishtrap. Folsom Farm
16 Wednesday Oct 2019
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When I asked people for a recommendation of what to do around John Day, the first recommendation almost everyone made was that I should go to Strawberry Lake.
Strawberry Lake
15 Tuesday Oct 2019
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I headed south, wandering around looking for fall color, fossils, and views.
Larches
06 Sunday Oct 2019
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I’m staying at John Day for the month of October volunteering at Kam Wah Chung. While there I’m exploring the area.
The tourist brochure for Grant County listed the top 20 tourist sights and included the Humongous Fungus with a note to see the chamber of commerce or forest service for more information. My interest was perked. The Humongous Fungus was in the top 20 sites to visit in Grant County! I located the chamber of commerce office and went in to get the information on this interesting site. The gentleman there had heard of it but couldn’t find any information on it. He couldn’t remember if he had ever visited it. He suggested I visit the forest service office, so off I went. At the forest service office the lady looked around a bit and then found the information for me. Then she pointed on the map (that she gave me) where I should go to see the Humongous Fungus. When I pointed out to her that the area wasn’t where the map located the Humongous Fungus, her reply was: “it is all the same.” I was getting more intrigued about the Humongous Fungus. It didn’t appear to be a hot tourist spot.
Armillaria ostoyae, the humongous fungus. Photo from Scientific America.
29 Sunday Sep 2019
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Another abandoned ranch. Without a plan, this seems to be a theme for this trip. In this fast world, it is calming to see items made by hand slowly. I slowly look at how things were cobbled together. Yet I imagine that the Riddles may have found pleasure in our easy to purchase manufactured world. They had a hard life.
A short walk west of the Riddle buildings.
28 Saturday Sep 2019
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I stopped at the Malheur NWR headquarters for information. I knew this time of year wasn’t prime for bird watching but I had seen so many birds at the Tule NWR, maybe there would be lots of birds here. I asked, “Do you recommend taking the auto tour?” Other visitors overheard me and answered my question with, “No way. It is a waste of time.” But on Saturday, I drove the south portion of the auto tour and throughly enjoying it.
27 Friday Sep 2019
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The Steens Mountain seems like a huge ramp extending from Frenchglen to the sky. It is bigger than imaginable – a Jack In the Beanstalk fairytale size of ramp. It gently goes up and up and the Steen Loop road provides the path to drive.
The Steens Loop Road at about 9,000 ft. Big country.
23 Monday Sep 2019
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I took a walk to Kenny Camp in the Sheldon NWR. It was an enjoyable walk there. An interesting look aound, and an enjoyable walk back. Simple.
The house.
22 Sunday Sep 2019
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I has vaguely heard about a canyon/gorge north of the Virgin Valley campground. I wasn’t sure how far the walk would be, so I made the sad decision to leave my old dog Rocket in the trailer. This was the first time I would leave him behind because of his age. I knew that on this trip he wouldn’t be able to go on all my walks so I reminded myself many times that it would be OK to leave him behind. I put Razzy on her leash and started to leave the trailer imagining there would be a fight by Rocket to leave too. Instead he seemed to tell me it was OK to be left behind, he jumped up onto the bed as I closed the door and Razzy and I left. Razzy and I enjoyed our walk but it seemed a bit incomplete without Rocket along.
The Thousand Creek Gorge that we found was amazing. Below are photos from the walk and then we drove to an overlook. I was amazed at the overlook. Four to five hundred feet of shear straight walls. I have never seen anything like this before. The photos don’t capture the aw from the overlook.
View from the road walked from the campground.
21 Saturday Sep 2019
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This is big country. Driving Hwy 140 you can see vast distances. By Sage Hen summit I could see the Steens to the north and the Pine Forest Range to the south with fresh snow on the top. It is a wonderful middle of nowhere type of place. In the valley of Guano Lake there were miles of grass land.
The area labeled Guano Lake on maps.
