• About
  • Camping sites
  • Camping Site Map
  • Contact Me

searching for the middle of nowhere

~ loving the wonders of the world

searching for the middle of nowhere

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Evening Visitors

27 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by searching in Uncategorized, Winter 2021

≈ Leave a comment

In the early evening, a clanging noise from my metal trailer step startled the dogs and got them barking.  Hum, I thought it must be the metal contracting as the air cooled.  I looked outside into the dark and didn’t see anything.  The next night about the same time I heard quiet metal noises on/off for a half an hour.  Once again I looked outside and didn’t see anything.  I kept looking outside.  All I could think of, was that a RV had joined me at my camp site but I didn’t see them.  I had found this camp site on the web so it wasn’t a secret place.  Ghost campers?  But when I took the dogs out for their 8:00 pm piss/poop walk there was no new campers at my spot.  Hum.  A mystery.  

The next morning I found small scat left on my outdoor rug.  Phil told me he had seen fox in the area.  Perhaps fox scat?  The metal noise could have come from my dog fence as the animal scurried around maybe investigation the dog smells.  

Fox scat?
My dog fence

Strawberry Lake

16 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Oregon, Strawberry Lake

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.

2019-10-15 13.43.26 2

Strawberry Lake

Continue reading →

John Day Wandering

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Fall Mountain Lookout, Flagtail Mountain Lookout, Oregon

I headed south, wandering around looking for fall color, fossils, and views.

2019-10-16 15.25.11 2.jpg

Larches

Continue reading →

Humongous Fungus

06 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Humongous Fungus, John Day, Oregon

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.

Capture

Armillaria ostoyae, the humongous fungus.  Photo from Scientific America.

Continue reading →

Riddle Brother’s Ranch

29 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Oregon, Riddle Brother's Ranch, steens

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.

2019-09-27 12.17.12.jpg

A short walk west of the Riddle buildings.

Continue reading →

Malheur NWR

28 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Malheur NWR, Oregon

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.

2019-09-28 13.04.08 4 Continue reading →

The Steens

27 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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.

2019-09-26 09.55.31.jpg

The Steens Loop Road at about 9,000 ft.  Big country.

Continue reading →

Kenny Camp

23 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Kenny Camp, Nevada, Sheldon NWR

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.

2019-09-23 10.57.25

The house.

Continue reading →

Thousand Creek Gorge

22 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Big Spring Reservoir, Nevada, Sheldon NWR, Thousand Creek Gorge, Virgin Valley Campground

I had 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 awe from the overlook.

2019-09-22 15.19.47

View from the road walked from the campground.

Continue reading →

Shirk Ranch

21 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by searching in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon, Shirk Ranch

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.

2019-09-22 12.38.40 1.jpg

The area labeled Guano Lake on maps.

Continue reading →

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • Nevada and Going Home March 21, 2021
  • Valley of Fire March 13, 2021
  • Death Valley Exploring March 7, 2021
  • Rhyolite March 4, 2021
  • Doing Something Really Dumb March 2, 2021

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2017
  • October 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • May 2014
  • September 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013

category

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×