A Full-time Life

Category: Oregon

THE ROADTRIP, Part 1

People often ask how long it takes us to drive across the country and it's hard to answer. We tend to wander and stop whenever we feel like it. This time, we covered 4,680 miles and the trip took us almost exactly a month. About one fourth of that mileage was "side-trips" when the trailer was unhooked and parked in an RV Park. But we didn't do as much of that as we used to. Almost all of our day-trip explorations were while we stayed in Colorado — and we didn't use our car there one single time because our hosts drove everywhere.

We left our Oregon home the last week in September. The pictures in the mosaic below are from the week or two before we left. The top row pictures are from a walk we took along the middle fork of the Willamette River. That Juvenile Robin looks more like Spring than it does the end of September.

The weather was still like summer even though our favorite farm market was displaying the requisite Autumn pumpkins. And the blue sky was taken in back of our daughter's a few days before we left — we were packing up the trailer getting ready to go. (Well, somebody was. I was taking pictures obviously). October's usually beautiful in our part of Oregon too and so part of me felt like it was kind of early to leave. But of course on the day we were actually ready to hook that trailer up and hit the road it began to rain, and it didn't stop all morning.

It was too wet to take pictures, but here's a quick one that encompasses both the sad and happy reasons to head South. Our daughter and her youngest grand-child (and our youngest great-grand) braved the rain to run out to the barn for one last good-bye. (Miss Harper was unimpressed with us, but apparently happy to be warm and dry inside Grandma's barn-coat.) Harper's older brother, who is two, cried when we said goodbye earlier. All summer, he had enjoyed watching his Great-Grandpa work whenever they happened to be at Cyndi and Jeff's house at the same time. We will miss everyone .. that is the downside to our love of travel.

But rain or shine and after all the goodbyes, we did finally get on the road again.

It's a long lonesome road to Burns in Eastern Oregon — way out yonder pardner. Those signs are from the RV Park where we stayed . It took us a couple of days to get out of our home State — we don't rush things.

More of the same on the next couple of days as we traveled through Nevada – except not even any interesting RV Park pictures. We stayed in Winnemucca and Ely. But the scenery definitely improved soon after we crossed the Stateline into Utah.



On the first of October, we spent the night in Green River State Park . The picture above and in the collage below are from that day's drive. It was a stunning scenic tour of a day.

We were getting anxious to get to Colorado to see our family there and so we didn't spend as much time in the Green River area as it deserved. But there were quite a few quick photo-stops.

We already knew we'd have beautiful scenery in the next State too, plus good company! We were both so happy to get to Ridgway the next day. Below is a picture of our Colorado family (although it was taken days later, not the minute we arrived):

And another shot in (or near) their new "backyard":

Colorado wasn't actually halfway on our roadtrip — it was only the end of the shorter half! But it was our first and only planned stop. As we'd hoped, we arrived at exactly the right time for its famous Autumn color. Beautiful Fall and no snow yet. That's perfection.

More beautiful Colorado scenery and the longer half of the roadtrip still to come along with some getting reaquainted with Florida shots.

Thankful for family and safe and scenic travels.

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to all of the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

November 14, 2021
OLD FAVORITES

It's kind of in-between seasons here in the Eugene area. Too late for summer and too early for Fall color. And no wildlife sightings. I took not a single outdoor picture last week. In fact, I took no pictures at all anywhere. That really doesn't happen too often in our world! But thankfully there are memories to share as we get ready to make some new ones.

Autumn Flyover – Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes – New Mexico, 2006

This was our second visit to the amazing Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

Last week, I didn't have any pictures to link to Skywatch Friday nor anything to link to Saturday Critters, so this post is definitely trying to make up for those omissions. As always I appreciate the hosts of all the sharing opportunities.

Immature Little Blue Heron and Roseate Spoonbill

Corkscrew Audubon Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Corkscrew is just enough out-of-the-way from our Florida Canal Cottage that we don't go there regularly, but it is always a joy when we do. It's definitely on the list for next time.

Colorado

Feeding Moose, Mountain Goat, and Elk in or near Rocky Mountain National Park

Pictures are from three different visits. Our Colorado family has moved to another area of that beautiful state and we are excited to see them and learn more about the new area. I'm sure the camera will come out of hiding there if not before!

So yes, we are planning to hitch up soon and head off for a (still) socially-distanced and masked road-trip. We always enjoy the journey but also look forward to visits with other people we know are vaccinated. I'll be taking a break from posting for a little while. But I will be reading and catching up with other blogger's adventures as we travel. When the tiny trailer is parked for the night and it's too early to go to bed, our IPads are the source of the evening's entertainment. Your posts are far more entertaining than the TV set that we took out of the trailer so that we'd have more storage space. I haven't missed it at all.

Grateful for everyone who visits and comments here at Full-Time Life. Thanks for your interesting posts and a special thank you to those who host the sharing opportunities where I link. This week, these:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

September 12, 2021
Last of the Summer Color

These pictures are from yesterday afternoon's get-together at the home of our grandson and granddaughter-in-law. Even now, at the end of the season, their backyard is colorful and comfortable.

Somehow, when each of our children bought their first home and made it their own, it didn't surprise me. I was (and am) proud of them, but buying a house and settling in was just the normal progression in life. But it utterly amazes me that our grandchildren could have, somehow, reached that stage of life. How on earth could we be old enough for that to happen? (Rhetorical question — I do know the answer!)

There were familiar plants in their garden and a couple that were new to me. Top left is an elderberry (our granddaughter-in-law made jelly from it earlier). The one at the lower right corner is a ground cherry which I don't remember ever seeing before. We ate a handful and they are quite interesting . I thought they had a nut-like taste, but nobody else came up with the same description. Our 18 month old great-grandson loved them! (More familiar ones are scarlet runner beans and a tomato — and the non-food-item hen and chicks in the center.

As usual, I didn't take people pictures this time, but I did find a few from family gathering earlier this summer .

The great-grandson whose home we visited yesterday is on the left and that's his older cousin on the right. Both of them have grown a lot in the last couple of months, as people do at those ages!

It was really sweet watching the cousins playing together as the two-year old showed the "baby" how his firetruck worked.

Lesson learned.

Fun for them, built-in-entertainment for the rest of us.

Thankful that the smoke cleared out yesterday and it wasn't too hot outside. And especially grateful that family older than these two are vaccinated so that we can happily and safely enjoy time together.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities. Thank you to all of the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; FRIDAY BLISS;

September 5, 2021
WILD MEMORIES

Sticking close to home this week doing some fun stuff that I don't document well with photographs. You know, like cooking, eating, reading, walking, visiting with local family. Of course I do take pictures sometimes when I do the latter two things, but photo-worthy nature subjects are hard to find around here on hot, dry August days. I might have to teach myself to take decent pictures of food and people at least during the height of summer.

We are also hopefully planning some not-too-distant travel (and I think everyone knows by now what I mean by "we" in this context.) I am grateful to the Travel Planner. I am also glad our weather here in Oregon seems to be cooling down some and I look forward to a few more good photo walks here. Meanwhile, while the other half of us is planning for the future, I'm collecting memories from the past. Obviously, I've also been trying to sort through a million or so digital photos.

I do better making family portraits of birds and animals than I do of human ones. Here are a few:

Top row: hungry baby Great Blue Heron and mom – Wakodahatchee Nature Center Florida; Pie-Billed Grebe family, Fern Ridge Lake Oregon; Swan Family, Germany River Cruise

Middle: Sandhill crane family, Upriver RV Resort Florida; Wood stork with baby in nest, Wakodahatchee; Whistling Ducks, Florida.

Bottom row: Burrowing Owl family, Cape Coral Florida; Stork Family, Wakodahatchee; Ospreys, Florida Keys

Pronghorn Antelope, Hart Mountain Refuge Oregon

The above is not my best or favorite animal picture by far but it is from the one and only place I didn't post about after our July trip to Eastern Oregon so it gets a separate picture. Below are some pictures that really are candidates for favorite animals — and favorite places visited.

Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado; Bison, British Columbia; Brown Bears, Alaska;

Moose, Rocky Mountain NP; Mountain Sheep, Colorado; Musk Ox, Prudhoe Bay Alaska

Mother and Baby Moose, Cook Inlet Alaska; Stone Sheep, British Columbia; Caribou, Alaska

Virtual nature viewing is almost as much fun as the real thing! I love the way digital cameras make it possible to capture all these memories. Here's a fly-in memory shot from another trip:

Happy September everyone.

Don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit on Wednesday.

Addendum from Wikipedia: "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words "rabbit", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it. The origin of the superstition is unknown.

LINKING to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; WANDERING CAMERA; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

August 29, 2021
GOING COASTAL

We enjoyed a lovely three-day getaway to the beautiful Oregon Coast last week.

It is always a joy to be at the ocean and I never tire of the Pacific coast. An added benefit this time was getting out of the heat in our valley.

These pictures are all from Yachats State Park, one of the best places to view this wild coast. We had a a perfect day for it.

This is such a good place to play outside! There is a walking trail and when the tide is right those rocks are great for climbing and exploring. (Although we don't do as much of that as we used to!) There was one thing marring the day's perfection. We spotted a fin, which could have been a joyful occurrence, but instead turned out to be very sad.

This poor baby Blue whale died and washed up in this cove. Every year, thousands of whales migrate along our coast and sometimes they don't make it. The baby may have been killed by an orca or died of natural causes. It is all a part of nature, but for whatever reason whales are one of those animals with which we bond emotionally, so it was sad to see.



We joke sometimes that over the years we've stayed in every hotel, vacation rental, and campground along the Oregon coast. That's not quite true, but the above rental duplex just across the street from the beach above is one where we have stayed a few times in the past. Not this time though — instead, we took the tiny trailer and we were camped about 45 minutes south of Yachats at one of the coastal lakes between Florence and Reedsport.

Woahink Lake

This lake access across the highway from the RV Park where we stayed was a nice place for an evening walk.

Beaver, Egrets, and ducks on Siltcoos Lake.

We drove around the lake one day taking a long detour as we headed further south to explore Coos Bay. Somehow, I forgot to take any more pictures but it was a very pleasant day with different views and some positive changes to this familiar coastal town that were fun to see. We ate a delicious seafood dinner at a new restaurant with a lovely bay view (and Covid-protocol observing staff and patrons). Eating out is certainly a far rarer occurrence for us these days than it used to be! On the way back to Eugene the next day, we stopped at Winchester Bay and brought home oysters which Bill grilled. And that meal was even better.

LINKING this week to the following: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; WANDERING CAMERA; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

August 22, 2021
New Pine Creek memories

This is a mostly a repeat memory post with some added thoughts and all new pictures. On our summer camping trip in June we drove through New Pine Creek, the tiny (not-quite-a) town that straddles the Oregon-California border. We lived in that out-of-the-way place for two years very early in our life together.

Goose Lake State Park, Oregon

That was in the early 1960s. Back then, Goose Lake wasn't yet a State Park but it was a 20+ mile long shallow Lake. Now it is a large field of grass. Not a drop of water.

We'd last driven through this area twelve years ago during a cross-country RV trip. I posted then about the memories the town evoked, but because even that visit was so long ago, I thought the post was worth a repeat. (Thoughts I added this time are in bold.)

MEMORIES IN A TUMBLE-DOWN TOWN

We've been married just about forever (I wrote that twelve years ago and we're still here!) and sometime back at the dawning of civilization*, we lived for a couple of years in New Pine Creek. We went to see it last week when we were in Southeast Oregon. It's a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of place that straddles the Oregon-California border on Highway 395.

(Definitely not the prettiest entry-way into California)

This little farm community is twenty miles south of Lakeview Oregon and 50 miles north of Alturas California, with nothing much else in between. It's the outback of the outback. Back then (*it really was 1959 through 1961), we thought we were so lucky to get to move there. Bill had just graduated from a two-year program at a Teacher's College in Lewiston Idaho (across the Snake River from our home town of Clarkston Washington). He got a position as teacher/principal (and janitor) at New Pine Creek Elementary, a one-room school on the California side of the border. California! It paid more than Idaho, where most of his fellow graduates went. I think he made about $4,500 that year.

We had a one-year old son and a baby on the way. (Our daughter was born in Lakeview in February 1960. The Dr. and hospital were 20 miles away from home.) This is the house where we lived — as you can see, it is about a foot from the highway. The house actually looks better now than it did then; we didn't have siding or a fence. (Ugh, it's a junk shop now — so this time, it looked even worse than it did in 1960.) It snowed a lot in the Winters we were there. The snowplow would come past several times a day and plow the snow into drifts that blocked the house in. Those winter days were long!

This is the old school building where Bill taught. Someone was living in it last time we were here, but It looked completely abandoned now — the school closed years ago. It was about the length of two blocks straight up the highway from our house. It is funny to realize that the eighth-graders Bill taught were actually only six or seven years younger than he was then.

It was a very small village even when we lived there. But there were a couple of grocery stores, a good butcher, a barbershop, a service station right next door owned by the sweet couple who were our landlords, and a Grange Hall that had an active social schedule. Now the buildings all look like something straight out of a ghost story. (Even worse this time.) Junk shops are the last dying gasps of a small town.

After our two years there, we moved back to Eastern Washington. Living there again, we had two more sons, bought our first house, worked a bunch of various jobs between us, and, eventually, Bill went back to college and completed his degrees. It remains my fond hope that someday I will get around to scanning some old pictures and writing some memory posts about those years! In 1971, we moved to Lane County, Oregon — the opposite side of the State of Oregon from NPC, in every possible definition.

Random Roadside pictures as we drove around Oregon's outback in 2021

(altered with Picasa to look like a 1960s scrapbook page.)

We've long since lost track of the people we knew during the short time we lived in New Pine Creek. But we'll always remember our two years there — we did a lot of growing up and had a lot of fun too. (Looking back from over half a century later my mind is boggled thinking about how young we were then .) I wonder if there will be anything left of the town if we ever drive through again. (So obviously we did drive through again and found the town in even worse condition. I don't think we'll do that again! But we treasure our memories and are thankful that we've survived all the ensuing years in slightly better shape ourselves.

LINKING to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY

August 15, 2021
Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Central Oregon has a fiery past and Newberry, the largest volcano in the Cascade Range, is a good place to learn about it. This volcano began erupting 500,000 years ago. It created massive lava flows that covered 1,200 square miles.

Paulina Lake in the Newberry Caldera.

The last eruption occurred (only!) 1,300 years ago.

But it is still active and will certainly erupt again. The eruption could be either passive with lava flows or explosive with ash and pumice. There are nine monitoring stations to detect any early and subtle signs of it reawakening.

Paulina Peak is the highest point on the caldera rim. It is 7,984 feet above sea level and 1,652 feet above Paulina Lake.

The Big Obsidian Flow is the youngest lava flow at Newberry. Volcanic ash from the eruption 1,300 years ago reached as far as the State of Idaho.



(The Park Service has a sense of humor).

We stayed a few nights in Central Oregon before heading further into the Eastern part of our State. During the years we lived, worked, and raised our family in Lane County, this area was a great getaway — not too far away but quite a contrast to home. We did a little cross-country skiing near Newberry back then (when we were much younger) and the area was a frequent destination for Scout troops our boys were involved with. It was fun to explore the area again. Our visit brought back good memories and we learned (or re-learned) a lot. As we always do when we travel, whether the destination is close to home or farther away.

This is one of the things we did not know. In the town of LaPine, where we stayed during this part of our trip, we saw a sign that simply said "Big Tree." We followed the signs to the State Park to find the largest Ponderosa Pine ever recorded. This Oregon Heritage tree was a giant way before Oregon was a State – it has endured centuries of fire, disease, insects, and human impact. We can only hope it continues to do so.

We enjoyed the time in Central Oregon. It's a beautiful area and a nice transition when traveling between the vastly different Western and Eastern parts of our State. Oregon really is a land of contrast. We are grateful to be able to explore it all.

LINKING this week to these sharing opportunities: Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;

August 8, 2021
Petroglyphs and Sunstones

… both found in Oregon, way in the back of beyond.

Behind where our trailer was parked in Adel

Far away from the population centers of the State of Oregon, we spent four nights in the town of Adel. Not so sure you could even call it a small town — the population is only 201. There's a restaurant/bar with a post office next door . We parked in one of the four or five RV sites behind those buildings. There is really nothing much else there except sagebrush and cows. (This is where we were staying when we woke up to the cattle drive passing right behind us.)

Eighteen miles away on a secondary highway is the even smaller "unincorporated rural area" of Plush. Around 50 hearty souls live there. We had already driven through Plush on that fairly decent highway as we were out exploring. But the travel planner/driver was tired of good roads. After all, we were on vacation — why drive roads as good as those at home? (Normal people would answer that differently from dyed-in-the-wool road warriors.) Our maps showed a country road that would eventually also emerge at Plush.

So we took "the road less traveled." And that road was unpaved and narrow and winding with very little to see along most of it but sagebrush and the remnants of abandoned dreams. And we loved it!

Before too many miles, the road got narrower and more winding with rocks and boulders to navigate around. Bill knows how to drive them and I trust him — mostly. There was the one time I had to get out to direct us around a huge boulder in the middle of the road. It was on a rise that we couldn't see over. We rocked over that one, but the road gradually got worse and worse. We talked about finding a turn-around place, but there really wasn't a good one. It was then that we came to a fence and rusty wire cattle gate that looked like it hadn't been opened for years. But "we" managed to open and then shut it behind us. The road continued to deteriorate and shortly our car was straddling two-foot deep ruts that we were afraid we'd slide into. (Did I mention that we hadn't seen another living soul all day?) It was definitely time to give up. But at least there was a good place to turn around.

One of us thinks that a reason to use four-wheel drive makes any trip worthwhile. And the other one of us likes to take pictures of abandoned buildings and big skies. But before we realized we would need to turn around we had already made a wonderful discovery (new to us anyway) that would have made the trip worthwhile in itself. We found petroglyphs!

Greaser Canyon Petroglyph Site

(Click to enlarge, but there are close-up shots below)

There was no sign along the road pointing to this historical site which is quite a ways back from the road. And, in fact, we had driven past by the time I really realized what I'd seen from the window. After the well-known "STOP" screech, Bill was able to back up (a good trick, because see above). This site is on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property and there is a small sign at the base of the rock wall. It said there had been some archeological reconstruction due to vandalism. I assume the rocks were moved from the ground to protect them somehow although they were not fenced at all. The sign also warns that altering the designs in any way is a violation of federal law. It is horrible to think that anyone could take time to get to this remote place and then try to destroy such treasures from our past. (But it is very remote — once again on this whole day of exploration we did not see another person or car. I don't know if that makes it good or bad for the safety of this site.)



These photos are enhanced. I don't have a fancy editing tool, but I used Picassa Boost to bring out the shapes of the petroglyphs.

We didn't know a single thing about these petroglyphs before stumbling on them and had seen nothing in any of the visitor guides we looked at, but later found a bit of information on the web. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Archeologists believe the designs were scraped into the boulders around 12,000 years ago. Back then lakes filled many of the high desert basins and the people who occupied the land camped and hunted near those waters. The meaning of the marks they left behind has been lost over time. As with most petroglyphs and pictographs, no one knows exactly why they were made or what they represented. It is poignant and almost incomprehensible to think about the people from so long ago who once walked right where we were walking. And to wonder …

People have disappeared from this area in more recent times too for reasons it is easier to comprehend. Here's an illustration just waiting for a sad story to be written. We saw this abandoned home before we turned around to back-track to our home away from home. The picture is zoomed in — the house was pretty far from the (very poor) road! It felt so remote and lonely.

The next picture was taken on a a different day, along the highway between Adel and Plush (the good road).

We saw these sweet babies run to the fence every time we drove that road. It seemed almost like whenever they heard a car these donkeys thought they would be getting a treat. We didn't stop but I hope their owners did so frequently.

And here's a sign at the gas station letting us know that Plush is "a small quiet drinking town with a cattle problem." I wouldn't doubt any of that except that I'm pretty sure that a population of around 50 doesn't actually make it a town at all. And then we saw this other sign on the fence around the station:

We had read that sunstones could be found somewhere in this area — and this sign told us that a dig was located 24 miles from Plush. Just past a Dust Devil? Plush itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and now you can drive 24 more miles to see some stones you know nothing about? And the collection area might be hard to find because who knows exactly where the dust devil would be! We thought the sign was a joke (dust devils are what we here in the West call those little mini-storms of soil that the wind sometimes whirls on arid lands and fallow farm fields). But the trip even further into the back of beyond sounded like just the kind of thing we loved. So off we went — and when we got there we learned that the sign wasn't a joke after all. Dust Devil is actually the name of a commercial Sunstone Mine.

And this is it! The Dust Devil Mine. It's open to the public to sort through the conveyor belt (for a fee) and there is also a free BLM dig area where people can camp and dig for the stones. It looked like paying for a lot of hot and dusty work! So we decided to collect information, but not gems. After seeing so few people while we'd been exploring the area, it was amazing to see quite a few campers and gem hunters at this commercial mine and at the other campground.

from the Web public domain

I was still a little freaked out talking to people and didn't take many pictures because this was back in early June and we seemed to be about the only people there still wearing Covid masks. But everyone we spoke with was friendly and we did learn quite a bit about the sunstone which is the official Oregon state gem. (I didn't even know we had one.) One lady showed us a few she had found and some jewelry she had made earlier. And people who helped out at the mine told us a bit about the operation. For anyone who is more of a jewelry person that I am, there are several websites and people sell their sunstone creations on Etsy. But we were just happy to have found the site and to learn something new about our home State.

We saw a pair of sandhill cranes along the road on the way back to Adel after that interesting day. Every day really was an adventure during our time in Southeastern Oregon — we were happy and grateful to get to travel again and to see and learn all we did.

LINKING this week to the following sharing sites:

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August 1, 2021
CRATER LAKE COOL Down

It used to be kind of boring to talk about the weather — not so much anymore, sadly. A massive heat dome is expected to cover most of the country this week, bringing yet another round of extremely hot summertime temperatures. Meanwhile, the Bootleg Fire in SE Oregon has surpassed 400,000 acres and is burning toward Summer Lake, the area I blogged about last week (where we visited the Wildlife Refuge in early June.). I am afraid catastrophic weather events (fire, flooding, extreme heat) are the future barring a miracle and I hope for that miracle for everywhere.

But meanwhile I'm tapping into my inner Pollyanna (thinking only happy thoughts ) by posting pictures that may bring some cooling thoughts … most of them are from last month.

June in Oregon (but not the part of the State where we live).

We stopped at Crater Lake National Park near the end of our early June trip.  The above picture is on the highway between Crater and Diamond Lakes. There was still quite a bit of snow and some of the roads inside the park were not yet open.

This was the first time we'd visited Crater Lake since 2009. So long ago! The mosaic below is from that earlier visit, which was in late July of that year. That's usually a better time to visit, but I am very glad we were there earlier this year.

Crater Lake NP, July 2009

Top: View from the rim; Wizard Island; Phantom Ship. Bottom Row (all views we were unable to get to this year) : The Pinnacles; Vidae Falls; Pumice Castle.

You can see there was still a little snow even then, but all of the roads were open by that time, so this shows some of the Park's attractions that we were unable to visit this year.

The rest of this post is from last month's trip. Information about the Lake (in bold) is taken from the Crater Lake Visitor Guide given to us as we entered the Park. (We always take and read those newspaper-format handouts when we visit any National Park — they are an invaluable resource.)

Crater Lake from the rim of the caldera — with a view of Wizard Island

Crater Lake National Park is dedicated to protect the deepest lake in the United States. The Lake is located inside a caldera formed 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot volcano collapsed after a major eruption. Wizard Island is a cinder cone that erupted out of the Lake around 7300 years ago. Now the slopes of the volcano are covered by old-growth forests that are home to birds, mammals, and hundreds of native plant species. The Park is a central part of the cultural traditions of local American Indian tribes, whose ancestors witnessed the lake's formation.

Clark's Nutcracker

A pair of Clark's Nutcrackers were having a loud argument in the trees that edge the Lake at one of the best viewpoints. A good bird photo op can distract my camera from anything. Update: Thank you to Sondra (see here) for correctly identifying this bird.



Phantom Ship Island

I'm using that distraction as an excuse for this poorly focused picture of the Phantom Ship. This island is as tall as a 16-story building. Made of erosion-resistant lava that is 400,000 old, it is the oldest exposed rock within the caldera.

All of the pictures are straight out of the camera. Crater Lake is this blue year-round because it is so clear. And it stays clear because there are almost no nutrients in the lake to support things like algae. There are no streams or rivers to bring nutrients and sediments into the lake. Click here for an article from Oregon Public Broadcasting about true blue lakes in the Pacific Northwest. I found the explanation very interesting when I read it shortly after our visit.

Grateful that we've been able to visit many of our country's beautiful National Parks and thankful for all that the dedicated NPS employees do to protect and share these national treasures.

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

July 25, 2021
SUMMER LAKE AND DERRICK CAVE

All is well in our little corner of the world. It's too hot and dry here just as it is in pretty much the entire western part of the United States and Canada. We've had a few smoky mornings from the fires south and east of us but so far nothing is burning in the county where we live.

Summer Lake Wildlife Area

I'm still posting about our June trip to the other side of Oregon, an area that has not been so fortunate. When we visited, southeastern Oregon was dry with warm days and cool nights. This month it is hotter and drier and wildfires threaten some of the places we visited. One is burning near Summer Lake, where we visited the Wildlife Area.

American Avocet in Breeding Plumage

This wildlife area was established in 1944 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife "to protect and improve waterfowl habitat and to provide a public hunting area." I wish they could alter that to add something like "public birdwatching area." I really do believe that is more important to many people these days than hunting.

Black-necked Stilt

We didn't really see a lot of game birds when we were there. Hunting is never allowed for shore birds and wading birds like the ones pictured here.

Avocets

Summer Lake is a real oasis for wildlife (and wildlife watchers) in the middle of this rather arid, desert-like part of our state. We can only hope that it will not be permanently harmed by these fires.

Summer Lake

Now on to another day's destination during this trip. (If I don't combine places, I will still be blogging about this trip when we're ready to start another one!)

At the visitor center at Fort Rock Historical Park we had seen "Derrick Cave" listed on "things to do in the Fort Rock area" so one day we set out to find it. As with everything on that side of Oregon, "this area" encompasses a lot more miles and acres than you might think. And rougher roads than you might expect. Wikipedia says "The road to Derrick Cave is very rough and there are no facilities at the site." Wikipedia does not lie! Bill drove in four-wheel drive for part of the way and, on our way out, in trying to make the drive a circle, we encountered the first dead-end road we found on this trip (but not the last). We backtracked often.

The cave is on Bureau of Land Management property and open to the public. However, we contented ourselves with the adventure of driving there and hiking in to view the cave once we finally arrived at the nearly unmarked location. They don't work real hard over there to make things easy for travelers. (Which is kind of nice in a way. We didn't see another soul on that day's journey and I'm not even sure we saw another car. )

There are eons of history connected to this hole in the ground! The tubular cave was created by lava flowing from a vent north of the cave. The exact age of the eruption is not determined but based on lava fields on the surface area is known to be between 6,845 years and 13,000 years ago.

Quite a bit more recently, but still quite a while ago, the cave was used by Fort Rock homesteaders as a summer recreation site — those pioneer families used ice formed in the cave. Then, during World War II, area residents planned to use the cave as an air-raid shelter, but it was never needed. In 1963, Derrick Cave was designated as a nuclear fallout shelter. Supplies of food and water for up to 1200 people were stored behind a locked steel door in the cave. Fortunately, the cave was never needed for this purpose. By 1970, all of the Civil Defense supplies had been stolen by vandals or removed by authorities.

Grateful for all the roads we take whether rough or smooth and all we learn from wherever they take us.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities: Thank you to the hosts.

SATURDAY CRITTERS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS

July 16, 2021