I had a chance to get out and about for a few days, so I decided that a trip to Central and Southeast Oregon, plus a dip into northern Nevada would be in order. After making sure that my dad was OK, I headed out for parts known, but destination unknown. Down I 5 to Salem, then across the Cascades. When I got to Sisters, Oregon, I still had not decided which spot was first. At the east end of town, the sign said Prineville, and that is on the way to The Pained Hills, so that’s the way I went.
I arrived mid day, and the light was blown out, so I looked around for camp sites, took a nap, and went back up to the overlook for the evening shoot. There was a nice couple from Germany, Chris and Andrea, who were really serious photographers. I also met Bobbi and Oscar from my old hometown, and it turned out we have many mutual acquaintances. Everyone shot until the light was gone, then it was back to the campsite. When I got there, I discovered that a fine gent with a HUGE 5th wheel had managed to take two of the three spaces available. Since there was someone in the third space, I did a bit of stealth camping in the little town of Mitchell. I got in too late to see any of my local friends, and left way to early for them to be out and about. Here are a couple of shots…
From The Painted Hills, I went south to Fort Rock, and stopped at one of my favorite places to photograph birds. There’s not much there, but it is great for multiple species that are really up close.
A red crossbill (Loxis curviorosta)
An evening shot of the moon, ponderosa pines and the sagebrush.
It looks like I missed the migration, so I continued south down to the Charles Sheldon National Antelope Refuge in northern Nevada. There was a vicious rumor that Smokecreek was heading that way, and I thought it would be a good chance to meet a fellow WTW member. I pulled into the Virgin Valley Campground, a nice little free federal camp, with… A warm spring and shower, but not much else. I forgot the swimming trunks, so it was shower only. No complaints! One reason that I wanted to visit this area was to find the location of some old stone buildings that had been part of a ranch, and were reported to be an early stagecoach stop. There is a place on the Sheldon map called ‘Kinney Camp’, and with a bit of asking around I discovered that it indeed was the place. I had been trying to find out where it was for a number of years. Just a short walk into a neat bit of history…
Smoke didn’t show that first night, so I settled in and hit the sack early. Not the greatest night of sleeping… I got a serenade from bullfrogs, burros and bitterns all night long. Toss in an occasional goose, sandhill crane, coot and poorwill.
Since Smoke wasn’t there yet, I headed back to Kinney Camp for some more photos, then down to Badger Camp to see the old CCC cabin there. For a minute, I thought Smoke had spent the night there, as there was a green rig with a popup in the camping area. Nope, it was a Dodge with a Sunlite, not Smoke.
The bad news about Badger Camp is the entire cabin area is now off limits. The good news is there is a small herd of wild horses that are hanging in the general area, because of the good water and grass. These two were very close to the road, and not skittish at all. Badger camp is near 6000’.
Back to Virgin Valley, and we got some new scenery. Two very attractive twenty something lasses came in and decided they needed a swim. One of the other campers came up to my spot to help me appreciate.
Here's the pool, less the scenery...
I was about to give up on Smoke when all of a sudden, there was a cloud of dust. It was nearly 8:00, and yup it was Smoke and Bob the pup. Bob said he was tired, as it was a long trip, and he had to be copilot all the way from Susanville. It’s tough being a dog…
Smoke and I said howdy to one another, consumed a couple of adult beverages, then decided it was late. We retired to our rigs.
2:30 AM! Smoke's truck starts, then shuts down… “Smoke, you need help?” “You OK?” One of his alarms went off in the middle of the night. I got up to hold lights or be of whatever general use. I do enjoy work, I can watch it all day, so I observed as Smoke tried to find the culprit. Finally, he shut off all systems and called it a night. More bullfrogs, burros and bitterns for the serenade.
Here's Smoke and his faithful copilot, Bob...
The next morning, I had to start back towards home. My sister needed to travel, as it was my turn with elder care again. I headed up the east side of the Pueblo Mountains, stopping in Fields Station to check out the local birding. Not much going on, and I didn’t manage to find the great horned owls that nest in the cottonwood grove every year. I was planning on going into the store/café/post office/gas station for breakfast, but changed my mind when I saw a couple of younger people, obviously from out of the area, go into the café, all packing firearms on their belts. I don’t have a thing against guns, I’m just not comfortable being around people who feel that they need to make a statement by wearing them in public.
Sooo, up the road to Malheur and Steens Mountain. The south end of the loop road was open up to the south campground, but I wanted to see what bird life was around the Malheur refuge. Once again it seemed that I was early for the migration, but I did run into PaulNature and Two Owls, a couple of my photography acquaintances. Interesting that because Paul had got a buzz cut, I didn’t recognize him for quite a while. That was embarrassing. Oh well, he didn’t recognize me at first, either.
I headed up the center patrol road that runs along the Blitzen River from the P Ranch, up to the Krumbo Reservoir road. I noticed that the road had been recently rocked with fresh shale, but didn’t realize how fresh and sharp it was. I soon found out.
There is nothing more fun that puncturing a nice Cooper tire, then running on the flat for a hundred feet or so. Oh, I guess there is… It was close to 90º, and just the perfect temp for changing a tire.
I had planned on spending the night at Page Springs, but the flat sort of destroyed my day. A quick run into the Les Schwab store in Burns to see if they had a decent used tire for a spare (nope).
Hmmm… I decided to risk a trip home with no spare, and made it late that night.
The high points of this trip were getting to meet Smokecreek in Nevada, finding Kinney Camp, lots of landscape and bird photos, and getting out of the Willamette Valley rain. The low points… Well, the tire is obvious, and ending the trip a day early was too.
I arrived mid day, and the light was blown out, so I looked around for camp sites, took a nap, and went back up to the overlook for the evening shoot. There was a nice couple from Germany, Chris and Andrea, who were really serious photographers. I also met Bobbi and Oscar from my old hometown, and it turned out we have many mutual acquaintances. Everyone shot until the light was gone, then it was back to the campsite. When I got there, I discovered that a fine gent with a HUGE 5th wheel had managed to take two of the three spaces available. Since there was someone in the third space, I did a bit of stealth camping in the little town of Mitchell. I got in too late to see any of my local friends, and left way to early for them to be out and about. Here are a couple of shots…
From The Painted Hills, I went south to Fort Rock, and stopped at one of my favorite places to photograph birds. There’s not much there, but it is great for multiple species that are really up close.
A red crossbill (Loxis curviorosta)
An evening shot of the moon, ponderosa pines and the sagebrush.
It looks like I missed the migration, so I continued south down to the Charles Sheldon National Antelope Refuge in northern Nevada. There was a vicious rumor that Smokecreek was heading that way, and I thought it would be a good chance to meet a fellow WTW member. I pulled into the Virgin Valley Campground, a nice little free federal camp, with… A warm spring and shower, but not much else. I forgot the swimming trunks, so it was shower only. No complaints! One reason that I wanted to visit this area was to find the location of some old stone buildings that had been part of a ranch, and were reported to be an early stagecoach stop. There is a place on the Sheldon map called ‘Kinney Camp’, and with a bit of asking around I discovered that it indeed was the place. I had been trying to find out where it was for a number of years. Just a short walk into a neat bit of history…
Smoke didn’t show that first night, so I settled in and hit the sack early. Not the greatest night of sleeping… I got a serenade from bullfrogs, burros and bitterns all night long. Toss in an occasional goose, sandhill crane, coot and poorwill.
Since Smoke wasn’t there yet, I headed back to Kinney Camp for some more photos, then down to Badger Camp to see the old CCC cabin there. For a minute, I thought Smoke had spent the night there, as there was a green rig with a popup in the camping area. Nope, it was a Dodge with a Sunlite, not Smoke.
The bad news about Badger Camp is the entire cabin area is now off limits. The good news is there is a small herd of wild horses that are hanging in the general area, because of the good water and grass. These two were very close to the road, and not skittish at all. Badger camp is near 6000’.
Back to Virgin Valley, and we got some new scenery. Two very attractive twenty something lasses came in and decided they needed a swim. One of the other campers came up to my spot to help me appreciate.
Here's the pool, less the scenery...
I was about to give up on Smoke when all of a sudden, there was a cloud of dust. It was nearly 8:00, and yup it was Smoke and Bob the pup. Bob said he was tired, as it was a long trip, and he had to be copilot all the way from Susanville. It’s tough being a dog…
Smoke and I said howdy to one another, consumed a couple of adult beverages, then decided it was late. We retired to our rigs.
2:30 AM! Smoke's truck starts, then shuts down… “Smoke, you need help?” “You OK?” One of his alarms went off in the middle of the night. I got up to hold lights or be of whatever general use. I do enjoy work, I can watch it all day, so I observed as Smoke tried to find the culprit. Finally, he shut off all systems and called it a night. More bullfrogs, burros and bitterns for the serenade.
Here's Smoke and his faithful copilot, Bob...
The next morning, I had to start back towards home. My sister needed to travel, as it was my turn with elder care again. I headed up the east side of the Pueblo Mountains, stopping in Fields Station to check out the local birding. Not much going on, and I didn’t manage to find the great horned owls that nest in the cottonwood grove every year. I was planning on going into the store/café/post office/gas station for breakfast, but changed my mind when I saw a couple of younger people, obviously from out of the area, go into the café, all packing firearms on their belts. I don’t have a thing against guns, I’m just not comfortable being around people who feel that they need to make a statement by wearing them in public.
Sooo, up the road to Malheur and Steens Mountain. The south end of the loop road was open up to the south campground, but I wanted to see what bird life was around the Malheur refuge. Once again it seemed that I was early for the migration, but I did run into PaulNature and Two Owls, a couple of my photography acquaintances. Interesting that because Paul had got a buzz cut, I didn’t recognize him for quite a while. That was embarrassing. Oh well, he didn’t recognize me at first, either.
I headed up the center patrol road that runs along the Blitzen River from the P Ranch, up to the Krumbo Reservoir road. I noticed that the road had been recently rocked with fresh shale, but didn’t realize how fresh and sharp it was. I soon found out.
There is nothing more fun that puncturing a nice Cooper tire, then running on the flat for a hundred feet or so. Oh, I guess there is… It was close to 90º, and just the perfect temp for changing a tire.
I had planned on spending the night at Page Springs, but the flat sort of destroyed my day. A quick run into the Les Schwab store in Burns to see if they had a decent used tire for a spare (nope).
Hmmm… I decided to risk a trip home with no spare, and made it late that night.
The high points of this trip were getting to meet Smokecreek in Nevada, finding Kinney Camp, lots of landscape and bird photos, and getting out of the Willamette Valley rain. The low points… Well, the tire is obvious, and ending the trip a day early was too.
