tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27350500448174196462024-03-13T14:02:09.056-07:00Ryan Mishler's ExplorationsRyan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-25925885402829101632013-03-09T23:39:00.001-08:002013-12-02T17:15:25.052-08:00Douty Mill and Cochran Area - Mar 9, 2013<br />
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Right, so, I got a call from Jason a few days ago suggesting we find someplace to explore on Saturday. We quickly settled on find the old <a href="http://www.brian894x4.com/DoutyLumberCompany.html" target="_blank">Douty Lumber Mill</a>, near <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=timber,+oregon&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Timber,+Washington,+Oregon&gl=us&t=m&z=14" target="_blank">Timber, OR</a>. We once again met up at McDonalds in <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=north+plains+mcdonalds&hl=en&sll=45.71981,-123.295544&sspn=0.033617,0.084543&gl=us&hq=mcdonalds&hnear=North+Plains,+Washington,+Oregon&t=m&z=15" target="_blank">North Plains</a> and quickly hit the road. On the way up, we decided to see if we could get to the summit of <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=round+top+oregon&hl=en&sll=45.592356,-122.996508&sspn=0.016847,0.042272&gl=us&hnear=Round+Top&t=p&z=15" target="_blank">Round Top</a>. After busting through some untouched snow we came across two trees down blocking the road. I got out the chainsaw and Jason got out the winch accessories and in not time at all we had the road all clear. Of course we only made it another quarter mile before we found snow too deep to get through. I turned around and decided to put lunch on the "4.0 grill" and discovered I'd lost my power steering reservoir cap at some point. Fortunately for me, it was still in the engine bay so we put it back on (with zip ties) and headed down the hill. We tried taking Bell Camp road along the ridge to Standard Grade to drop down into Cochran but after logging another tree out of the road and driving over a fourth, we found snow that was too deep for us to get through.<br />
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All the way back down to Cochran Road and we went the quick way into Cochran. We stopped by the pond for lunch then headed in search of the mill. I didn't have the exact location but was told we could drive just about to it. We tried several different logging roads before I finally found the right one. The mill is pretty awesome, I strongly encourage reading about it on <a href="http://www.brian894x4.com/DoutyLumberCompany.html">Brian894x4.com</a><span id="goog_1700639218"> as that is the BEST information I've found online. From the Mill, we started heading out but I wanted to check out a road I'd been denied by snow on a few months ago. Turns out, the road heads way up into the hills to Giveout Mountain. Okay, not exactly heading out of the woods but looking at the map, it showed we could get out by going around the north side and crossing the headwaters of the Salmonberry River and going out to highway 26. Some of the roads on the north side of the mountain were plowed, unfortunately, not the roads that headed north to the highway.</span><span id="goog_1700639219"></span> However, while we were following Wheeler road, I spotted not one but two old railroad trestles off the side of the road. It appeared that a section of the road through there follows an old railroad grade, Wheeler Railroad from what I can tell. I'll have to go back and explore the grade when there isn't two feet of snow on the ground. From there, we followed roads that zig zagged around the mountains and eventually we got out to Timber road and headed back to the valley.<br />
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<b>NOTE: I've removed the map showing how to get to the mill </b></div>
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<b>because of extensive vandalism that has occurred there. If</b></div>
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<b>you are interested in finding directions to the mill, feel free to</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>send me an email and I will share directions privately. -Ryan </b></div>
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trestle1.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trestle1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/splittree.jpg"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/splittree.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trest2.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trest2.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trest2b.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Douty%20MIll/trest2b.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-5884303548994086312013-02-18T21:44:00.001-08:002013-02-18T21:45:57.548-08:00Nehalem Adventure 2-16-13<i>Note: I've kinda struggled what to call this trip since I began planning it a few weeks ago. "Nehalem Adventure" is the the third name, I think I'll stick with it for now...</i><br />
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About a month ago, a friend of mine and I started a new, invitation only (for now) group,<i> </i>Northwest Expeditions. Our first official trip was planned for February 16th and the plan was to go from Falls City to Lincoln City via the Valsetz area. Unfortunately, a week and a half before the trip we found out that the gates for the logging lands were closed right now, making the trip impossible. As several of us were still looking forward to going on a trip, I put on my thinking cap and came up with another plan. Highway 26 to highway 6, while staying in the mountains, and using as little pavement as possible.<br />
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It ended up being Jason and Gregg again, along with Gregg's buddy Bryan, who drove up from Medford at 430am. We met at McDonalds in North Plains Saturday morning and headed west. I decided to show the group someplace I'd only been once before. We turned off hwy 26 onto Salmonberry Road and headed through the hills. Up and over Rock Creek Ridge before meandering over to Beaver Slide Road, which drops abruptly down 1300 feet in a mile to the Salmonberry River.<br />
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After walking through the tunnel and checking out the river, we turned around and headed back up the hill. Once we got on top, we stopped for lunch and I picked out an alternate route that would cut a few miles off our trip. Unfortunately, that route, Shields Road, climbed up higher than we'd been thus far, just high enough to get into some deeper snow. After punching through one snowfield at the highest point, the road climbed up to another saddle that wouldn't be as easy to make it through. We didn't want to waste too much time so we backtracked to Salmonberry Road and went around on another road that put us out on highway 26. After a few miles on the highway, we turned south onto Quartz Creek Mainline and, after stopping to find a Geocache and exploring a very overgrown road to the top of Flat Iron Mountain, we arrived at Bloom Lake.<br />
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After checking out the recent beaver damage, (fresh since I'd been there four weeks earlier) we headed over to Lost Lake. I replaced a bolt that fell from my trackbar bracket then headed into the woods to try finding a Geocache hidden there. That wasn't successful but I'll happily go back and try again in the summer. As it was getting dark, we had to make a decision. Head back for the highway or try to push through to highway 6. There was a Geocache up there that hadn't been found yet and I sure do love to get a FTF so away from the highway we headed. We followed the Nehalem River for quite a while before heading up Cook Creek. The first road we tried started climbing until we started hitting patches of snow, finally turning around when we came upon a very long stretch of coast range cement (crappy snow made thick and unpleasant by rain) that averaged two feet deep. To top things off, it started snowing on us as we got turned around up there in the snow.<br />
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We tried another, lower road which ended up climbing until we got to another deep patch of impassable snow. As it was getting pretty late, after 8pm, we decided it was time to throw in the towel and head for the highway. We tried one more Geocache at the end of a road with a cool old Army bridge that was partially washed out but wandering around the woods in the rain was too much for us. We had to backtrack almost 30 miles to highway 26 then it was quite a long ways home. I was the closest and didn't get home until 12:30am and was so exhausted, I headed straight for bed.<br />
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It was a fun trip, though it would've been nice to get through where we were trying to go. Just another reason to head back up there once the snow melts.<br />
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Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-5168358699542502372013-02-05T18:12:00.003-08:002013-02-05T20:53:43.874-08:00The Slab Febuary 2nd, 2013A few weeks ago, an invitation was posted by <a href="http://www.easternwashingtonadventures.com/" target="_blank">Eastern Washington Adventures</a> to come up to an area near Zillah, Washington known as The Slab. During the <a href="http://rmrx.blogspot.com/2013/01/snow-camping-january-5th-2013.html" target="_blank">snow camping trip</a> a few weeks earlier, I'd talked to Jason and Gregg about going to this run so when it came up I was definitely in. The plan was to camp at a place that they'd stayed at a few times in the past, known affectionately as <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/TKrXc" target="_blank">Camp Cowpie</a>, near Goldendale, Washington. They headed up Friday morning but I had to work Friday so with coordinates in hand, I headed east after work in search of camp. After missing the turn off into camp and finding a gate blocking the road I got the fun experience of backing my trailer uphill in the dark in the snow, it was a real adventure. After walking the road into camp to make sure it was the right one, I finally got into camp and setup, then spent the rest of the evening by the fire.<br />
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Following a very cold breakfast, it was 20 degrees when we woke up, we decided to pack up camp just to be safe and headed for Zillah. We met the very large group at the staging area, aired down and rolled out. The Slab doesn't cover a lot of ground, only a few hundred acres but it is tightly packed with trails that zig zag all over the hillsides. I elected to tow the trailer so I could get an idea of what I was capable of doing with it attached. We headed first for an area known as Flex Canyon, a tight canyon with some rock formations that pitches your rig toward the other side of the canyon. The nice thing about The Slab is that there is a bypass or viewing area for everything, so I never once had to get my trailer in danger. From Flex Canyon, we made our way around the area, hitting up several play areas including one known as Rollover Hill. I avoided most of the hard trails but still found some fun stuff to do with my Jeep and trailer.<br />
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After the wheeling fun was done, Jason, Gregg and I swung through Toppenish to hit up a grocery store and gas station before heading back over Satus Pass, through Goldendale and back to Camp Cowpie. Sunday morning, we decided to go over Dalles Mountain and drop down to hwy 97 near The Dalles. We explored some muddy side roads along the way, then stopped at Horsethief Butte to explore some of the petroglyphs. We continued west, checking out a few areas that will need some more exploring in the future and found a great campsite near Stevenson. We'll have to go back in that area when the roads are a bit drier and I don't have the trailer, as it proved to be a bit of a hindrance on some of the roads.<br />
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<a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2006142">Slab Track at EveryTrail</a><br><iframe src="http://www.everytrail.com/iframe2.php?trip_id=2006142&width=400&height=300" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="400" height="300"></iframe>EveryTrail - Find the <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/best/hiking-yakima-washington">best Hiking near Yakima, Washington</a><br />
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These pictures can also be viewed on Facebook, along with other photos I uploaded during the trip at <a href="http://facebook.com/RMRX.blogspot">Facebook.com/RMRX.blogspot</a><span id="goog_2059549006"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_2059549007"></span>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-22029570337927573772013-01-08T21:56:00.003-08:002013-01-08T21:56:41.833-08:00Christmas Valley Labor Day 2012Once again, Labor Day weekend was dedicated to Christmas Valley. It just seems like a three-day weekend is the perfect amount of time to spend down there, at least until Monday morning rolls around and I find myself wanting more time. This year, my Mom and brother met me at Green Mountain, camping in her new 5th wheel. I arrived LATE, after getting off work in Portland and driving out Friday night. I was, of course, in my trailer.<br />
Saturday, after slowly getting our day started, we headed for Crack in the Ground, just a few miles south of camp. We explored the firs full section and a good ways into the second section but it was getting towards our early dinner time and we had Delilah, my mom's dog with us so we didn't go all the way to the end. From there we headed down to Silver Lake and the Cowboy Dinner Tree. Keegan and my mom were a little hesitant at the lack of menu choice but once we started eating, they got it. I think we all ended up having the steak. We had a 5pm reservation so after we ate, we poked around the gift shop then headed up to check out Hole in the Ground and
the Fort Rock Homestead Village Museum which preserves and protects homestead-era structures by moving them from their original locations to the museum site on the edge of the town of Fort Rock. It was closed for the evening but we were able to at least see the buildings from the parking lot. Back to camp we headed for a campfire and a little stargazing before heading to bed.<br />
Sunday morning we rolled north to Derrick Cave, a lava tube that fed much much of the lava that created Devil's Garden. We hiked in a ways but not to the end, as Delilah was waiting for us in the car. My mom brought a few glowsticks for us "kids" (her included) to play with in the dark. We stopped and explored the Blowouts just south of Derricks Cave for a bit. We drove back over to Fort Rock, had lunch at the parking area then spent an hour or so hiking around the rock itself, including all the way up onto the rim, awesome views up there. We headed down to the town of Christmas Valley for fuel and beverages. We spend a very long time in a junk store, finding plenty of goodies for all of us. As the shadows grew longer, we decided to explore the Lost Forest, which on paper, really sounded boring. Just a bunch of trees, who cares? It actually turned out to be a pretty cool area, once you realize how dry it is, the trees are pretty spectacular. While exploring the forest, we came across Sand Rock, a large rock formation that I've found virtually no information about. It's hard to even find many references to it online or on most maps. We climbed to the top and watched the sunset together before making our way down to the Jeep and back to camp.<br />
Monday morning was time to drive home. Mom and Keegan broke off east toward hwy 395 up to Pendleton while I headed west. I first explored a road up to the top of Big Hole Butte before heading west amongst the returning Burning Man attendees. I stopped at the Ski Inn restaurant in Sisters for one of their delicious burgers, along with fries and a delicious shake. Coming across Santiam Pass, I decided to finally take the 46 road/hwy 224 from Detroit all the way to Estacada. It was very scenic but I was also trying to get home before dark so not many pictures were taken.<br />
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margin-right: 1em;"></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/mishlersalbumcover.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/mishlersalbumcover.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/usonsandrock.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/usonsandrock.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/sandrocksunset.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/sandrocksunset.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/junipersunset.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/junipersunset.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%202012/fortrockpano.jpg"></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-42013454269895467672013-01-06T23:08:00.002-08:002013-01-06T23:08:52.723-08:00Snow Camping January 5th, 2013Earlier this week I received an invitation from a friend to join him and a few others on a mild snow run and snow camping trip. I didn't really know where we were going but I knew we would be in snow which meant no trailer. I packed lightly and planned on camping in the Jeep. I brought along a tent just in case but didn't use it. We met up Saturday morning in Newberg and after tracking down various supplies, we hit the road.<br />
We headed west out of Newberg on hwy 240 towards Carlton. We continued west into an old favorite area of mine, the Nestucca River drainage. As we climbed, we started seeing some snow on the road but as we climbed close to 2000 feet, there was only a few inches of snow so we were confident we would get to the planned campsite. Just past McGuire Reservoir, we turned north on a dead-end road that climbed uphill. We stopped after a half mile or so and aired down before continuing up. We were following tracks in the snow so, though the snow was over a foot deep, even the low slung rigs like the Subaru could handle the snow.<br />
However, once we got to the end of those tracks, things very quickly became too much for the Subaru. He got to the point he was pushing snow with his front bumper and we were still a good distance from camp. We decided to head back down the mountain and try some other places. So, back down the the Nestucca, across the river and up the other side we went. Fortunately, we were able to get in to that spot. I was able to plow my way up onto the little flat area where we would set up camp (with maybe one stuck that involved help from the Subaru) and we were set up for camp!<br />
Of course, all sorts of shenanigans occurred but those are always best left around the campfire. I ended up sleeping in the passenger seat of the Jeep which, while warm, wasn't very comfortable.<br />
Sunday morning we took it easy, slowly packing up camp and having our various breakfasts. We convoyed back down the the pavement and aired up. It was such a beautiful morning that I decided I'd go for a bit of a drive, see if there was anything worth taking pictures of. As the road climbed up, it quickly became just two ruts down to the pavement surrounded by hard, icy snow. I drove all the way down to Dovre Campground then turned around and started towards home. On a whim, I decided to go up Bald Mountain road because it looked pretty well traveled. I made it up to the Grassy flat OHV staging area and turned around to head back down. I noticed a small spur just up the hill from me so I drove up to that. There was some ruts from somebody else going up there so I decided to give it a shot too.<br />
I got all the way up to where I was plowing snow and couldn't really get much more forward momentum. I started to back down and slid just a little bit out of my tracks and that was all she wrote. I was stuck, up to the frame in an instant. I decided my easiest action would be to winch myself forward a few feet, which would pull me back into my tracks. I dug out a little path in front of the Jeep, strung the cable to a tree and started pulling. After about 5 seconds of pulling, the winch stopped. I fiddled with it for a few minutes, checking connections and various things, getting nowhere. Now I was in a bit of trouble. Yes, I could still dig but the winch line was taught, holding me from being able to back down the hill. I checked my phone, no signal. I was digging.<br />
First I aired down again then tried just digging out in front of all the tires and axles in the hope that I could pull forward a bit. That didn't work. I needed to be able to rock the Jeep back and forth, something I couldn't do with the winch line holding me from going back. I figured I might actually need some help so I got on the ham and found somebody in Vancouver on the Goat Mountain repeater who relayed my request for assistance to a NAXJA friend. Then I got back to digging. I spent about two hours digging all the snow out from around, underneath and in front and behind the Jeep. With no more snow, I was able to rock the Jeep forward just enough to be able to switch the winch to free spool, releasing the tension holding me back. I quickly coiled the excess line up and was able to back down the hill. Once I was safely on the road again, I called up my new ham friend and had him relay to my rescue party (which consisted of three rigs and five people) that they could turn around. I made my way back down to pavement, aired up and headed for home.<br />
I was cold and wet and had definitely learned a lesson. I definitely was doing more than I should have because I was overconfident with the technology that I had. When the technology failed, I was in a pickle. Fortunately, everything worked out and I ended up being able to get myself out, though if I couldn't, I had a team of friends on their way to rescue me. I definitely owe Dave (KF7ZIY) for relaying my needs and staying by the radio to continue to communicate with me. Also a huge thanks to Nick, Scott, Eric, Jason and Dustin for being my rescue team and Darren for allowing his rig to be used (I assume he knew Eric was borrowing it)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/jaquithpark.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/jaquithpark.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/stucksubaru.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/stucksubaru.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/20000.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/20000.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/walkercreek.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/walkercreek.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/stuckjeepcamp.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/stuckjeepcamp.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/subaruintocamp.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/subaruintocamp.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/laddertesting.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/laddertesting.jpg" height="100" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/flares.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/flares.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/boozemountaincampnightpano.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/boozemountaincampnightpano.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/cloudlayers.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/cloudlayers.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/sunriseintheforest.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/sunriseintheforest.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/leavingcamp.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/leavingcamp.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/airingupgroup.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/airingupgroup.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/oldbarrel.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/oldbarrel.jpg" height="100" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/reallystuck.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/reallystuck.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/bangedhand.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/bangedhand.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/airingupagain.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/airingupagain.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/onthewayout.jpg"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/booze%20mountain/onthewayout.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-12375155073238218122012-07-18T12:45:00.001-07:002012-07-18T12:45:46.274-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 7 June 29th, 2012<br />
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A few days earlier, while driving through the Canadian
Rockies, I commented that Alaska would have to try pretty hard to impress us
with scenery. Well, the Richardson Highway to Valdez did just that. With
Hundreds of waterfalls and dozens of lakes, glaciers and beautiful vistas, it
is easy to see why this is known as one of the most scenic highways in the
country. The wonderful weather we had certainly helped too. We were even lucky
enough to spot a mama grizzly and her cub wander a river bed from a nearby
bluff.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Once we got into Valdez, we hemmed and hawed a bit about
where to camp. We finally settled on Valdez Glacier Campground, just outside of
town and were very happy with the decision. While it didn’t have laundry, it
did have an excellent thing, free showers! We ended up finding a Laundromat
just down the road so it all worked out. The campground even had a waterfall
that fell right into it! After doing our laundry, we drove into town with a
couple of MRE’s and ate dinner by the ferry landing along the water. A perfect
end to a great day.</div>
<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/reflectivelake6-29-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/reflectivelake6-29-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/gulkanariverPano6-29.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/gulkanariverPano6-29.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/mamaandbabygrizzly6-29.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/mamaandbabygrizzly6-29.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/thompsonpassjeep6-29-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/thompsonpassjeep6-29-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/nearblueberrylake6-29.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/nearblueberrylake6-29.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-21391904239190030952012-07-18T01:45:00.000-07:002012-07-18T01:45:05.135-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 6 June 28th, 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Finally getting into Alaska!</div>
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Though obviously we enjoyed our time in Canada, the real
goal of our trip was, of course, Alaska. Today would also be our first real
experience with frost heave. With my light weight trailer, it was a lot smoother
than for folks with bigger rigs which meant I passed a lot of people while
going through the Yukon today.</div>
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We saw more bears today, a mama grizzly and two cubs plus
several cinnamon bears, black bears with brown coats. There was also a moose we
spotted standing in a river near the Alaskan border. Before we got to the
border, we had to pass Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon. Also a very
scenic tundra like area, it had lots of frost heave and plenty of construction
work going on trying to fix it.</div>
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Eventually, we got to the border. After a few quick
questions, we were allowed to enter Alaska! We were so elated we didn’t even
stop at the sign to commemorate the event. We did however stop at a viewpoint
to have dinner, where we got RAINED on, soaking us a bit but also providing us
with a wonderful rainbow.</div>
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We got as far as Tok River, where we took advantage of the
cell phone service after maintaining radio silence for the previous three and a
half days. It was good to know everybody back home was surviving without us.</div>
<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/Alcanhighway6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/Alcanhighway6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/teslinbridge6-28-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/teslinbridge6-28-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/jeepteslinbridge6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/jeepteslinbridge6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/cinnamoneatingflowers-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/cinnamoneatingflowers-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/canadianmtnsalcan6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/canadianmtnsalcan6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/JeepKluaneLakePano6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/JeepKluaneLakePano6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/KeeganKluaneLakePano6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/KeeganKluaneLakePano6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/kluaneRiverPano6-28.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/kluaneRiverPano6-28.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/toppingoff6-28-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/toppingoff6-28-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/alaskarainbow6-28-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/alaskarainbow6-28-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-38401200642229026902012-07-14T00:35:00.000-07:002012-07-14T00:36:03.783-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 5 June 27th, 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
After a wonderful (free) shower to start off our morning, we
paid for the previous nights stay the hit the road. We had a wonderfully scenic
day ahead of us as we would be crossing back through the northern Canadian
Rockies on our way west.
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The highway first took us north towards Fort Nelson,
crossing the Muskwa River, the lowest point on the Alaska Highway at 1000 feet.
There we gassed up, got more ice and continued west, first along the Muskwa
River before climbing around Steamboat Mountain. The highway then drops down
and follows the Tetsa River as it climbs to it’s head at Summit Lake, in Stone
Mountain Provincial Park. This is at Summit pass, the highest point on the
Alaska Highway at 4250 feet.</div>
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We’d been warned we might see stone sheep on the highway in
this area and sure enough we passed a male, then a few curves later, a female
and lamb, all just hanging out on the road. Just a few miles further, we pulled
over along with several other travelers to watch a moose cow drinking from the
river below us.</div>
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Then we started seeing bears. First one crossed the road in
front of the car in front of us, then we started seeing them munching on the
grass on the shoulder. By the end of the day we’d seen 13 black bears, plus a
mama grizzly and her two cubs just before we crossed into the Yukon Territory.
We also saw easily 40 bison in the Liard hot springs area, mostly hanging out
on the shoulder.</div>
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The scenery along the Rockies was absolutely spectacular,
huge mountains, blue rivers and wildlife galore! By the end of the day, I was
wondering if Alaska would be able to impress us after this spectacular highway
through the Rockies.</div>
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One final stop for the day, was the Watson Lake Sign Forest,
in Watson Lake, YT. Started by Carl Lindley in 1942 during construction of the
Alaska Highway, visitors have been adding signs ever since. It is said that are
more than 70,000 signs here today. We brought along a sign that was signed by
members of NAXJA at Northwest Fest the previous weekend.</div>
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Our campsite our last night in Canada ended up being Big
Creek, east of Teslin. Our favorite thing about this campground was that it had
absolutely free firewood, pre-cut into rounds for the campers. We may eve stop
there again on our way back, just because of the free firewood.</div>
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/constructionline6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/constructionline6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/stonesheepcalf6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/stonesheepcalf6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/stonemountains6-27.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/stonemountains6-27.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/bluelake6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/bluelake6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/falls6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/falls6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/beaver6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/beaver6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/blackbeareatinggrass6-27.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/blackbeareatinggrass6-27.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/grizzlycub-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/grizzlycub-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/Jeepsignforest6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/Jeepsignforest6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/originalsign6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/originalsign6-27-1.jpg" height="100" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/RwithSIgn-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/RwithSIgn-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/signwithsigns-2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/signwithsigns-2.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/signpostpano2000px6-27.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/signpostpano2000px6-27.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/bigcreekyt6-27-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/bigcreekyt6-27-1.jpg" width="150" /></a>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-694355363816344302012-07-13T23:51:00.000-07:002012-07-13T23:56:59.024-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 4 June 26th, 2012We got off to a better start on our fourth day on the road. No more rain fell overnight and the tent was dry when we packed it up. We were also fortunate to have a warm bathroom with running water to clean up in before we left.
We stopped in Williams Lake to get more Canadian money and have a recommended breakfast at Tim Horton’s and, of course, gas, then continued north to Prince George, where we got ice, gas and a phone card. We wandered the “strip” for a while, looking for a pay phone to use before decided to just use on in “the next town.” That actually turned into a bit of an ordeal and we didn’t find one until Fort St. John, late in the evening.
The night before, in camp, we decided it would be worth it to drive a few more miles in order to go through Dawson Creek and visit Mile “0” of the Alaska Highway. It was definitely a good decision as it allowed us to cross the Canadian Rockies twice. There was amazing scenery as we crossed the continental divide before traversing a good amount of Canadian prairie coming into Dawson Creek. We also saw our first black bear, an adult grazing in grass along the highway.
We wasted little time in Dawson Creek before turning west, hoping to find some trees to camp near. We stopped briefly in Fort Ns John to use the payphone then had dinner a few miles west of there before continuing on, looking for camp.
First we tried the Sasquatch, which seemed run down and fairly exposed to the wind, then Pink Mountain, which didn’t seem to have a campground as much as a large gravel lot next to the gas pumps. No thanks. Finally, at the bottom of suicide hill, we crossed the Sikanni Chief River and found a small campground, complete with laundry and free showers.
This was our first real experience with the late night sun as at 10:40pm it was still plenty light out. This was also the first time we would see an interesting Mercedes bus/coach/camper. The front half was seats while the back half was some sort of dormitory/sleeping area. It had 15-20 passengers and seemed pretty self-contained. A very cool rig indeed and the first of many we would see multiple times on the road.
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<a href="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/CNflowers-1.jpg[/IMG]" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/CNflowers-1.jpg[/IMG]" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/mile0-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/mile0-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/dawsoncreekelevator6-26-2.jpg[/IMG]" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/dawsoncreekelevator6-26-2.jpg[/IMG]" width="150" /></a> <a href="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/1040daylight6-26-1.jpg[/IMG]" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="[IMG]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/1040daylight6-26-1.jpg[/IMG]" width="150" /></a>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-25621026164318725582012-07-13T13:36:00.001-07:002012-07-13T13:36:05.178-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 3 June 25th, 2012<br />
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The plan for Monday was to get into Canada, then cover some
good ground towards Alaska. Chopaka Lake is located just a few miles from the
Nighthawk border crossing so it was an easy choice to cross there. Additionally
I had hopes of the crossing going quickly since it is the quietest border
crossing in Washington.</div>
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Unfortunately, the guards see it a different way. Namely,
since it’s a quiet crossing, they have more time to be thorough. Apparently two
brothers (with short hair) on an adventure together is suspicious enough to
warrant a search of our persons, the Jeep and the trailer. After 45 minutes
and, of course, them not finding anything, we were allowed to repack our gear
and go on our way.</div>
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The first stop in BC would be Merritt, where we would first
hit up an ATM (ATB in Canada) for some Canadian money then a gas station.
Before we went in to use the ATB, I decided to fire up my laptop to take
advantage of the Wi-Fi from the Starbucks next door. In the middle of a Google
Voice call with my mom, the screen went white. After tinkering with the
computer some, I came to the conclusion that there was some sort of physical
defect causing the issued with my laptop, something I wouldn’t be able to take
care of on the road.</div>
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Great. All the planning I’d done, all on my computer. At
least I’d be able to access my email on phone to review our reservations. We
would later pick up a calling card and call home to request the delivery of
Keegan’s laptop to us in Seward. The very laptop I’d determined unnecessary
before we’d hit the road, "because we'll have mine."</div>
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The next issue, we headed into the gas station to get cash from the ATB only to discover that it was out of order due to a power spike earlier in the day. Unfortunately, this meant a nearly 40 mile detour to another ATB in Kamloops, putting us even further behind schedule.</div>
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After running around southern BC for several hours, and seeing our first moose, a calf running along the highway, we eventually pulled into 100 Mile House to look for a campground. We found a pleasant municipal campground but decided we could just keep going as it was still fairly early (7pm) We opened the trusty milepost and settled on Lac La Hache Provincial Park, another half hours drive north.</div>
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As we got into the area, we noticed lightning to the west. We found a camp site in the campground, dropped the trailer then headed for the day use area alongside the lake to watch the storm and enjoy dinner. Rain soon moved into the area but died down for the night by the time we got around to setting up camp.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/redroofbclake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/redroofbclake.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-83355920356737340792012-07-13T13:19:00.000-07:002012-07-13T13:43:54.764-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 2 June 24th, 2012<br />
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I was woken briefly at around 5am to a small passing
thunderstorm before falling back to sleep for a few more hours. Lucky for us,
when we woke up around 930, the rain had stopped and we quickly packed up camp
before things got wet.</div>
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After saying our goodbyes, we headed east, picking up
supplies and gassing up in Yakima. We turned north, traveling through
territory we’d only seen once or twice in our life</div>
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We grabbed a delicious lunch at Campus U-Tote-Em in
Ellensburg then continued northward. We checked out a few scenic viewpoints
along the way but mostly stuck to driving on hwy 97.</div>
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We got fuel in Omak before turning NW onto Pine Creek road, crossing over <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">|HILLS| </b>into Sinlahekin Valley. It was
a beautiful valley with spectacular vistas overlooking many lakes, sandwiched
between huge mountains.</div>
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Eventually we got to Loomis, where we headed uphill to
Chopaka Lake. Touted as one of the premier trout lakes in Washington, it takes
a bit of work to get there, with the road clinging to a steep mountainside as
it climbs over 1,000 feet in the first mile. The road continues to climb as it
weaves through the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest on its way to the lake.</div>
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I was utterly surprised at how many people were camped at
the lake on a Sunday night. At least 20 other groups were camped in the
side-by-side BLM and USFS campgrounds. We choose the FS campground because of the picnic tables. Another thing
that surprised me was the abundance of bird life at Chopaka Lake. I’d never
personally witnessed so many different birds in such a small area before. The
evening air was alive with the calls of different species. Truly amazing!</div>
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This was the last night we’d really be able to see the stars
and boy were they spectacular. The combination of high elevation and us being
far from any light pollution mean we could easily see the milky way and other
normally invisible stars.</div>
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We also had our first MRE’s that I’d pack. The first meals
were satisfactory and novelty was pretty great. That would definitely wear off
soon enough…</div>
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/toowrigs.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/toowrigs.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/viewpoint.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/viewpoint.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/keeganviewpoint.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/keeganviewpoint.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/smilkvalleylake.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/smilkvalleylake.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/458570_494813513868202_1366988705_o.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/458570_494813513868202_1366988705_o.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-44534112640513339792012-07-10T13:49:00.003-07:002012-07-10T15:11:25.340-07:00Alaskan Roadtrip! Day 1 June 23rd, 2012An adventure!<br /><br />
Reading Into the Wild for the umpteenth time, my yearning for an adventure was at a boiling point. I made a deal with Keegan, my brother, if he graduated high school in June as planned, we would take an epic road trip to Alaska.<br /><br />
The planning began at once. First, I formulated a basic route, the i started researching specific places to go. <a href="http://www.expeditionportal.com/" target="_blank">ExPo</a> was a huge help in that area as it gave me numerous perspectives from people who'd actually done the trip. I started adding must-visit destinations to the itinerary and pretty soon, we had a plan! necessary reservations were made, a departure date was set, supplies were purchased and a to-do-before-we-go list was created.<br /><br />
Keegan graduated on time (yay) as expected and our "hit the road" date arrived!<br /><br />
Our goal on day one was Long Meadow in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and home to Northwest Fest, NAXJA's annual Northwest Chapter big wheeling run and campout. <br /><br />
Because of my dislike of interstate freeways and constant sense of adventure, I decided I wanted to take a back route towards central Washington. Looking at the map, I found a route from Woodland, WA around the south and east sides of Mt Saint Helens via SR 503 to FS-25 then FS-90. Unfortunately, I didn't do enough research and we discovered the road was still blocked by snow, only after driving 38 miles up into the mountains.<br /><br />
So, we turned around and headed back down to I-5 and headed north, turning off onto highway 12. We followed that up to Packwood then turned north on hwy 123 to hwy 410, cutting through Mt Rainer National Park. The scenery over the pass, the highest we would traverse on our trip at 5,400 feet, was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, because of low clouds, we couldn't see the mountains that surrounded us.<br /><br />
Since we were about to drive thousands of miles, we decided against wheeling, instead showing up the final night for the annual BBQ and raffle to benefit the NWC. Chapter President Darren's wife Brenda made delicious tacos while newly appointed treasurer, known only as TORX ran the raffle.<br /><br />
Keegan and I each put in $20 to the cause. Sadly, Keegan didn't win anything, though I walked away with some Flowmaster swag and a 25% off coupon from ARB! We also got goodie bags loaded with stickers, key chains and other good stuff. Darren was gracious enough to give Keegan and I some leftover swag to drop in Geocaches along the way.<br /><br />
After a fun (and late) evening around the campfire, we hit the sack shortly before the rain started (and the sun came up) along with some distant thunder in the distant. Not a bad ending to our first day.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/CougarKeegan-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/CougarKeegan-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/rainersummit-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/rainersummit-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/raffle-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alaska%202012/raffle-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955386474031803169noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-38999028394203737832011-11-01T21:53:00.014-07:002012-03-28T20:47:43.024-07:00Driving through a storm March 25th, 2010On March 25th, 2010, while driving north on Hwy 395 between Ukiah and Pilot Rock, I drove into a powerful storm. In a matter of minutes I witnessed heavy rain, hail, thunder & lightning and very strong winds.<br />
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The only safe thing to do was pull over and wait out the storm. Fortunately, the system was small and only lasted five to ten minutes. <br />
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These are just a few pictures I took of the storm after it had passed to the northeast.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Weather/stormy3-25-10trimmed.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Weather/stormy3-25-10trimmed.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Looking north along highway 395 </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Weather/stormy3-25-102.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Weather/stormy3-25-102.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Looking towards the northeast. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-3413695571344179902011-09-12T20:35:00.043-07:002012-03-28T20:47:02.699-07:00LaDee Flats & NF-4610, September 11th, 2011<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right; width: 205px;"><tbody>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/smokeymountains.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/smokeymountains.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Looking east, up the Clackamas River </span></td></tr>
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This was a trip originally put together by my friend Nick, whom I know from NAXJA. Somehow I basically ended up leading, go figure...<br />
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As was planned, we met at 9am in the Estacada Ranger Station parking lot and headed east. Oh wait, the two guys (Nick and Scott) who planned the trip rolled into Estacada 20 minutes late and still needed to stop at Subway to get lunch.<br />
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Around 9:40 we (Nick & Scott, Aaron, Jonathon & Mary, myself and 2 Jeeps from Grand Krawlers, Mike and Chaz) finally rolled out of Estacada, heading east on hwy 224 to the 4610 road, getting our first look at the smokey mountains in front of us.<br />
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Our goal was to run the La Dee Flats OHV trails, before following 4610 east to Timothy Lake. The first trail section we got to would be part of the 800 trail. After Nick drove past it, I turned down the trail and lead the way. The trail was somewhat interesting though basically just an underused forest road that dropped down about 600 feet in less than a mile to the North Fork of the Clackamas River. The "trail" turned upstream for a few hundred yards and promptly ended in 2 guys' campsite, so we all go to find the side spot to turn around to head back up...<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/turningaround.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/turningaround.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Aaron turning around in a muddy hole </span></td></tr>
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Once we got back to the top, we started looking for another section of trail. After noticing a lack of trails where the map showed there to be trails, we turned down a logging road that the map showed as a trail. It of course ended at a couple of small campsites. Then we tried another one and it went quite a ways then lo and behold, what appeared to be a new trail cut through the brush. We started following that back toward the 4610 road when it ended VERY abruptly. There were orange markers along the trail and they continued into the woods. We followed them on foot for a ways but it was obvious this was not an open trail yet.<br />
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After getting everybody turned around and bashing up my pass side rear shock on a chinese fingertrap of a rock, we once again returned to the 4610 road, where we determined we'd exhausted all the possible trails. There weren't any... Even though the map says there are established trails, there clearly aren't. A little frustrating as that was at least 40% of the reason we were up there. The map also showed a quarry/play area further up the road so we headed for that.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/trail.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/trail.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Some day, there will be a trail here</span></td></tr>
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After quickly tiring of driving around on a pile of gravel, we regrouped and started toward Squaw Mountain, a short 2 mile spur off the 4610 to the top of Squaw Mountain. I stopped at the turn-off to wait for everybody to catch up. Nick, Aaron and Jonathon all showed up and we waited, and waited. AND waited... After waiting at least 20 minutes for Mike and Chaz to join us, I drove the 5 miles back down to the quarry where we had last been a group. They weren't there. I tried again raising them on the CB but nothing. I regretfully drove back up to the group waiting and we decided to move on, skipping the drive up to Squaw Mountain (turns out we wouldn't have seen anything anyway due to smoke)<br />
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BTW, Chaz was apparently having overheating problems so they turned around. One of the biggest no-no's in 4wheeling/exploring is you stick with the group. If you're going to leave, you have to tell the rest. We had no idea what had happened to them, they just disappeared. NOT ACCEPTABLE. If it were up to me, they would never be allowed on a run ever again. I certainly won't be responsible for them again.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2735050044817419646&postID=341369557134417990&from=pencil" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/gravelpit.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Group pose on a small rock pile </span></td></tr>
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Anyway, we continued on the 4610 road east until we came to the famous washout. approx 200 feet of hillside slid down at least 20 feet, forcing a hard dropping right turn in the road, with a crevasse on the left side that you have to drop into. After standing around and looking at the road for 20+ minutes then the slowest airing down of a set of tires EVER, we determined the best action would be for Nick to hook his winch to the back rear of whoever was going down, to keep their rear-end from passing over the front.<br />
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Aaron went first and unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that, just video, which will come later. he made it look nice and easy to Jonathon went next. How was he feeling?<br />
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He made it look even easier than Aaron did!<br />
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After that, it was my turn, after lifting a tire before even turning down toward the drop, it was an easy trip down the hill for me (thanks Aaron for taking my camera)</div>
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The original plan was for Nick to turn around and lower himself down backwards, using the winch. However, once it was go time, he decided to just go for it. Turned out to be fine...<br />
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I think most of it was Scott's golden touch.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/evilstartingddow.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/evilstartingddow.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Jonathon feeling confident</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/evildroppingdown.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/evildroppingdown.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Jonathon getting eased down by Nick's winch</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/nickdroppingdown.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/nickdroppingdown.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Nick making it look easy</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/medroppingdown.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/medroppingdown.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">My turn! Thanks to Aaron Barnes for taking the picture </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/ScottsGoldenTouch.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/ScottsGoldenTouch.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Scott's golden touch</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/hilllsidepano.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/hilllsidepano.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Old rock slide location </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/roadclosed.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/roadclosed.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Finally, the end of 4610!</span></td></tr>
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From there on, the road was basically level as it continued east, mostly running through woods, though occasionally popping out for a bit of a view.<br />
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Finally, we popped out onto pavement, quite a victory for me as the road has been on my checklist for 3 or 4 years.<br />
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For the record, there are no road closed signs when you come from the west. Also, the USFS lists the road as open. <br />
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We then drove up to High Rock, though first dropping Aaron's Jeep off at the bottom.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/aaronjonhighrocks.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/aaronjonhighrocks.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Aaron and Jonathon</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/grouphighrocks.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/grouphighrocks.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">The Jeeps below the top </span></td></tr>
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We had earlier discussed driving down to Detroit via Olallie Lake. First, we now had to make a trip out to CJ's Chevron on highway 26 so we could put gas in a certain black 2-door XJ. I won't name names... Once we all got a little gas (though I think only Aaron *needed* it. Oops) We started talking about timing. Nick & Scott, Aaron and Jonathon & Mary decided they were ready to go home, while I wanted to go down to Detroit to check out the fires around there.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/endofdayjeep.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="blank"> <img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/endofdayjeep.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
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I grabbed some snacks and bid farewell to the group and headed east on hwy 26 to the Skyline road. My plan was to drive down that then turn off and pass Olallie Lake and go over the hill to Breitenbush Lake before following the Breitenbush River out to Detroit, then over through the Opal Creek area and out along the North Fork Santiam then back to I-5. However, as I was heading down, radio traffic indicated there was a new fire by Bagby Hot Springs and that law enforcement was gathering to evacuate campers. I made the decision to go straight down to the 46 road, which follows the Clackamas River from the end of highway 224, then head up to Bagby Hot Springs to try and get some press-worthy pictures of evacuations.<br />
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Light was going to crap by the time I got in the area so I just grabbed a few other pictures and headed for home.<br />
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/sunset2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/sunset2.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td bgcolor="#d8d8d8" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/sunset1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;" target="blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4610%209-11-11/sunset1.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
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I came back into Estacada a little after 7. 10 hours and 157 miles after leaving Estacada.<br />
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Thanks to Nick, Scott, Aaron, Jonathon and Mary for helping me finally accomplish a trip that has been on my list for a long time. Now, it is time to pick the next trip to take and when...<br />
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<br /></div>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-35592222313257511902010-09-21T21:11:00.001-07:002013-03-12T22:29:21.901-07:00Christmas Valley - Labor Day 2010<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/airingup-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/airingup-1.jpg" width="380" /></a>So for Labor Day weekend, we decided to head down to the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Christmas+VAlley,+or&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.957823,78.662109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Christmas+Valley,+Lake,+Oregon&z=14">Christmas Valley</a> area, south of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bend,+OR&sll=43.236254,-120.636929&sspn=0.027764,0.076818&g=Christmas+VAlley,+or&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Bend,+Deschutes,+Oregon&ll=44.056012,-121.311035&spn=1.752783,4.916382&z=8">Bend.</a><br />
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Christmas Valley is a fairly remote part of the state, often referred to as Oregon's Outback. Since I had never visited the area before, I relied heavily on the Internet and maps to plan out trip.<br />
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We headed out Friday afternoon after work, meaning we'd have to make our way out of town through traffic. Fortunately, I know enough backroads that I was able to avoid most of it. We made a few quick stops for air in Wilsonville then gas and food later but other than that, it was just a lot of driving.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/campfridaynight-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/campfridaynight-1.jpg" width="380" /></a>Since we didn't leave until 5pm on Friday, it was almost midnight by the time we finally got into camp at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=43.38637,-120.72314&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.957823,78.662109&ie=UTF8&ll=43.386836,-120.718975&spn=0.027695,0.076818&t=p&z=14">Green Mountain.</a> Green Mountain is my new favorite place to camp, It is very small, four sites, with no water and just a pit toilet there. A few people were concerned that we wouldn't be able to get a site showing up super late on Friday of Labor Day. That was definitely no worry for us though, when we arrived, there was only one site occupied. We got camp set up and a little fire going then headed for bed.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/satcamppano-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/satcamppano-1.jpg" width="380" /></a>Saturday morning we awoke with the neighbors diesel pickup and the howling of coyotes about 7am and slowly got our day going. I cooked up some pop tarts and hot drinks while we let the day get caught up to us.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/yieldsign-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/yieldsign-1.jpg" width="380" /></a>Our first stop for the day was <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+43%C2%B0+31.372+W+120%C2%B0+51.948&sll=43.38771,-120.718975&sspn=0.025948,0.076818&ie=UTF8&ll=43.521605,-120.86566&spn=0.012945,0.038409&t=p&z=15">Derrick Cave,</a> an old lava tube an hour or so North of Green Mountain. On our way, we passed through an intersection with a yield sign, though I'm not sure who was supposed to be yielding to what, or if two cars had ever met at the intersection before.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/derrickcaveopening-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/derrickcaveopening-1.jpg" width="380" /></a><br />
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Derrick Cave is one of the coolest lava tubes I've ever been to. Access is made through one of several places where the roof has fallen through. There was a short section that went off to our right but the loose rocks made it seem rather unstable so we headed the other direction.<br />
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One of the collapsed spots created a beam of light that shown through, lighting up the dust in the air. We followed the tube for a short distance but as it started to go deeper and deeper, we decided to turn around and head back to the surface.<br />
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<a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/NicoleDerrickcave-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/NicoleDerrickcave-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/Derrickcavetube-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/Derrickcavetube-1.jpg" width="150" /></a> <a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/derrickcavehole-1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/derrickcavehole-1.jpg" width="150" /></a><br />
On our way back to the main road, we stopped at a couple of small cinder cones we'd noticed on our way in. I later found these were called The Blowouts but there was very little information I could find about how they were created other than they are volcanic cones.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=jeepblowouts-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/jeepblowouts-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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After a brief hike up inside, we continued on down the road to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Rock">Fort Rock</a>. Fort Rock is essentially an old volcano which was eroded by and ancient lake that is thought to have once covered nearly 900 square miles of Central Oregon.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=fortrock.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/fortrock.jpg" /></a><br />
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You can actually hike all the way through the rock area but we still had lots of places to visit for the day so we continued on.<br />
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Our next stop was Hole in the Ground, a large maar, or explosion crater. I've seen a number of pictures of it before, like the one below from Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/quilttrip/">Justin Stranzl</a> so I knew that there was a road to the bottom. My goal, find that road...<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=hitgsign.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/hitgsign.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quilttrip/3872374055/" title="Desolation by Justin and Alissa, on Flickr"><img alt="Desolation" height="375" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3872374055_311ee56ba3.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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So off we headed and thanks to my GPS, I was able to pick the right road almost immediately. Down at the bottom, the view was pretty incredible as the ridge circled us as high as 700 feet above the center of the hole.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=hitg-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/hitg-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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After a couple pictures and a refill of our water bottles, we turned around and headed back up. Nicole wasn't terribly fond of the road coming down as it had several off-camber sections that tilted the Jeep down hill with very little room for error. I offered to let her walk those sections and take some pictures, which she accepted as a good alternative. I slowly wove my way around the rocks and made it up the hill, no problem. I probably won't be taking that road in the future however...<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=HITGrd1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/HITGrd1-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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Next up, we headed for Big Hole in the Ground, which is even bigger but is filled with trees, making it not so easy to recognize the size. We tried finding a geocache over there but had no luck. The GC location was near a set of cliffs, giving us our only real clue that we weren't just on a hillside.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=IMG_20100904_143840.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/IMG_20100904_143840.jpg" /></a><br />
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Now our plans for later in the day included dinner in Silver Lake at 7pm so we still had several hours to kill. I had another Geocache saved in my gps atop a volcanic plateau called <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N+43%C2%B0+09.931+W+120%C2%B0+52.882&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.957823,78.662109&ie=UTF8&ll=43.164872,-120.882483&spn=0.027796,0.076818&t=p&z=14">Table Rock</a> so off we headed. My gps lead me in the wrong way but I was able to figure it out by coming all the way around the rock. The road up was pretty rough and I was glad to have 4-low to get up top. It was kinda breezy up top but not too bad. We decided that the view up there was great so I set the camera up on the tripod to take our picture.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=atoptablerock-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/atoptablerock-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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I decided to shoot another and that is when disaster happened. As I stepped away from the camera, a gust of wind came up and before I could reach the camera, it felt face forward onto its lens, destroying the polarizing filter and my 18-55mm ef-s lens. Oops. The time ran out just as I was discovering the broken parts :(<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=brokenlens-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/brokenlens-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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Even with the disaster, I was still able to shoot some more pictures with my 55-250 lens and my old Fuji.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=fortrock-tablerock-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/fortrock-tablerock-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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On the way up I was concentrating on keeping my Jeep moving forward on the steep road so headed back down I was able to stop breifly and take a picture.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=tablerockcomingdown-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/tablerockcomingdown-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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We still had time to kill so we headed south-east on OR-31 toward Summer Lake, noticing several things along the way including a nice view of Table Rock, a little sign modification and a Peregrine Falcon.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=falcon-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/falcon-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=falcon2-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/falcon2-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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After refueling in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=summer+lake,+or&sll=43.06036,-121.05423&sspn=0.05343,0.153637&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Summer+Lake,+Lake,+Oregon&ll=42.972753,-120.777855&spn=0.108017,0.307274&z=12">Summer Lake</a>, we headed for Silver Lake, more specifically The <a href="http://cowboydinnertree.homestead.com/main.html">Cowboy Dinner Tree</a>, a restaurant south of "town" that is famous for their large, delicious portions and good prices. Your options are either a 26-30oz top sirloin or a whole roasted chicken, which they spend all day cooking. The food was amazing and there was enough for us to eat dinner for two whole days.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=IMG_20100904_191856.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/IMG_20100904_191856.jpg" /></a><br />
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The next morning, we headed up to the lookout tower on the north summit of Green Mountain to check out the views and chat with the lookout for a while. He was a nice guy and he shared with us the plans (and what he thought of them) to replace the current cabin on the mountain with a new cabin atop a 50 foot tower with sepearate housing quarters for the lookout. I think the new tower will greatly improve the lookout's ability to view the surrounding area, specifically toward the south, which is currently blocked by the south summit.<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=greenmtnLOpano-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/greenmtnLOpano-1.jpg" /></a><br />
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Then Nicole and I headed for another amazing place, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_in_the_Ground">Crack-in-the-Ground</a>, which is just a few miles south of Green Mountain. It is an incredible volcanic fissure over two miles long and, in places, over 100 feet deep. Truely an amazing place. We walked through a little less than half of it before heading back for the car and lunch and I cannot wait to get back and explore the rest.<br />
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On this trip I was trying out a new camping tool, a <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/765279">REI Camp Kitchen</a>, which I picked up at REI's Labor Day sale, just days before out trip. I was very impressed with how quick and easy it was to set up. Maybe three minutes and I had a place for my stove, with the lantern overhead, storage for all our dishes and a few other table tops for random stuff that ends up around camp. I'm glad I picked it up though I was disappointed to discover that the windscreen for the stove was too small for my stove but at least my stove has a windscreen already built in. Overall I like it, though it is a bit much for a one night campsite if I'm leaving early in the morning.<br />
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Monday was our day for heading home. But of course I couldn't just go straight home, first we headed into Fort Rock then turned north on what becomes China Hat rd. We stopped breifly at South Ice Cave but it doesn't go very far so we kept moving pretty quickly. I scouted out a map on my Deschutes NF map and we zigzagged our way north, eventually coming in the back/east side of Newberry Crater. We stopped and had lunch at Paulina Lake campground before heading up Paulina peak. The views up there are absolutely incredible, one of the best views in Oregon as you can easily see ten Cascade peaks on a somewhat clear day. We also had a decent view of people out enjoying one of the last summer days on Paulina Lake.<br />
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Then we headed down the quick way and started north on US-97. That is when things quickly went sour. While shifting from 3rd to 4th, 4th gear blew up, fortunately I was able to get the transmission back into 3rd and we continued, amazingling, in 3rd all the way into and threw Bend, through and approximately ten miles west of Sisters before we got pulled over by an OSP Trooper who though I was going to slow, though I was not impeding traffic in any way. Since I was now stopped, I could not get my Jeep going again since I was stuck in 3rd so I called AAA for a tow and we rode the rest of the way home in the tow truck. Not fun...<br />
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<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/?action=view&current=IMG_20100906_165350.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Christmas%20Valley%20Labor%20Day%202010/IMG_20100906_165350.jpg" /></a><br />
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What a fantastic trip and an amazing area. I cannot wait to get back out there next year to do more exploring.Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-11557265719957981602010-01-12T20:53:00.000-08:002010-01-12T21:18:49.201-08:00Exploring the Santiam State Forest, Molalla to Elkhorn 10-10-09This was yet another trip I led with the PNWAdventures group. The plan for the morning was to visit a Geocache we'd attempted back in March but been snubbed on and attempt to find a way through, down to the North Fork Santiam River area.<br /> The morning of the trip, I headed out for the meeting point at the Molalla Thriftway. On a whim, I decided to go across the Canby Ferry and it turned out to be a great idea because it was a very nice, if somewhat cold morning out on the river.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=CanbyFerry.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/CanbyFerry.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> After standing around in the parking lot for a while, chatting about recent upgrades to our vehicles among other things, we headed out. After stopping just after we left pavement to air down for comfort, we continued out our way till we got to Rhody Lake, where we let the dogs get out to stretch their legs.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=arthurrhody.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/arthurrhody.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Our next stop was the lookout tower nearby, with the Geocache in the same area. We were surprised, and dare I say pleased, to find that the road up to the lookout tower was actually more like a somewhat difficult 4x4 trail. Fortunately, with the use of four wheel drive and low range, we were able to make our way up the tower.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=lookouttower.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/lookouttower.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The views were amazing that day and we were able to see at least nine major peaks from the top.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=Lookoutpano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/Lookoutpano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=threesisters.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/threesisters.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The top of the tower was not for those with an issue with heights as the floor was somewhat old and the railings on the tower weren't outrageously strong or secure.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=carslookout.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/carslookout.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=lookoutmountains.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/lookoutmountains.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> After meeting up there with the final member of our party, who had spent the night atop the mountain, we continued down the road/trail until we came to a bit of an obstacle. Not too difficult but we did have to pick our line carefully to avoid hitting your rockers or axles. (I didn't pick terribly well but no visible damage)<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=xjobstacle.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/xjobstacle.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> After zigzaging our way around the hills, running into several blockages, locked gates and a MASSIVE landslide, we made our way through an unlocked gate and started making some down hill progress.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=mthoodandleaves.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/mthoodandleaves.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=leavesroad.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/leavesroad.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=valleyview.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/valleyview.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Unfortunately, at the bottom we found a locked gate, just yard from the road we were aiming for.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=roadsend.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/roadsend.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> After talking with a passerby, on the other side of the gate, for a few minutes, we headed back up into the hills to try and find another way out. Another half hour off the clock and we found another locked gate. Luckily, as we were there discussing our options, a hunter came down the hill who happend to have a key. He let us out "cause they wouldn't be too happy you were in here" and we headed a few miles up the road to a trailhead, our goal being Henline Falls.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=trail.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/trail.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The hike, though advertised as about half a mile, turned out to be more like one mile but eventually we got to the falls.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=henlinefalls.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/henlinefalls.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> You'll notice to the right of the base of the falls, is an old mine, which we explored to about 50 feet, where it was gated.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=mine.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/mine.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Eventually our group dwindled to two, so we decided to drive up to the lower side of the landslide that had blocked our progress earlier. We found a massive landslide, half a mile across according to my GPS with no evidence of the road that used to go through there.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=landslide.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/landslide.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> We headed back down and said our goodbyes and started toward home, but not before enjoying the evening sun going down.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/?action=view¤t=sunset.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Molalla%20-%20Elkhorn/sunset.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><br /> It was nice to get out amid all that was going on with my family and just be distracted for a day. I've done some other trips since then and will work to get them online in the coming weeks.Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-2678828960575753012010-01-12T20:31:00.000-08:002010-01-12T20:52:41.032-08:00Ending the droughtSo, I'm sure it has been noticed that there hasn't been any new blog postings in nearly six months. I've been busy. My dad was diagnosed with cancer early in the summer so a lot of time was spent with him and when I wasn't with him, I was a tad too distracted to write.<br /> Sadly, he passed away in late October, not living nearly enough life. Dealing with that has been tough but gradually, life moves on. I've taken a few day trips since then but mostly, I've stuck close to home.<br /> Just to get the kinks out, I'll share a few pictures I took January 10th on a quick afternoon trip to the beach.<br /><br /> I headed out hwy 26 to hwy 53, which took me down toward Wheeler. Instead of that, I turned off toward Manzanita, passing through Nehalem. At Manzanita, I was treated to a beautiful afternoon on the beach. A bit windy and cool but it was the prettiest I've seen it there in a long time.<br /><br />Looking North toward Neahkahnie Mountain and the city of Manzanita at the base. Even a rainbow thrown in for good measure.<br /><br /><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/lookingnorth.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 800px; height: 533px;" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/lookingnorth.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Looking south toward the mouth of Nehalem Bay.<br /><br /><a href="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/lookingsouth.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 800px; height: 533px;" src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/lookingsouth.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />And one more of some wood, being buried and revealed by the moving sands.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/?action=view¤t=debris.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Manzanita%201-6-10/debris.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />So far, I'm liking my new Canon Digital Rebel T1i. I think it takes nice sharp pictures that I can work with easily.Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-55985927463405465392009-09-01T21:26:00.000-07:002009-09-01T21:47:06.601-07:00A journey to the Alvord Desert July 9th-13th 2009 (part V)This is the fifth and final posting of a five part series on a trip I took with the Pacific Northwest Adventure Group<br /><br />Monday morning. More like mourning. What a sad day. A return to civilization. Not something I was looking forward to. Though I still had several hundreds of miles of driving to do, I wasn't ready. First off, we headed up and over the hills to a old fire lookout tower, now being rented out by vacationers. Fortunately, when we got there, the current renters were just leaving and allowed us to go up and take a look. Somehow, I neglected to take a picture of the tower.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/?action=view¤t=01lookoutview.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/01lookoutview.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We didn't stay long since we had quite a bit of driving to do. Even skinny little Keegan could barely fit through the opening for the stairs<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/?action=view¤t=02keeganlookout.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/02keeganlookout.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Near Long Creek, we stopped to check out an old ranch and a truck parked there that was nearly as old.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/?action=view¤t=03longcreekfarm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/03longcreekfarm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />In the small town of Fox, we stopped to take pictures of the old church. While it looked good on the outside, a peek in the window made it clear that the church hadn't been used in a while<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/?action=view¤t=04chruchpano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/04chruchpano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/?action=view¤t=05churchsun.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Four/05churchsun.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From there, we hopped back on the highway and made a beeline for Pendleton. After visiting at my Mom's for a bit, Keegan and I hit the road for home. Almost immediately, we noticed a smokey look in the sky. A few miles west of Pendleton, we found a 3500+ acre brush fire, which we watched for a while before heading home.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Brush%20Fire%207-13-09/?albumview=slideshow">Brush Fire Slideshow</a><br /><br /><br /> This was definitely one of the most amazing trips I've been on. It really got me thinking, I enjoy traveling in my jeep so much. Everything else I do is just to pass the time until I get to go exploring again. While chatting with some of the,,, more experienced folks on the trip, who were envious of my young age, I realized I need to take advantage of my lack of real commitments and travel.<br /> My tentative plan is to take a year or so to equip myself and my Jeep to the proper level, then hit the road, traveling around the country taking in the sights and, hopefully, writing about it. Its a bit of a fantasy right now but I think there is no better time for me to do it than now.<br /> I also want to apologize for taking so long to make a blog posting, I've been quite busy with life but hopefully I'll get more opportunities to do some blogging on some small day trips I've taken lately.<br />-RyanRyan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-21052266619066096682009-09-01T20:56:00.000-07:002009-09-01T21:23:50.226-07:00A journey to the Alvord Desert July 9th-13th 2009 (part IV)This is the fourth of a five part series on a trip I took with the Pacific Northwest Adventure Group<br /><br />Sunday morning we awoke knowing we'd be heading toward home. Mom really wanted to check out Alvord Hot Spring, a few miles north of our campsite. So, after packing up camp, we headed up there. Through the morning, several thunderstorms had passed through the area, though fortunately for us, mostly on the east side of the desert, allowing us to watch on without getting much rain.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=01Thunderstorm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/01Thunderstorm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From the hot springs, we could actually see two separate cells coming north.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=02AlvordHotSprings.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/02AlvordHotSprings.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From there we headed almost directly across the road and up an old mining road. We found an old cabin up there which had clearly seen better days.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=03cabin1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/03cabin1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=04cabin2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/04cabin2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We were able to find the remnants of an old tram, used to get the gold from the mine down to the area of the cabin. You can't tell but I'm looking nearly straight up in this picture.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=05tramremains.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/05tramremains.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />While checking out the base of the Tram area, we could see another storm coming up the valley.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=07truckstorm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/07truckstorm.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And a view back toward the mountain behind us, somewhere above is the old mine.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=06MinePano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/06MinePano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We quickly hopped back in the truck as we got hit by a heavy downpour which actually made the road pretty treacherous, especially in that big truck. But just as quickly, the sun came back out, as can be seen as we crossed a creek headed back down to the main road.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=08creekcrossing.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/08creekcrossing.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />On the way down to Fields, we slowed for a picture of the old school at Andrews, all of which appears to be privately owned now.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=09AndrewsSchool.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/09AndrewsSchool.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Finally, we were in Fields, prepared to eat a famous Fields Burger! Here, Sandy is taking an order as our burgers sizzle away on the grill behind her.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=10sandy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/10sandy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Man, what a delicious burger!<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=11burger.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/11burger.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We crossed back over to Catlow Valley and headed north, prepared to hear further west, through the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge. First we had to pull over and check out some massive thunderclouds towering over Steens Mountain. In less than five minutes, we saw at least 10 flashes of lightning.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=12hwy205stormpano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/12hwy205stormpano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />After an uneventful drive through the refuge, we dropped down toward Plush, where we saw this old house, with Hart Mountain towering overhead<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=13oldhouse.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/13oldhouse.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />After passing through Plush, we headed southwest, into the Fremont National Forest where we turned west, coming out on hwy 395 north of Lakeview. We turned north, passing Lake Abert and the Abert Rim, several thousand feet higher than the valley.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=14abertrimandlake.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/14abertrimandlake.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We stopped at a small rest area a few miles north of there. A rest area that was totally desolate. The only sounds were the occasional passing semi and the wind rattling a sign. Though there was nothing there and not much of a view, I for some reason found comfort in the area and would happily return.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=15restarea.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/15restarea.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We then continued north, passing through several stretches of road without a single curve for ten or more miles<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/?action=view¤t=16endlessroad.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Three/16endlessroad.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />That night we returned to the same area we'd camped at the first night south of John Day, though we chose this time to camp in an established campground. We were the only ones there, though some time during the night, an RV showed up and set up camp.Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-77695936989433911392009-07-20T22:47:00.001-07:002009-09-01T21:25:14.082-07:00A journey to the Alvord Desert July 9th-13th 2009 (part III)This is the third of a five part series on a trip I took with the Pacific Northwest Adventure Group<br /><br /> I woke early the next morning hoping to watch the sunrise. Clouds had moved in since the previous afternoon, blocking the sunrise for the most part. I instead spent my time wandering around the desert, enjoying my solitude.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=1sunriseonthealvord.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/1sunriseonthealvord.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=2sunriseoverthealvord.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/2sunriseoverthealvord.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Out on the desert floor, I had a descent view of Steens Mountain rising above our camp.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=3steensalvordpano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/3steensalvordpano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />After the others from our group woke up, a few headed for the desert floor. <br />Rod<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=4rodonthedesert.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/4rodonthedesert.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />James and Ben<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=5jamesonthedesert.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/5jamesonthedesert.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> From camp, we headed down to the Fields store for fuel. After sitting around chatting for a while and enjoying a delicious milkshake, we decided to head out with Mick and his wife Joey, along with Richard and Jan and their granddaughter Tara. Our plan for the day was to drive to Propeller Meadow, the site of a bomber crash in the 1940's. The clouds that morning were pretty nice.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=6decentclouds.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/6decentclouds.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> We chose to make a quick side trip to check out an old stone house. Somehow we missed to so we decided to follow the road up over Domingo Pass. Looking up hill, you can see Mick following the switchbacks up the hill.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=7switchbacks.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/7switchbacks.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From the top, we could see off into the distance. Down there somewhere is the stone house.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=8DomingoPassPano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/8DomingoPassPano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Once we crossed over the pass, we zigzaged back down the other side of the hill into Rincon Valley.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=9switchbacksdown.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/9switchbacksdown.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Down in the valley, we headed south, hoping to be able to circle around and come into Propeller Meadow. The road went through several low-lying areas that, in the wetter times of the year, obviously were quite moist. Those area's tended to be a bit dusty, as was this one, which also had sagebrush taller than our truck!<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=10dustyandclosed.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/10dustyandclosed.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We noticed a number of beer cans along the road, most of which were picked up by Mick and Joey but these ones were picked up by Richard. There was actually more than he could even carry, so he kicked one along in front of him<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=11pickingupcans.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/11pickingupcans.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Shortly after crossing into Nevada, we could see Blacks Mountain off in the distance<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=12BlacksMountain.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/12BlacksMountain.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We stopped for lunch and Mick, Keegan and I walked over to an old ranch thinking there were some hot springs. We didn't find the hot springs but we did see some wildlife including these birds flying around near some small ponds.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=13flyingbird.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/13flyingbird.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />This old fence surrounded the ranch, its been a while since anybody has been around here though.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=14fenceline.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/14fenceline.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From there, we headed on a road due north hoping to get up where we wanted. Unfortunately, after a mile or so, the road became increasingly washed out to the point where we decided to turn around. Big thanks to Joey for spotting us as we got turned around. Later, Matt was able to get up in his fully locked Land Cruiser/Lexus and reported back that there was NO WAY we would've been able to get up.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=15washedout.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/15washedout.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />As we were headed back down the hill, we could see several of the group cruising along the valley we'd been in a short time earlier.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=16wildgang.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/16wildgang.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We met up with them at Bog Hot Springs, the springs Mick and I had been trying to find earlier. The water was pretty warm and would've been awful nice during a cooler time of year.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=17BogHotSprings.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/17BogHotSprings.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From there, Mick, Richard and I headed South to Denio Junction where we stopped to eat. After our meal, we turned back north, hoping to once again head in towards the crash sight. Unfortunately, the roads never panned out as we crossed back into Oregon.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=18harneycounty.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/18harneycounty.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We decided to try again at accessing the rock house. This time, I lead the way and chose the route less traveled which lead us into a pasture, where we parked and walked across to the house.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=19stonehouse.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/19stonehouse.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=20stonehousefloorboards.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/20stonehousefloorboards.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />While we were stopped, we watched a pickup approach us. Turned out to be a local property over, from the Oregon End Table Ranch, across on the other side of Domingo Pass. His name was Jay Hughes and you could tell he was a very interesting guy. We talked to him for a bit before we headed on our way. Its always great to meet somebody like Mr. Hughes...<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=21JayHughes.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/21JayHughes.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We headed back to Fields where we greeted some of our trip mates, who it appeared had not moved all day, just sat in front of the store and chatted... Mom, Keegan and I hopped back in the truck with the goal of visiting Mickey Hot Springs, northwest of the Alvord. On our way north, I spotted a draw opposite from the Alvord so we hiked up into to explore a bit.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=22drywaterfall.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/22drywaterfall.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The road to the hot springs cut straight across the valley north of the Alvord before turning and skirting the south side of a ridge that extended miles north.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=23towardthesprings.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/23towardthesprings.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Describing Mickey Hot Springs is somewhat difficult. It was nearly dead silent there. Just about the only sound there was the bubbling of water in a few of the pools as well as underground. For the most part, the pools were absolutely calm, no motion at all. In some areas, the ground was almost hot to the touch, definitely heat radiating from below. Such an amazing place, though the water was too hot to even touch in most pools.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=24mickeybighole.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/24mickeybighole.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=25mickeypool1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/25mickeypool1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=26boilingpool.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/26boilingpool.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=27mickeystream.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/27mickeystream.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=28hotground.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/28hotground.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=29dragonflypool.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/29dragonflypool.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We then headed back to camp but, of course, we couldn't take the same roads back. We dropped down to the very northern end of the desert and headed cross country back, allowing my GPS to guide us to camp.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=30oldbog.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/30oldbog.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/?action=view¤t=31desertdusk.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Two/31desertdusk.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-21720223167919593892009-07-19T11:14:00.001-07:002009-07-19T11:33:59.497-07:004449 Headed to Michigan July 3rd 2009It was announced a few months ago that the City of Portland's big steam engine, Southern Pacific 4449, was going to travel to Michigan for Train Festival 2009. As luck would have it, her departure from Portland was scheduled for Friday, July 3rd, which I happened to have off from work due to the upcoming holiday. Plans were set and since my brother, Keegan, was staying in town with my dad for the summer, I headed out to Scappoose the night before to get him.<br /> On our way back in my apartment, we stopped at Union Station, where the 4449 was waiting with her train for departure the next morning. For this trip, the train would be made up of privately owned passenger cars, with the seats available for purchase (though too much for my budget)<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=TailofTrainatUnionStation.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/TailofTrainatUnionStation.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Fortunately, even though the train station was closed for the night, the platform was left open so rail fans could come out to get their night pictures, myself included.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=stationwithfoamers.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/stationwithfoamers.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The moon was almost full, though not for a few more days.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=nosewithmoon.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/nosewithmoon.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The next morning, the train was scheduled for an 8am departure. The night before, we'd scouted a spot in the NW industrial district where we'd be able to watch the train cross the bridge over the Willamette. Unfortunately, that spot didn't work out so well for pictures, though we were lucky enough to get a good roll-by at track level next to highway 30.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=firstsight.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/firstsight.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> We then headed for Washington; my hope was to get a shot east of Washougal where the tracks cross under SR14. However, once we'd crossed the Columbia, we saw we were already ahead of the train. So, we made the decision to stop in a neighborhood in Vancouver. Parking near the crossing was filled up by rail fans so we turned around to get back on the highway when the gates came down. We were barely able to hop out of the car and grab a shot as it passed by. This BNSF officer was also stopped at the crossing.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=BNSFCopatcrossing.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/BNSFCopatcrossing.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Since my car was sitting there running, we were able to get back on the road right away and passed the train in time to stop at the overpass near Washougal. The special rolled to a stop just short of the bridge to meet a westbound Amtrak train.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=MeetingAmtrak.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/MeetingAmtrak.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Then, as the train started rolling again, EVERYBODY had to run across to the other side.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=Hurryacross.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/Hurryacross.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> I tried my best to block out the Amtrak unit but it still snuck into the shot.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=WashougalFields.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/WashougalFields.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> We caught it again one more time a bit east of there then were unable to catch it before we got to the Bridge of the Gods at Cascade Locks. I decided to cross the river and use the multiple lanes and higher speed limits on I84 to get ahead of the traffic and the train. We stopped at Mosier and took pictures from the train from across the river.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=acrossthegorge.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/acrossthegorge.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> From there, we continued on to The Dalles, where we crossed the river on the highway 197 bridge. Just across the river, the tracks pop out of a cut and go under the bridge. There is a small parking area just past the end, so you can run back along the bridge (on a sidewalk) to where you can get a good shot. I got out to two other rail fans and said a brief hello when we looked up and were surprised to see the train already there! I was barely able to fire off a shot between the girders as it passed.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=NorthDalles.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/NorthDalles.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Just a short distance further, the train stopped at Wishram for servicing, which allowed us and everybody else to set up for their next shots. Keegan and I elected to drive up to the Stonehenge memorial overlooking the river. We appeared to be the only rail fans up there so we picked our shots and waited. The temps were in the upper 90's so spending any time in the sun was uncomfortable. Eventually, the train came along and Keegan and I were able to get our shots then get back in the car and on the move again.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=StonehengeA.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/StonehengeA.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=StonehengeB.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/StonehengeB.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> We decided to make one more stop so we put the pedal to the metal and eventually got ahead of the train so we pulled over at a small crossing with a number of other folks stopped there. Several miles of track was visible so we had time to watch the train approach.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=lastshotA.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/lastshotA.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> And one final picture of some of the crowd assembled there.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/?action=view¤t=LastShotB.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/4449%20to%20michigan/LastShotB.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> From there, the train continued to Spokane and Keegan and I headed back west, but that is another story.<br />-RyanRyan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-39049153031713259362009-07-16T22:18:00.000-07:002009-07-16T23:41:23.891-07:00A journey to the Alvord Desert July 9th-13th 2009 (part II)This is the second of a five part series on a trip I took with the Pacific Northwest Adventure Group.<br /><br />Thursday night we made it as far as Soda Gulch, south of John Day. Camp was next to Vance Creek, which couldn't actually be seen, just a nice burbling sound. We woke up about 630am and quickly broke camp and got on the road. <br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=1CampNightone.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/1CampNightone.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Most of the group met at RJ's Restaurant in Burns before the official meetup. RJ's has EXCELLENT bacon, just sayin... We headed to get gas, diesel actually, then met up with the rest of the group at Hines Park in the center of Hines. Nice place.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=2groupathines.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/2groupathines.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From there we headed east and south, our first stop of the day being the Peter French Round Barn.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=3roundbarn.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/3roundbarn.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The Round Barn was built in the late 1870's or early 1880's the date isn't known for sure. It was used to train horses during the long and miserable winter. The roof was rebuilt in the 1920's using 55,000 wood shingles. Its got a few holes in it now.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=4roundbarnsunlight.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/4roundbarnsunlight.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The view off in the distance shows there is nothing around, just a barn.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=5roundbarnview.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/5roundbarnview.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From the center, you can see the all wood construction. Many of these trees had to come from a long way aways as there are no forests in the area.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=6roundbarnroof.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/6roundbarnroof.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Our next goal was the Diamond Craters, just a few miles to the south. Diamond Craters is a series of small craters created by a shield volcano.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=7Diamondcraters.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/7Diamondcraters.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />My brother Keegan, along with Ben(?) stand near the edge of the crater.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=8KeeganBenatcraters.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/8KeeganBenatcraters.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Keegan peering over the edge, looking for rattle snakes.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=9Keeganatcrater.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/9Keeganatcrater.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We then headed for Frenchglen. Too many bugs, the gas pumps were out of service. We didn't stay for long.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=10frenchglen.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/10frenchglen.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The portion of the group not eating in Frenchglen decided to head up the hill a bit toward Steens Mountain to get away from the bugs. We found a wide spot in the road where we were able to hang out and wait for the paying for lunch crowd.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=11lunch.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/11lunch.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=12lunch2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/12lunch2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The sun was hot that day, it was our hottest day of the trip and while there were a few clouds in the sky, they never seemed to be in front of the sun.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=13Hotsun.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/13Hotsun.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />One group decided to head up early while a couple of us waited for the stragglers from town.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=14groupdrivingoff.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/14groupdrivingoff.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Our leader for the trip told us about a grove of aspens where basque sheep hearders had carved notes into the trees. We stopped to find some but couldn't find any ourselves. At this point we'd climbed from from 4,200 feet to over 6,500 feet and the cooler air was allowing wildflowers to still bloom into July.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=15wildflowers1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/15wildflowers1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Just a few miles up the road, we stopped at Kiger Gorge, where you can walk out to a viewpoint at the edge of a 2,000 foot deep gorge, which was carved by glaciers. Pictures can't even do the location justice, you really have to see it for yourself.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=16KigerGorge.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/16KigerGorge.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />One of our new friends Matt took our picture for my Mom so I thought I'd return the favor and get one of him along the edge.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=17MattKiger.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/17MattKiger.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We followed Mick up to the east rim of Steens Mountain. the road stretches out along the ridge and the cars running along it are the only way to get a good idea of the size of this area.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=18steensRim.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/18steensRim.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The east rim allows a good view of the valley stretching out below us. Our group leader takes a picture from the top.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=19EastRimPano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/19EastRimPano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The Alvord desert is below the summit of Steens Mountain. The Summit of the mountain is about 9,750 feet while the desert below is about 4400 feet, over a vertical mile below. The slope drops away that elevation in just three miles, one of the steepest drops in the state.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=20EastRimPano2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/20EastRimPano2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Not much life can survive on the wind swept ridge that is Steens Mountain but a few wildflowers are just starting their bloom in mid-July.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=21eastrimflowers.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/21eastrimflowers.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Matt standing near the east rim viewpoint<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=22Matteastrim.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/22Matteastrim.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Bob headed out to the summit parking area ahead of us<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=23BobSteensRim.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/23BobSteensRim.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Then we followed Mick out.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=23Micktosummit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/23Micktosummit.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From the summit, you can look down into Wildhorse Gorge and to Wildhorse Lake, I believe the second highest lake in Oregon. Can you see the people camping down there?<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=24Wildhorsepano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/24Wildhorsepano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Looking back along the ridge from the summit to the parking area.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=25trucksummit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/25trucksummit.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We chose to complete the Steens Loop by following the road down the Rooster Comb. Spectacular views<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=26steensgorge.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/26steensgorge.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />My Mom had read about the Kiger Mustangs and other wild horses in the area and was anxious to see some. After watching carefully, Mick (or his wife Joey) spotted one about a half a mile off to the left side of the road.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=27horse1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/27horse1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />A few miles further, we were greatly surprised. A herd of 28 wild horses were standing right next to the road! They were extremely calm and were comfortable with my Mom and Keegan getting within approx. 20 yards.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=28horse2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/28horse2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=29horse3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/29horse3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=30horse4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/30horse4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=31horse8.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/31horse8.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We noticed this small group of horses that were up the hill a bit and they decided to head down toward the main herd<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=32horse5.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/32horse5.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We quickly discovered the alpha male of the herd as he came galloping over, letting the others know they weren't welcome with the herd. It was so cool witnessing the natural hierchy in the wild, definitely one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=33horse6.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/33horse6.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=34horse7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/34horse7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We got down to the highway and continued on into Fields. Mick continued to lead the way through the Catlow Valley.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=35catlowvalley.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/35catlowvalley.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We went our separate ways, Mick and his wife were staying at the hotel in Fields while we planned to camp out at the Alvord Desert. There was a group who were planning on camping at the desert and we decided to join them. We didn't know there location but after scanning the desert with binoculars, I spotted them on the other side, headed up into an area called Big Sand Gap. Since Keegan had just gotten his instruction permit, we decided to let him drive across the desert.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=36keegandriving.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/36keegandriving.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />On the east side, we discovered the desert didn't end abruptly but rather slowly faded into islands of bushes which we had to maneuver our way through.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=37eastalvord.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/37eastalvord.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />My GPS showed there was a road that came out to the desert floor so we tried to track it down. Its out there somewhere<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=38roadsomewhere.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/38roadsomewhere.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Oh, we found it!<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=39foundroad.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/39foundroad.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We eventually caught up with the group, playing around on some sand dunes. Of course, it wasn't long before somebody got stuck in the sand. It was Rod...<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=40MattRodstuck.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/40MattRodstuck.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Matt quickly winched him out and they continued playing. I was very envious that I wasn't out there with my Jeep.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=41rodsandsunset.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/41rodsandsunset.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />James and Ben made there way back down to the sand and joined in the fun.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=42Jamessunset.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/42Jamessunset.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=43bigsandgap.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/43bigsandgap.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We headed back to camp where everybody got set up. Bob in his Land Rover with the rooftop tent were particularly cool.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=44redrover.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/44redrover.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />The moonrise was particularly nice too.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/?action=view¤t=45bobgoingtobed.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20One/45bobgoingtobed.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Thus ended our first full day of the trip. We covered a lot of ground, <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=NFD+3920+Rd&daddr=Circle+Dr+S+to:Lava+Beds+Rd+to:Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road+to:Rockford+Ln+to:Frenchglen+Hwy%2FOR-205+to:Unknown+road+to:Steens+Mountain+Loop+to:42.266131,-118.674316+to:Fields-Denio+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FaLQowIdLm7o-A%3BFdmxmAIdvurm-A%3BFVQSkwId3lvt-A%3BFU3SkgIdH6fs-A%3BFX-5kgIdDabs-A%3BFdgikgIdoT7p-A%3BFYp3jQIdBIPp-A%3BFSjDigIdwaHu-A%3BFXjgiwIdgjjo-A%3B%3BFSDViAIdAl3v-A&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=9&sz=11&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9&sll=42.352962,-118.646164&sspn=0.240017,0.615921&ie=UTF8&ll=43.409038,-118.630371&spn=3.775034,14.018555&t=p&z=7">our route for the day</a>Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-4538357405188802492009-07-16T22:01:00.001-07:002009-07-16T22:18:02.888-07:00A journey to the Alvord Desert July 9th-13th 2009 (part I)This is the first of a five part series on a trip I took with the Pacific Northwest Adventure Group. <br /><br /> Our goal was to meet Friday, July 10th at Hines Park in Hines, Oregon. For me, that meant getting off work early and heading east. For this trip, I elected to drive to Pendleton and load my gear into my Mom's Dodge Ram and we would ride together for the duration.<br /><br /> After leaving work, I stopped at my apartment to get my brother Keegan then headed east. Near Memaloose State Park, we spotted this military train headed downriver across from us on the Washington side. The engines are KCS run-through units.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/?action=view¤t=Miltrain.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/Miltrain.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> After a bit of a delay, we got out of Pendleton. Our goal for the evening was to get within one hour of Burns so we would have less of a drive in the morning. Outside of Pilot Rock we had this great view of the setting sun.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/?action=view¤t=sunset.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/sunset.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> And looking back along hwy 395<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/?action=view¤t=openhighway.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/Alvord%20steens%2009/Day%20Zero/openhighway.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><br /> <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Durham,+OR&daddr=45.677401,-118.755341+to:NFD+3920+Rd&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFY7OowIdFXzo-A&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=10&via=1&sll=45.749319,-118.943481&sspn=0.451347,1.231842&ie=UTF8&ll=45.054121,-120.481567&spn=1.827693,7.009277&z=8">Our drive for the day</a><br /><br />Coming up: Peter French round barn, Diamond Craters, Steens Mountain, Sand Gap.Ryan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-66753061291539980582009-06-29T11:29:00.000-07:002009-06-30T20:50:14.640-07:00Exploring the Santiam State Forest 6-28-09Once upon a time, I was driving around some mountain roads outside Scotts Mills in what turned out to be the Santiam State Forest and found this uber-sweet viewpoint along a ridgeline that looked all the way back to Portland and up to Mt Hood. After driving to se Portland to pick up a pool ladder yesterday, I decided I wanted to drive out there and check out the view again. Fortunately, just days earlier I'd plugged the coordinates into my GPS so all I had to do was go where the arrow told me. Mostly...<br /> My route took me from Clackamas down through Oregon City and out hwy 213 through Mulino and into Molalla. After stopping to top off my fuel, I headed up Sawtell Road for about 12 miles before turning up an unnamed road that travels East along South Gawley Ridge. The road I ended up taking didn't actually show up on my GPS and the road it told me to take was blocked off at the top, good thing I kinda knew where I was going...<br /> Though temperatures were hitting close to 80 in the Portland area, up here in the mountains they were barely touching 70 in the sun and it was in the mid-60's down in the dark canyons. It was a reminder that spring and summer start a bit later when you're at 3,000 feet. As such, there were plenty of flowers blooming up in the higher elevations including rhododendrons.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=Rhodiesinbloom.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/Rhodiesinbloom.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=wildflowersandrhods.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/wildflowersandrhods.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=yellowflowers.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/yellowflowers.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> <br /><br /> I made it up to the view point, which is actually about a quarter-mile from Dog Rock, which is inaccessible by vehicle. There were some people already there so I wasn't able to drive my Jeep out to the edge for a shot of it looking over the valley. The rock in the center of the picture is at the edge of an approx. 400 foot cliff. On a clearer day you can see Mt Hood and I suspect Adams as well.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=DogRockPano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/DogRockPano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Coming back down to the main road, I noticed one section where there were young firs growing right down next to the road, not something usually seen along a logging road.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=blurreddriving.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/blurreddriving.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> From there I wanted to explore a small road that heads down toward Butte Creek that I'd briefly driven on during a PNWBA tour a few months earlier. While driving down it, I spotted some more flowers to photograph. There were a ton of butterflies flittering around them.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=daisies.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/daisies.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Including this guy who was on a flower right next to me.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=butterfly1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/butterfly1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=butterfly2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/butterfly2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> I turned down another side road which I hoped would take me down toward Butte Creek Falls. It quickly became pretty overgrown and with the pool ladder on my roof, I was having trouble getting through in a few places. Eventually I found a wide enough spot to turn around and did so. Shortly after, I got this shot at one of the wider/more open spots along the road.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=overgrownbackroad.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/overgrownbackroad.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> My next goal was Rhody Lake, which is accessed via a maze of logging roads at about the 3,500 foot level. Not sure if there are many fish in this lake though I'm told it has lots of rough skinned newts in it. There's a small unimproved campground on the far side of the lake, it even has a pit toilet and trash can...<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=RhodyLake.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/RhodyLake.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> From there I continued up toward Hellcat Rock. I'd driven almost to it once before but the road gets pretty rough and I only manage to get up there while driving by myself and it is not a high traffic area. This time I decided to walk the last half mile to the rock to check out the view. The water seen in the lower center/left is Butte Lakes and the water toward the right (near one of the tree branches) is Copper Lake, neither of which I've had the opportunity to visit. Yet.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=hellcatrockpano.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/hellcatrockpano.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> There is also a nice view of Mt Hood from there, along with some other peaks, none of which I can identify...<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=mthood.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/mthood.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> At this point it was nearly six o'clock and I really wanted to get out of there before it got any darker. I decided to drop down into Gawley Creek and come out along the Molalla River and follow it out to civilization. The crossing of Gawley creek is rather unusual. For whatever reason, instead of building a bridge or putting in a culvert for the road to go over the creek, it was chosen to pave across the creek and just let the creek run over the road. The road is in remarkable condition, no sign of being worn down by the water running over it at all. It makes a nice water crossing too :)<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=gawley1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/gawley1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Gotta love that sweet ladder on the roof :D<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=gawley2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/gawley2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/?action=view¤t=gawley3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/6-28-09/gawley3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> These were my last pictures of the day as my goal was to just get out of there and go home but there were several spurs off the road between there and the Molalla river that begged for exploration that I'm going to have to go back and explore. <br />-RyanRyan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2735050044817419646.post-62206020941043277672009-06-23T20:32:00.000-07:002009-06-24T20:42:39.048-07:00Goat Mountain Christmas Tree Run December 13th 2008Good evening!<br /> In a tradition started in 2007, I once again organized a Christmas tree run with NAXJA and the PNW Backroad Drivers to take place in the Goat Mountain area of the Mt Hood National Forest on a nice Saturday in December. For those of you with calendars and a good memory, this was the day before the snow started falling in Portland.<br /> The plan was to meet in the parking lot of the Estacada Ranger Station at 9am. Slowly the numbers added up until we had 12 rigs, mostly Cherokees with a few other makes tossed in for good measure. The most notable thing from there was NAXJA member Torx's fancy new tires, brand new 35" BFGoodrich KM2's, which put my stock 28" tires to shame.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=Dustinsnewshoes.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/Dustinsnewshoes.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> Shortly after nine, we hit the road, first going south on hwy 211 then east and up Hillock Burn road. We stopped about the 1800 foot level to air down our tire to make driving on the snow easier.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=airingdown.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/airingdown.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />After airing down, we headed straight for the towers atop Goat Mountain, though we briefly stopped at a former gravel pit while we waited for some stragglers to catch up. A few members of our party took the opportunity to play around on the snow covered hillside.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=terry1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/terry1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=nick2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/nick2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From here on, I was breaking trail through the snow.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=breakingsnow.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/breakingsnow.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We stopped at another wide spot to let the group gather together again after a short slick section when another group of NAXJA members caught up with us including KarlVP in his nicely built XJ<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=karl.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/karl.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br /> The final push to the summit has a short steep section on it that proved to be too difficult for some. Only the right mix of throttle and control could successfully get you up the slope. Fortunately, I was one of the few with that correct mix on this particular day so I was able to make it up to the towers.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=uptop.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/uptop.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Karl was another of those lucky few.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=karl2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/karl2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />From the summit you look down on Clear Lake a small alpine lake which is itself accessible via other roads in the area.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=clearlake.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/clearlake.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And another member of the alternate party playing around on the difficult back slope to access the towers.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=redjk.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/redjk.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Once we got back down to the main road (FS 45) most of the group headed for town but there were a few of us who had the goal of getting a Christmas Tree so after saying goodbye to the others we headed off in search of a stand of trees I'd seen on a scouting trip a few weeks earlier. As the afternoon progressed, the snow started falling heavier and heavier until visibility was down to less than a tenth of a mile. As we pulled into a quarry in the area of the small stand of Christmas trees, I was able to snap this picture of my friend JuniorXJ.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=terry2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/terry2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And another of JuniorXJ having fun in the fresh deep snow.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=terry3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/terry3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And PNWBDA member Pudding99<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=puddin1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/puddin1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And 88manche taking his own turn<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=nick3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/nick3.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Once we'd gotten our trees we decided to head back the way we came. We'd originally planned to keep going but the snow was falling so fast we weren't confident of our ability to keep going. Heading back, our tracks were already mostly obliterated.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=cruisin.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/cruisin.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />We stopped at a small wide area to talk for a few before heading down the hill and I was able to get this shot of our group stopped there.<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=group.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/group.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />L to R, Nick, his girlfriend and Terry<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=hooligans.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/hooligans.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />And one final shot of my Jeep shortly before we stopped to air our tires back up (and when I discovered my compressor no longer worked)<br /><br /><a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/?action=view¤t=endoftheday.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii269/pelewanabesega/xmas%20trees%2008/endoftheday.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />I know I had a lot of fun and though my tree was a bit small, I was glad to have it and it came with a story, unlike something bought in a lot. Next year I'm going to scout out a tree ahead of time so I know what to get when I'm there and I can spend more time having fun.<br />-RyanRyan Mishlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468353932385017512noreply@blogger.com0