May 8, 2015 Utah to Nine Mile Canyon

May 8  Pedal to the Metal Day to Utah/ Nine Mile Canyon

We head south today into Utah today, through lots of scrub brush and Curlew National Grasslands.  Once again there is a lot of irrigation here.  One side of the road is lush and green and the other side of the road is dry with sagebrush and such – what a difference that water makes!  Greg says super boring.

We see a few deer along the way, and antelope too.  Also huge sheep ranches with lots of cute little new lambs.

We stop at a Welcome Center near the town of Brigham City and talk with a man there who gives us some suggestions and literature.  Helpful!  We continue on past the Great Salt Lake to the west and snow-topped mountains to the east, along with the metropolis of Salt Lake City.  Been there, done that, so we wave as we go by.

Just after Provo, we take route 6 to the southeast, heading for Nine Mile Canyon.

I am surprised at the number of mountains with snowy tops.  We see several trains carrying coal and read that this area has been mined for a long time. 

We stop at the Visitor’s Center in Price, which is part of the firehouse building, and pick up a map of Nine Mile Canyon which is  21 miles off the main road, between the Bad Land Cliffs and Tavaputs Plateau.   The canyon itself is actually 46 miles long, but was named by some old time mapper.

The road was recently paved (yes!) and has mile markers which align with the map we were given.  We locate the first  two pieces of art on  canyon walls near the road.  Can't help but try to imagine the person who stood here creating this hundreds of years ago...how old was he/she?  Did he get into trouble for doodling or was his an impressive, valued skill?

  We decide to go down to the end of the canyon and see the panels that the Canyon is most noted for – Daddy Canyon Rec Site, and the Great Hunt Panel which are another 20 miles.  We will

skip over another twenty or thirty sites.

There is a trail at Daddy Canyon which crosses a dry wash and winds around the rocky canyon.  Several examples of rock art which show people, animals and other symbols.  Also some pretty blooming cacti and an old corral . 

 Since much of the livestock is free-range (no fences), there are corrals scattered here and there where they gather the livestock when necessary.  Many are up against a rock wall like this one.  We have seen cattle on the roads several times, but only one fatality due to car collision - a pretty brown and white with all four legs in rigor.(no pic please)

Few raindrops.  We continue to The Great Hunt panel which shows a hunting party. They say it is in early Spring because it is the only time there are rams, ewes and lambs together.  There were many mountain sheep and goats pictured and some still exist in this area.  Another panel close by shows phases of the moon.

We see a few more pictographs as we retrace our route,  and find a nice little dirt road niche  around milemarker 10 where we boondock  for the night. Cheddarworst and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.

May 7  Idaho Idaho

First things first, McDonalds for coffee.  It is a balmy 47 this morning!

We stop at an Idaho Welcome center just over the border and pick up a state map.  Really haven’t planned this part of the trip, so we will wing it (even more than usual).   We decide to take a detour off the main highway near Boise and visit the Payette River Scenic Byway, then the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway, followed by the Boise Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway.   Once we escape the Boise suburbs and red lights, it does become a most pleasant ride.

First we travel along the Payette River, while a railroad track travels along the other side – have seen this set-up often.  Hilly with many trees near the river.  Then we turn east onto the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway and follow a raucous river through a wild canyon.  There are sites where rafters put in, though not today, and it looks like it would be a wild ride!   A ground hog and some birds are the only wildlife we see – though a write-up says it is thick with deer and elk in the winter.

We then turn south on the Ponderosa Pine Byway which goes through some pretty high mountains with “Park and Ski” areas, and Avalanche area signs.  Very winding mountain roads with lots of the Poderosa Pines in evidence.  A few small patches of snow remain around Beaver Creek Ski Area.  We liked the name for this campground:

We see a group of wild turkeys, a deer and another groundhog/marmot(?).  As we get back to highway 84 it begins to rain, and we decide to stop at another library in Mountain Home which has all male librarians - possibly related to the nearby military base. Greg does PT while Beth gets caught up on computer stuff.

Greg doesn’t seem to be interested in much in Idaho, so we pass on the potatoe ice cream, Rudy’s Cooks Paradise, and the remnants of a Japanese detention camp at Minidoka, and continue on past pastureland, farmland, hills.  There are signs advising of high wind areas and lots of wind turbines.

 We continue on to Jerome, a small town near Twin Falls, where we spend the night.

May 6 John Day Fossil Beds/Oregon

Minor disaster this morning as the coffee maker stopped working!  Somehow, Greg will soldier on…  31 degrees at 7AM, coffee and hot chocolate would have been good.

Lots of unfamiliar birds in this area.  This morning there was a small dark bird with a red tuft. We continue through the Ochoco NF  and cross Ochoco Pass where there are signs of a recent significant fire.  We are now on the “Journey Through Time Oregon Scenic Byway," and soon come to The Painted Hills, which is one part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Park.

  Some beautiful scenery despite the overcast, drippy weather.  We walk the Painted Cove nature trail

and do a few other stops.  The hills were all created by lava flows 16-40 million years ago and contain iron oxide and other minerals for color.    The soil is kind of a crumbly clayish material that doesn’t support much life.  There are frequent signs asking people not to walk on the hills, but there are also footprints, which they say can take years to heal.

We leave this area and next travel to the Sheep’s Rock part of the Park and the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center.  He was an early minister/settler/geologist who first recognized the importance of the many fossils in the area.  There is a short film and and many exhibits.  Most of the 2,000+ animals and plants that have been fossilized are now extinct and most of them are from 45-50 million years ago when this area was more of a tropical forest.

I take a rock I found that I thought might be petrified wood.  A couple people look at it and aren't sure, so they take it back to the lab and put it under a microscope, which displays in the museum.

my rock

Long story short it probably isn't petrified wood, but a rock with many very thin layers, possibly from a seabed.

 We do a few short trails at Foree before leaving. Still cloudy, but an occasional spot of blue gives us hope.

 

This formation was called The Cathedral.

We continue to cross Oregon, towards Idaho.  Who knew Oregon was so wide? There are still hills and mountains with trees and grass.  Some irrigation of the flat fields between mountains and lots and lots of cattle, sheep and horses.  We’re beginning to wonder why you hear of Iowa Beef and not Oregon Beef!  We see two cattle yards but most of the animals are grazing in pastureland. We see an occasional rancher on a 4x4 checking fencelines.

We stop at the town of John Day and use their library for a few hours.  Nice facility and friendly folks.  We check the forecast for Yellowstone and that area and it doesn’t look good, with lows in the 20’s and rain/snow predicted for the next week.  So we go with plan B and decide we will head south.

We hit a little rain and even a slight flurry of snow atop one mountain pass, and gradually the passes get lower, 5,000’, then 4,000’, 3,000’ and at Vale we are down to 2200’ and 55 degrees with sunshine!  The trees become less frequent, more sage and brush except for areas farmers have cleared and irrigated.  A sign boasts that this is Onion Country, with more than a billion pounds shipped last year from eastern Oregon and Western Idaho.  There are quite a few farmers working in the fileds.

We stop at a Walmart in Ontario, Oregon which is almost in Idaho and walk to a nearby Panda Express for a change of pace.  Good fried rice and the place is very busy. Greg’s fortune predicts a thrilling time in his immediate future!  Mine says I should not rush through life, but pause and enjoy it.  Trying.

May 5  More Oregon, Smith Rock

Woke to 31 degrees this morning, but it warmed fairly quickly, into the 40's by 8:30.  We head west for a bit, through pastureland in the flat land between mountains.

 Lots of irrigation including water canals and what looked like a roman aquifer.  Water is a big issue here with pastureland and food for lots of cattle, sheep, horses and goats .

We get to Smith Rock State Park, near Redmond, Oregon about 9:00AM.  We drive first to an overlook and when I walk over to the the rail fencing I am suddenly eye to eye with a young buck. There is a group of deer grazing and making their way across the Park.  They easily leap over the fence and wonder off into the trees and brush, unperturbed by our presence.

Smith Rock (the darker one on the left) is a huge rough rock which got its name from an early Indian Scout who fell to his death here.  There is a mountain of rocks adjacent to it, which has several climbers already and we pass  more on the trails.

Climbers (blue) in center of picture

 We stop and chat with Al, who is making some repairs to one of the fences and he suggests we take the River Trail.  Greg says he is going back to the Trek to get water and Al says he'll save him a trip and pulls out a nice liter bottle of water!  Thanks, Al.  He also tells us where to look for a bald eagle nest along the trail.

River trail on lower right

We hear geese as we set off and expect to come across a flock near the river.  There are a few ducks and geese by the river, but those making the most noise are high up on the rocks, like this one surveying his kingdom.

Nice walk and we pause occasionally to watch climbers. Several other hikers and runners using the trail as well.

We spot the bald eagle in flight and it returns to its nest in a tall pine on the other side of the river. You can't tell here, but it had something in its talons - food for the young. There are also golden eagles  in the park but they live on the cliffs in another area.

 Occasional lizards and flowers brighten the trail.

There are several named rock formations, like Snoopy

and Monkey Face.

After our hike we head to the camping area (tents only and it is busy) where we've read there are showers for sale.

 Unfortunately, the restrooms are out of order - port-a-potties only :(.  Looks like these campers are a lively, thirsty bunch judging from the trash cans full of beer bottles/cans - but they re-cycle!

We next drive a short way to Terrebonne, where we buy a camera card (to replace one that's gone "weird"), wine  and some other items. Heading back towards Prineville, we stop at Lakeshore RV Park and purchase showers for $5 each.

We continue out 26E to another spot that was on our Rockhunting map.  It is in the Ochoco mountains on Forest Service Road 3350, similar to last night's boondock spot.  We find a few agates and possibly some thunder eggs - egg shaped rocks with jasper or colorful fillings.  The campsite is nice and flat amidst tall trees and has a few fire rings from past users. (A regular campground would squeeze 3 or 4 campers in this space!)  Greg gets a nice fire going, which feels pretty good as the temperature is dropping.

The moon, when it rises, is like a spotlight shining through the tall pines. Beautiful.

May 4 Oregon High Desert

We begin today with a trip to the High Desert Museum, about 7 miles south of Bend, Oregon.  We arrive before it opens and have a pancake breakfast in the parking lot, with oranges, coffee and hot chocolate.  The temperature was 31 when we awoke, but has warmed to near 50 by 9:00.

The High Desert Museum is a combination museum and zoo.  The museum part is divided into 2, one featuring local history including fur traders, Hudson's Bay years, miners, and the emigrants of the Oregon, California and Applegate Trails who became ranchers, buckaroos (horsemen of hispanic decent) and farmers. Nice walk-through dioramas and displays.

The other part of the museum is about the First People, the Northern Paiute and other tribes who inhabited this area for thousands of years.  It traces the various Indian wars and treaties and establishment of reservations, as well as showing clothing, tipis and other items of Indian culture. This one is made from tules, a reed found in marshes, and lodgepole pine.

There were also a few smaller galleries - one on Growing up Western, one of local Breweries.

 There were a few animals inside, a raccoon, bobcat, various snakes, turtles, lizards, etc.  Here is a desert tortoise and a chuckwalla.

We joined a nature walk through the grounds and learned about various trees, bushes, flowers and animals and how they adapt to high desert life.  Here is Beth sniffing a Ponderosa Pine (which smells kind of like vanilla.)

 The Ponderosa Pine has very thick bark and sheds its lower limbs as it grows - both to protect itself during fires.  Not having lower limbs (a fire ladder) prevents flames from climbing from the ground.  We saw quite a few trees that had survived fire.  The Lodgepole pine has two kinds of pinecone.  One sheds with seeds every two years, the other type are very resinous and they fall to the ground and only open after a fire, which then deposits seeds. Many of the plants and trees have interesting survival skills!

We watched some birds of prey, saw some sleeping otters, and listened to a talk about porcupines. The "bristles" you see here are actually fur.  The quills are shorter and nearer the body. The babies are born with the full 30,000 quills (which are soft for the first hour or so to protect Mom!).

From here we went east to the town of Prineville.  Greg called to find the Visitor's Center, where we talked with two very helpful locals.  The area is noted for rock hunting and we were given a map and it was suggested we could talk with a local, Bill Quant, at his rock shop.

Bill was great.  His shop, surrounded by piles of rocks was started by his Dad.  After walking through the shop and learning about different specimens, he gave us directions to a spot where we could fine jasper. He obviously enjoys what he does and explained things like how to dig a hole and other tidbits of wisdom..His directions ended with with "turn just before the cattle guard and then look for a pine tree on the right with a painted white arrow.  Park there and walk up the mountain till you are under the power lines."  Long story short, we found it with only one wrong turn!

 It was about 28 miles out of town in the Ochoco National Forest on a mostly good (?) gravel road.

Bill had told us we could camp there too, so we set up camp.  Greg exercised and then joined me looking through rocks.  We found some interesting pieces, one of which had fern fossils on it! We will tumble some when we get home.

 Chilly night as we went up a bit in elevation to get here.  I looked out our rear window in the wee hours of the night and there was a full moon shining through the tall pines.  Gorgeous!